CHAP. V. ON DHA1NAGE WORKS. 51 



engineers down even to our own day ; but it does not 

 appear that any works of importance followed the elabo- 

 rate advice which he gave on those subjects. The first 

 large engineering undertaking which he conducted was 

 in his own county, where he was employed in making 

 extensive repairs of the dams and locks on the river 

 Calder in Yorkshire ; and he carried out many important 

 improvements in that navigation, the planning of which 

 required much skill and judgment, in consequence of the 

 rapid floods which swept down in rainy seasons from 

 Blackstone Edge. At the same time he was consulted 

 as to the Aire navigation from Leeds to its junction with 

 the Ouse, which he succeeded in greatly improving. 



Another subject on which he was early and often 

 consulted was the recovery of the flooded lands in the 

 Lincoln Fens, and in the low-lying lands near Doncaster 

 and Hull, in Yorkshire. The river Witham, between 

 Lincoln and Boston, was still a source of constant grief 

 and loss to the farmers along its banks. It had become 

 choked up by neglect, so that not only had the naviga- 

 tion of the river become almost lost, but a large extent 

 of otherwise valuable land was constantly laid under 

 water. In reporting on this subject in 1 761 , Mr. Smeaton 

 was associated with Mr. John Grrundy and Mr. Langley 

 Edwards ; and the result of their joint examination was 

 an elaborate report, accompanied by plans, in which 

 they clearly pointed out the causes of the existing evils 

 and the best mode of remedying them. For the pur- 

 pose of improving the outfall, they recommended the 

 cutting of an entirely new river, about twelve and a half 

 miles in length, from a place called Chapel Hill to a little 

 above Boston. They also at the same time recommended 

 a plan for the drainage of Wildmore and West Fens by 

 a new cut and sluice in place of the old Anthony's Gout, 

 with sundry other improvements which they set forth in 

 detail. But the total estimated cost being upwards of 

 40,0 OO/., which was then considered a " mint of money " 



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