CHAP. X. CALEDONIAN CAXAL. 411 



me so great and so desirable, that I am convinced you 

 will feel a pleasure in bringing it again under investiga- 

 tion, and I am very desirous that the thing should be 

 fully and fairly explained, so that the public may be 

 made aware of its extensive utility. If I can accomplish 

 this, I shall have done my duty ; and if the project is not 

 executed now, some future period will see it done, and I 

 shall have the satisfaction of having followed you and 

 promoted its success." l We may here state that Telford's 

 survey agreed with Watt's in the most important par- 

 ticulars, and that he largely cited his descriptions of the 

 intended scheme in his own report. 



Mr. Telford's first inspection of the district was made 

 in 1801, and his report was sent in to the Treasury in 

 the course of the following year. Lord Bexley, then 

 Secretary to the Treasury, took a warm personal interest 

 in the project, and lost no opportunity of actively pro- 

 moting it. A board of commissioners was eventually 

 appointed to carry out the formation of the canal. 

 Mr. Telford, on being appointed principal engineer of 

 the undertaking, was requested at once to proceed to 

 Scotland and prepare the necessary working survey. 

 He was accompanied on the occasion by Mr. Jessop 

 as consulting engineer. Twenty thousand pounds were 

 granted under the provisions of the 43 Geo. III. 

 (chap, cii.), and the works were commenced, in the 

 beginning of 1804, by the formation of a dock or 

 basin adjoining the intended tide-lock at Corpach, near 

 Banna vie. 



The basin at Corpach formed the southernmost point 

 of the intended canal. It is situated at the head of 

 Loch Eil, amidst some of the grandest scenery of the 

 Highlands. Across the Loch is the little town of Fort 

 William, one of the forts established at the end of the 



1 ' The Origin and Progress of the I By J. P. Muirhead, Esq., M.A. 

 Mechanical Inventions of James Watt.' j Vol. i., p. cxxvi. 



