18 [ 32 ] 
A. 
EElPORT 
0j Gencrol 8, Bernard, and Lieut. Col. J. G. 'fatten, members of the 
Board of Internal Improvement, on the several Canal routes examm- 
ed in 1 824, by orders from the If ar Department. 
The routes for Canals which have been successively examined dur- 
ing the late season, by orders fi'om the War Department, areas follows: 
1st. One to unite the Chesapeake and Ohio, through the Valley of 
the Potomac, on the eastern, and that of the Youghiogany on the 
western side of the Alleghany Mountain. 
2d. One to unite the Ohio with Lake Erie, through the Valle}'^ of 
Big lieaver Creek, ontlie southern side, and several dircetions across 
the country which sloj>es to the Lake, on the northerji. 
5d. One to unite the Ohio and Schuylkill, through the Valleys of 
the Alleghany river, Kiskiniintay, great and little Concmaugh riveps, 
©n tlie western side, and Juniatta and Susquehannah,;,on the eastern, 
to a point below Ilarrisburgh, and from thence to Philadelphia, 
through Lancaster county. 
4th. One to unite the Delaware and Raritan, through the Valleys 
of Crosswick Creek, and across the Assunpich, on the western side, 
and the Valley of Lawrence's Brook, on the eastern. 
5th. One through the isthmus of Cape Cod, from Hyannus harbor 
to Barnstable harbor. 
6th. One to unite Buzzard's Bay and Barnstable Bay, by Monii- 
Mient river, and Scussett rivtr. 
7th. One to unite Narragansett Bay and Boston harbor, from, 
Taunton river to Weymouth landing. 
This report will comprise the successive examination of each of 
these routes: but, in the first place, it will be proper to indicate the 
series of operations which the Board have adopted to arrive at a de- 
finitive result, in the formation of the system intrusted to them. 
Tlie complete ■project of a canal requires great researches, and a 
careful investigation of its smallest details. The first operation must 
be to reconnoitre the ground at sight, and thus investigate, in a gen- 
eral marwier, the main features of its hydrography and topography- 
this can only give general results, and approximated conjectures^ 
more or less exact; accurate surveys must afterwards ascertain the 
positive facts, disengaged from all speculative ideas. Thus, 1. To 
recnnnoitve the ground. 2. To survey accurately its fopograplsical 
