<;|{0\YT11 ()F MANVIIKSTKK. 401 



tunnels had already hem extended for nearly two miles 

 under the hill. When the Duke began these works, he 

 possessed only such of the coal-mines us 1 Belonged to the 

 Worsley estate, l>nt from time to time he purchased the 

 adjoining lands containing seams of coal which run under 

 the high ground between Worsley, Bolton, and Bury; 

 and in course of time the underground canals connecting 

 the different workings extended for a distance of nearly 

 forty miles. 1 Both the hereditary and the purchased mines 

 are worked upon two main levels, though in all there 

 are four different levels, the highest being a hundred and 

 twenty yards above the lowest. The coals worked out 

 of the higher seams are shot into the boats placed below 

 at certain appointed places ; the whole of the subter- 

 ranean produce being dragged to the light through the 

 tunnels, the entrances to which are shown in our illus- 

 tration. In opening up these underground workings 

 the Duke is said to have expended about 168,000/. ; but 

 the immense revenue derived from the sale of the coals 

 by canal rendered this an exceedingly productive out- 

 lay. Besides the extension of the canal along these 

 tunnels, the Duke subsequently carried a branch by the 

 edge of Chat-Moss to Leigh, by which means new 

 supplies of coal were introduced to Manchester from 

 that district, and the traffic was still further increased. 

 It was a saying of the Duke's, that " a navigation should 

 always have coals at the heels of it." 



The total cost of completing the canal from Worsley 

 to Manchester, and from Longford Bridge to the Mersey 

 at Runcorn, amounted to 220,000/. A truly magnifi- 

 cent undertaking, nobly planned and nobly executed. 

 The power conferred by wealth was probably never 

 more munificently exercised than in this case ; for, 

 though the traffic proved a source of immense wealth to 

 the Duke, it conferred incalculable blessings upon the 



1 Sec the- cut at p. 30'!, >li<>\vinu r the t'litrancc.s to tlu-M- umU'i^rouiul canals. 

 VOL. I. 2 D 



