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amounts to nearly two miles. It commences below Louisville 
in a small bay, goes behind Shippingport, and joins the Ohio 
between that place and Portland. Its descent was reckoned 
at twenty-four feet. Three locks, each at a distance of one hun¬ 
dred and ninety feet from each other, will be located not far 
from the mouth near Shippingport, and the difference of level 
in each will be eight feet. The breadth of the locks was fixed 
at fifty feet, to admit of the passage of the broadest steam¬ 
boat, on which account also the interval from one lock to the 
other was made one hundred and ninety feet. Above the highest 
lock on both sides of the canal, dry docks will be constructed for 
steam-boats to repair in. The sides of the canal are only walled 
with masonry between the locks. The banks above are in a ter¬ 
race form. One advantage this canal has, is that the bottom con¬ 
sists of rock; the depth to which it is hewed or blown out, 
must be throughout fifty feet wide. The rock, however, which 
is broke out here, is a brittle limestone, which is not fit for water 
masonry, and of course does not answer for locks. The rock 
employed for this work is a species of blue stone, brought out 
of the state of Indiana, and a bulk of sixteen square feet, four 
feet deep, costs four dollars delivered at the canal. To dig this 
canal out, twenty-seven feet of yellow clay at its thickest part, 
then seven feet thick of yellow sand; from here fifteen feet 
thick of blue- clay, must be passed through before you come 
to the rock, where there are ten feet thickness still to be dug 
away. As for the lock gates, they were to be made only of 
timber, and none of the improvements introduced in England, 
either the elliptical form of the gates, or the iron frames were to 
be employed. Moreover, I observed from the profile of the work, 
the incredible height of the river, which often raises itself fifty 
feet over places fordable in the last of summer. 
Upon the following day I took a walk with Dr. Croghan and 
Major Davenport, down the canal to Shippingport, and witnessed 
the labour in removing the earth for the canal. The soil in¬ 
tended to be dug out, was first ploughed by a heavy plough, 
drawn by six oxen. Afterwards a sort of scoop drawn by two 
horses was filled with earth, (and it contained three times as much 
as an ordinary wheel-barrow,) it was then carried up the slope, 
where it was deposited, and the scoop was brought back to be filled 
anew. In this manner much time and manual labour was saved. 
Several steam-boats lie at Shippingport, among them was the 
General Wayne, which h&d arrived at New Orleans in five days 
voyage from this place; had stopt there five days on account of 
unloading, and reloading, and had made her return trip from New 
Orleans to Louisville in ten days; consequently had moved 
against the stream one hundred and thirty-five miles daily* Se- 
