Account of the Welland Canal. 167 



complished in a few years. In this manner lake Erie will be 

 connected with the Ocean by canals of only seventy six 

 miles in length — sixteen to Ontario, and sixty on the St. 

 Lawrence, which will render this extensive lake coast a sea 

 coast, to all intents and purposes. 



It remains to be seen, whether produce can be shipped at 

 once from thence to a foreign market, by the gulf of St. 

 Lawrence on better terms, than by the Erie canal to New 

 York where the market generally is preferred. 



DESCRIPTION OF MACHINERY. 



The facility with which the earth is removed in deep cut- 

 ting, by means of the improved machine invented by Oliver 

 Phelps, must be obvious upon the slightest inspection of the 

 accompanying plan, and must necessarily supercede the use 

 of any other method hitherto made use of for this purpose, 

 both on account of the increase of power, and the simplicity 

 and cheapness of its construction, which consists of nothing 

 more than a common wagon wheel, with the addition of a 

 rim for the purpose of fastening on the rope by which the 

 carts are drawn up. This wheel is so placed, on an axle or 

 upright piece firmly supported by a brace fastened in a piece 

 of timber bedded in the earth, and two posts framed together 

 and so placed as to keep the wheel steady, with two shives 

 fixed to the sides to keep the rope in its place. A road is 

 constructed in the side of the bank, in an oblong direction, 

 forming an angle of about fifteen degrees from the top where 

 this machinery is placed, to the bottom of the canal. The 

 great advantage derived from this method is that no power 

 is lost, for the empty team descending assists the one ascend- 

 ing — thereby reducing the ascent to a level. Six teams may 

 be attached to each machine, and work without the least 

 inconvenience or interruption. 



George Keefer, Jun. 



remarks by the editor. 



Having been gratified, during the late autumn, by a visit 

 to the deep cut on the Welland Canal, we were, in common 

 with our whole party, forcibly struck with the simplicity and 

 efficiency of the machinery here described. Horses and 

 oxen were driven rapidly down the inclined roads on the 



