468 Canadian Record of Science. 
recommended certain dams to be constructed and certain 
channels on the Rideau River to be cleared of obstructions. 
It was immediately subsequent to this that the military 
settlements of Perth and Richmond were laid out, but not 
until 1819 that construction of canals was actively under- 
taken, by the Imperial Government. In this year the Gren- 
ville Canal was begun by the Royal Staff Corps, although 
not completed until 1833. In 1821 the Carillon Canal was 
similarly commenced by the Staff Corps and completed in 
1834; whilst the Lachine Canal was undertaken by the 
Lower Province, with some aid from the Imperial Govern- 
ment, and finished in 1824. 
In 1821 the interest of the people of the Upper Province 
was thoroughly aroused, and a commission, under the pre- 
sidency of Hon. John Macaulay of Kingston, was appointed 
to consider the improvement of the internal navigation of 
the Province. The commission reported on the Rideau 
- Canal on the 5th October, 1825, giving three estimates of 
cost; that for a canal 5 feet deep, and with locks 80 feet 
long by 15 wide, being £145,802 stg. This report was 
apparently at once transmitted to the British Government, 
which in the same year sent out a commission, composed 
of Sir J. C. Smyth, Sir G. Hoste and Major Harris, C.E., to 
enquire into the cost of construction of a canal on the same 
scale as the Lachine Canal, which had been made 5 feet 
deep, and with locks 108 feet long by 20 feet wide. This 
commission in its report estimated the cost at £169,000 
stg., and on this report being received by the Home Govy- 
ernment the construction of the Rideau Canal was deter- 
mined on. 
On 30th May, 1826, Lieut.-Col. By, R.E., arrived at Que- 
bec from England, with instructions from Gen. Mann, 
inspector of fortifications, to superintend the building of 
the canal on the lines laid down by the Imperial commis- 
sion. Foreseeing the possibilities of steam on the great 
river systems of Canada, and its importance on the canal 
as a motive power instead of horses, as contemplated by the 
