

1855] 



ON THE FORMATION OF A CANAL BETWEEN LAKES ST. CLAIR AND ERIE. 



321 



TORONTO, SEPTEMBER, 18 5 5. 



On the formation of a Canal between Lakes St. Clair and 



Erie, 



And the foundation of a Town and Harhour at the Mouth of the Two 

 Creeks, in the Township of liomney, in connection with the establish- 

 ment of an extensive si/stem of Drainage, hy which near a Million 

 of Fertile Acres would lie redeemed in one District. With an illuci- 

 datory Map. 



BY- MAJOR R. LACHLA.V, MONTREAL. 



[Concluded from page 303.) 



To the foregoing descriptive sketcHes of the localities for both 

 undertakings, (see August number of the " Canadian Journal," 

 page 306,) I might have added further desultory remarks demon- 

 strative of the great benefits sure to result from their successful 

 accomplishment, as aifecting not alone the immediately sur- 

 rounding country, but the whole district, and even the Province 

 at large ; but, contenting myself with what had been advanced 

 by Mr. Elliott, and the writer in the Patriot, I merely observed 

 that, taking it for granted that all the advantages expected 

 from the opening of the proposed canal would be realized, the 

 first questions that would be asked would be : what should be 

 the express nature of the canal ? and, what would be the most 

 economical way of executing the work 1 To which I would 

 unhesitatingly reply, that, of course, it ought to be a sli ip canal; 

 but that that involved two considerations, namely, whether, as 

 proposed by Mr. Elliott, it should be only a simple cut without 

 locks, which with a fall of between five and sis feet in fifteen 

 miles might perhaps be practicable, or whether it should be 

 furnished with at least one lock at its southern extremity 

 for at once moderating the cun-ent, which at particular 

 seasons would doubtless be very rapid, and furnishing the 

 village with a valuable permanent water-power for milling 

 purposes, in a part of the country where such privileges are 

 much required. Without, however, pretending to have investi- 

 gated the probable results of either plan very closely, I was 

 content to obser\'e that I inclined to the latter plan, although the 

 most expensive, as calculated to keep the waters in the canal 

 under subjection; whereas, were they left to chance, as an open 

 cut, it was not improbable that the current would in the course 

 of a very short time scoop out a channel of for greater magnitude 

 than might be desirable. Add to which, though I did not 

 altogether acquiesce in Mr. Elliott's expectations of its lowering 

 the surface of Lake St. Clair to the extent predicted by him, it 

 was impossible to say what effect the uncontrolled expansion 

 of such an outlet would produce on the present level of that 

 lake. The expense of the undertaking also I had not attempted 

 to estimate ; but, considering the trifling lockage required and 

 the siqjposed absence of all rocky obstructions, one might hazard 

 a supposition, from a known rate of £o,000 per mile for a canal 

 thirty feet wide and eight feet deep, that the whole expense of 

 excavation would not much exceed £40,000, a sum very far 

 short of the value of the rich lands that would thereby be 

 reclaimed from a state of utterly unproductive, and, at times, 

 even pestilential marsh I 



In taking this cursory view of the subject I had, of course, 

 confined myself to the formation of the canal alone, as a navi- 

 gable channel of communication between the two lakes. It 



now, however, became necessary to connect that branch of the 

 undertaking with the proposed town and harbour at its southern 

 termination. But, fortunately, that would involve very little 

 additional expense ; for, taking it for granted that the eligible 

 character assigned to the former was correct, its rapid location 

 by settlers would be sure to follow ; and, therefore, the only 

 obstacle to the successful formation of the latter, worth con- 

 sidering, would lie in the removal of the bar or sand-bank liable 

 to form at the mouth of the creek. And even that need not 

 detain us for a moment; for if such obstinictions can be obviated 

 elsewhere, and, as already mentioned, could here he so easily 

 overcome in the course of a single night by scooping out a 

 trifling channel with the hands, by way of amusement, what 

 might not be expected to be accomplished by the permanent 

 action of the current of the canal, guided between Piers at its 

 exit into the lake ! 



Having thus supplied — what had been omitted by the iMu- 

 nicipal Council — such data as I thought might reasonably justify 

 the Government in authorising the Board of Works to undertake 

 at least a preliminari/ surveij, I refrained from saying more on 

 that subject. But I could not help addins that being impressed 

 with a conviction that very great public benefits would be 

 derived from a scientific examination of the levels of all 

 the lake-shore Townships, with a view to the institution of a 

 regular sytem of Public Drainage, and the redemption thereby 

 of hundreds of thousands, if not a million of acres of the richest 

 land ; and being of opinion that in a young and rising country 

 like Canada, the general economy of harbours, bridges, 

 and, though last, not least, Fuhlic Drainage, should be under 

 the sole control of Government,* I trusted that I should not 

 be deemed presumptuous, should I hereafter be led to draw the 

 attention of the Governmentto that important subject, particular- 

 ly as I was prepared to prove that in my own Township alone the 

 application of a trifling sum in drainage would at once convert 

 not less than 6,000 acres of the finest land from a state of waste 

 marsh into smiling farms ; and that, to my certain knowledge 

 such was more or less the case in the whole of the other lake- 

 shore Townships. "j" 



* Such is the case with the harbours in the United States, without 

 any reference to profit or otherwise, even to furnishing the funds from the 

 Falderal purse ; and, I believe that some j-cars ago Mr. Eillaly also 

 expressed a similar opinion, at the very time that, strange to saj-, the 

 Kondeau was being abandoned by the Government to a private Com- 

 pany, because found to be unproductive. AVhcreas, had the Govern- 

 ment been in the first instance content to construct a mere harbour 

 of refuge, with a light-house at its mouth, and left the rest to futur- 

 ity, they would have accomplished all that was wanted in such a 

 situation, at half the expense incurred. 



f In justice to the important public objects advocated, I now feel 

 constrained to state, with all candor, that I was in due time honoured 

 with an acknowledgement of the communication from which the fore- 

 going details are extracted, conveying the Governor-General's thanks 

 for my suggestions, and apprising me that the subject had been sub- 

 mitted to the Commissioner of the Board of Works : but that, unfortu- 

 nately, that oflficer had expressed a very unfavourable, though unofUcial, 

 opinion respecting the Canal, which was transmitted for my informa- , 

 tion. Conceiving such a mode of preceding to bo premature— the solo 

 object of the Municipal Council and myself being to obtain a prclimi- 

 fiari/ survey, on which to establish further action or rejection — and the 

 Caiial alone being alludcil to by the Commissioner, and some of my 

 language even on that head appearing to have been inadvertently mis- 

 understood, as well as misquoted, I felt bound to offer some further 

 explanation, in the hope of so far setting matters right ; as I should 

 have regretted exceedingly that any blunders on my part respecting 

 the Canal, should stand in the way of either the proposed Town and 

 Harbour, or the drainage of so large a tract of valuable country. I 

 accordingly lost no time in referring to the fact that instead of profess- 



