40 Life and Times of " The Druid? 



railways — an event quite unlooked for when 

 the canal was set on foot — knocked it on the 

 head, and diverted its traffic into other chan- 

 nels. Mr. Dixon was the first establisher 

 of steamboats in connection with the canal 

 between Port Carlisle and Liverpool, and 

 was for many years the active and energetic 

 Chairman of the Steamboat Company, formed 

 for that purpose, which proved a highly re- 

 munerative concern until railways put a period 

 to its existence. He was also concerned in 

 promoting the Newcastle and Carlisle Rail- 

 way, forming with the Carlisle Canal a con- 

 nection between the east and west coasts, 

 and a feeder of traffic to the older under- 

 taking. In connection with the railway he 

 assisted in bringing cheap coal to Carlisle, in 

 conjunction with his brother, Mr. John Dixon, 

 by opening out and working the Blenkinsopp 

 Colliery." 



The establishment of which " The Druid's " 

 father was a member, when the cotton manu- 

 facture was in its most flourishing state, be- 

 came a concern of very great extent. In 

 1835, he and his partners erected their im- 

 mense cotton mill and works in Shaddongate, 



