CIIAI-. IX. lUMXDLKY'S LAST CANALS. 453 



of towns MIM! villages. "He-sides, l>y avoiding the hills 

 and following the course of the valleys, along which 

 population usually lies, he avoided expense of construc- 

 tion and secured flatness of canal; just as Stephenson 

 secured llatness of railway gradient. Although the 

 In i -ili of canal to be worked was longer, yet the cost 

 of tunnelling and lockage was avoided. Besides, the 

 population of the district was fully accommodated, which 

 could not have been accomplished by the more direct 

 route through unpopulated districts or under barren 

 hills. The proprietors of the Chesterfield Canal con- 

 curred in Brindley's view, adopting his plan in prefer- 

 ence to Grundy's, and it was accordingly carried into 

 effect. This navigation was, nevertheless, a work of 

 considerable difficulty, proceeding, as it did, across a 

 very hilly country, the summit tunnel at Hartshill being 

 2850 yards in extent. Like many of Brindley's other 

 works projected about this time, it was finished by his 

 brother-in-law, Mr. Heiishall, and opened for traffic 

 several years after the great engineer's death. 1 



The whole of these canals were laid out by Brindley, 

 though they were not all executed by him, nor precisely 

 after his plans. No record of any kind has been pre- 

 served of the manner in which these works were carried 

 out. Brindley himself made few reports, and these 

 merely stated results, not methods ; yet he had doubtless 

 many formidable difficulties to encounter, and must have 

 overcome them by the adoption of those ingenious expe- 

 dients. varying according to the circumstances of each 



1 The following \vi-re the canals laid out and principally executed by 

 Brindley : 



Miles. furl, chains. 



The Duke's C-iivils/ W " r>ll '. v tn M;inrh,'>t.-r ........ 10 li 



" \ I.on-fonl lin-lp. tn the M.T.sry U-lnw liunn.rn 'J4 1 7 



Grand Tnmk Canal Proper, from WiMt-u 1-Vny to Preston Brook 88 7 9 



Wblverhampton Canal ................ 4t> 4 o 



<'"\<-ntiy , ................ 30 7 8 



Birmingham 



Droitwidi 



Oxford 



24 -2 

 549 



*:.' 7 o 



-|li (I M 



