99 [32] 
sum t!ian two hundred thousand dollars will be gufficicnt. While it 
must be a g»-atification to see the sti-ong probability exhibited in the 
report of tlie ultimate success of the improvement of the Siisfpichannah, 
giving access from the north to Baltimore, it will be still kej)t in view 
that the western trade will be necessarily by canals, in bottoms not 
adapted to the Chesa}Tcake, ami that access to tluit market from the 
west, must be more convenient by the Potomac route. 
Section 4. TheSusquehannah, atthejunctionofthe Juniatta, appears 
to be about half a mile wide, and is full of ledgesj tl)C current must, 
here, at times, be extremely rough, but the only dangei' to which an 
aqueduct would be exposed is the same to which bri(igcs on this river 
are subject, viz: the lodgment and accumulation of ice, and the con- 
sequent rise of the water. 
The ground from Clark's Ferry to Harrisburg, 14 miles, appeared 
to be generally level; thence, to Middlctown, also favorable, lo view 
the line which the commissioners had been cxploi-ing tiirough Lasi,- 
caster county, we accompanied them to the villages oi Elizabeth, and 
Manheim, taking the gauge of the branches of the Chickisalengo, 
three feet, and our opinion was, that the plan of i'unnirtg one or 
more feeders to the head branches of the Conestago, of a navigable 
size, would be both useful and essential. 
On this part of the line two alternatives seem to offer in the direct 
course, either to rise and descend a ridge of laud between t!je Chicki- 
salengo and the Conestago, or pass under it by a tunnel of about one 
jnile. A tunnel is now of such common occuri-ence in ci^ il er-gineer- 
ing, as to oppose no obstaole, if the expense of it is none in compa- 
rison with the object of the W'ork; and even the expense and time may 
be essentially dimiiiislied by the employment of steam engine power 
to raise the eartJi through shafts opened jjcj-pendicularly at ditferent 
distances for this purpose. 
We regretted the wctnoss of the season had not permitted tlie com- 
missioners to remark the lowest state of the water that ever occurrj, 
through this part of the county of Lancaster; we could not at the 
time we saw tlie streams, form a decisive opinion. We crossed the 
Conestago, near the city of Lancaster, wlicre it runs, as it does in 
fact, for a long way in a deep bed. The line tlion led over into th« 
valley of Mill Creek, and afterwards gains the valley of the Fequa; 
and reaches the ascent to the passage into the county of Chester, in 
about 14 miles from the city. The ground ascends graditally, for one 
mile, till it reaches the proposed level of a tunnel under the gapof 
the mountain about 72 feet below the sui'face, in conformity with the 
ground on the south side thereof, and 150 feet above the general level 
of Lancaster. The supply of water relied on for thi^s pait of the canal, 
is principally that of Buck Run, a>id the west bi'ancli of t!)C Bi-audy- 
Avine, with the head waters of the Octorara. The head waters of 
Pequa, also, on the noi-th side. These streams wei'c all so mucl^ 
more abundant at this time t'lan they are at midsummer, tliat we did 
not think their meas'ii'ement conclusive, though made in some in- 
itances. The west branch of the Brandywine was i'Tiind to dcHven* 
