[32] 
46 
OHIO AND ERIE CANAL. 
[See Map, JVo^ 17.] 
This canal maybe divided in two sections: 1st, The Southern, be- 
gintiing at Pittsburg, and terminating at the summit level which di- 
vide tilose waters that pay their tribute to the Ohio, from those which 
3)ay it to Lalie Erie. 2(1, TliC Northern, beginning at that summit 
level and ending in Lake Erie. 
SouTHERN^ Section. 
It should follow the right shore of the Ohio, from Pittsburg to the 
inoutii of the Big Beaver, ascending the valleys of that river, and one 
of its heads, till it reaches the summit level- 
From Pittsburg to the mouth of Big Beaver, the river winds for 
about thirty miles. Its right shore is formed of successive bluffs and 
bottoms; the latter generally form two beds parallel to the rivei' and 
lising one above the other, as if the bed of the river had formerly been 
liigher tlian it is at present. The upper bottom is never overflowed, 
and both aie formed of an alluvial soil, most favorable for digging a 
canal. The bluffs cojisist of a schistose and clayey soil, which is 
easy to excavate; nor do they offer any considerable steep ground, 
except four miles below Pittsbus'g, on a length of four miles. The 
left shore possesses no advantages over the other, and offers the same 
features, tlie bottom of one shore generally lying opposite to the 
bluffs of the other. No stream of any importance joins the Ohio, 
from Pittsburg to the Big Beaver; but the river pi-esents, in that in- 
terval, eighteen bars, which have but 10 or twelve inches of water in 
the dvy season. At Pittsburg, its floods rise from 22 to 24 feet. 
The Big Beaver, from its mouth in the Ohio, to the forks of Ma- 
liouiiig and Sheuango, presents, like the Ohio, two flat bottoms on 
each of its shores; they both consist of a succession of bottoms and 
bluffs; the former offering a most favorable ground, and the latter 
consisting of a schistose and clayey soil, presenting no serious ob- 
stacle to the digging of a canal, except on the left shore at the spot 
where it joins tlie Ohio. This bluff is almost perpendicular, and 
consists of a mixture of clay and gravel. 
The floods of the Big Bea\ er rise fiom eight to nine feet; and some- 
times tiiose of the Ohio back its course; it then rises and presents a 
level surface Crom the foot of the falls. These begin five or six miles 
from its moutli; their total descent is fifty one feet. From the mouth 
of the river to the forks of Mahoning and Shenango, its course winds 
about twenty miles. It receives no ti-ibutary of any importance, nor 
presents any ravine considei'able enough to require an aqueduct for 
the caiKji in all tiiis s])ace. 
The Mahoning and Shenango are the two upper forks of the 
Big Beavei'. Tlio first descends from the neighborhood of Warren, 
and rises west of thi:^ place, on the east side of a ridge which divides 
