CHAP. VI. THE ACT OBTAINED. 341 



pletely given way, and, instead of opposing canals, they 

 were everywhere found anxious for their construction. 

 The navigations hrought lime, coal, manure, and mer- 

 chandise almost to the farmers' doors, and provided 

 them at the same time with ready means of conveyance 

 for their produce to good markets. Farms in remote 

 situations were thus placed more on an equality with 

 those in the neighbourhood of large towns ; rents rose in 

 consequence, and the owners of land everywhere became 

 the advocates and projectors of canals. The dividends 

 paid by the first companies were also very high, and it 

 was well known that the Duke's property was bringing 

 him in immense wealth. There was, therefore, no diffi- 

 culty in getting the shares in new projects readily sub- 

 scribed for : indeed Mr. Telford relates that at the first 

 meeting of the Ellesmere projectors, so eager were the 

 public, that four times the estimated expense was sub- 

 scribed without hesitation. Yet this navigation passed 

 through a difficult country, necessarily involving very 

 costly works ; and as the district was but thinly inhabited, 

 it did not present a very inviting prospect of dividends. 1 

 But the mania had fairly set in, and it was determined 

 that the canal should be made. And whether the invest- 

 ment repaid the immediate proprietors or not, it unques- 

 tionably proved of immense advantage to the population 

 of the districts through which it passed, and contributed 

 to enhance the value of most of the adjoining property. 

 The Act authorising the construction of the canal was 

 obtained in 1793, and Telford commenced operations 

 very shortly after his appointment in October of the 

 same year. His first business was to go carefully over 

 the whole of the proposed line, and make a careful work- 

 ing survey, settling the levels of the different lengths, 

 and the position of the locks, embankments, cuttings, 

 and aqueducts. In all matters of masonry work he felt 



The Ellesmere Canal now pays about 4 per cent, dividend. 



