1801.] 
ble, that even a few years prevention of 
thefe would compenfate for a great ex- 
penceon acanal, by which that fhould be 
effeSied. The berefits of the Crinan canal, 
cut not many years fince, to fhorten and 
render fafer a final} portion of that naviga- 
tion, were foon found to be fuca as ought 
to encourage an undertaking of gr<grter 
magnitude, for the fame general ends. 
There was a line of communication he- 
tween the Moray Frith and the Hebudian 
fea, which the very finger of nature feem- 
ed to point ovt to man, as a fit channel 
fora canal. The p:ogrefs of improvement 
in the Highlands of Scotland, and the 
otherwile infuperable obfacles, which the 
want of fuch a cans] feemed to oppofe to 
its continuance, called forcibly for the exe- 
cution of fuch a work. It became evi- 
dent, that even the conveniences for the 
naval defence of Great Britain and Ireland 
again(t mvaficn would be much improved 
by its accomplifhment. If the work was 
too grand, and of too vaft expence, to find 
private undertakers, it deferved to be per- 
formed at the nationalexpence. The peo- 
ple who bad begun to emigrate from the &. 
parts, by hundreds of families, for want 
of employment, by which they might eirn 
fubfittence, might be feafonably detained 
at home, if they could be fet to work in 
the conttrudlion of fucha canal, The to- 
tal expence, it was réafonable to think, 
could not exceed half a million ferling. 
And there was no room to fuppofe, that 
the returns, according to the ufual rates 
of canal-tonnage-duty, might not be fuffi- 
cient both to mainta:n the work fer ever in 
complete repair, and to pay, anoually, 
at leaft five per cent, on the capital ex. 
pended in contftruéting them, whether to 
g vernment, or to any private underiakeis, 
by whom that capiral might be advancetl. 
Upon fuch confideration, in the felfion 
of parliament, 1803-4, an A&t paffed, 
** granting to his Majefly the fum of 
£.20.000 iterling, towards defraying the 
expence of making an INLAND'NaViGA- 
‘TION from the eaftern, to the weitera fea, 
by INVERNESs and For PWiILLiaM ; and 
for taking the neccflary (teps towards exe- 
cuting the fame.’? Comimiflioners were 
alfo named, in the Act, to carry its pur- 
ofes into effeét. 
~ This a&t received the royal aflent on the 
27th day of July, 1803. On the 3oth, 
the commiffioners held their fir meeting. 
They fettled, uponthat occafion, an order 
for their future proceedings ; and wrote to 
obtain information from the counties of 
Invernefs and Argyle, through which the 
canal was to pafs, concerning the Jabour- 
Aceount of the Caledonian Canal. 
is 
ers, artificers, tools, and materials, which 
might be there obtained for the immediate 
commencement of the work ; as well as to 
obtain the general concurrence of the land. 
holders of thofe counties, for the accom- 
plifhment of the purpofes of the act. 
At their next mectings, which were held 
on the 3d, gih, and 6th of Auguft, the 
commiffioners infructed Mr. Thomas 
Telford, engireer, to proceed, without 
delay, to Scotland, there to make the 
neceflary furv:ys ; to mack out the line for 
the canal from the eaftern to the wefern 
{ca ; to prepare the plans amid notices for 
a new A&t of Parliament, under which the 
cqnal might be completed ; to commence 
the excavation of the en’rance-decks at 
each end; to open quarries, and to pro- 
vide materials and machinery. Mr. Tel- 
ford was authortled to draw monthly bills 
on the fecretary of the Board, at forty 
days, for the money requifite to defray the 
expence of the works which he had thus 
authority to begin. His own falary was 
fixed at three guineas a day, befide an al- 
lowance for the travelling expences of two 
journiesin the year between Scotland and 
Lendon. 
Mr. Tclford, upon his arrival in Scot. 
land, before the middle of Auguft, 1803, 
immediately made and procured correét 
furveys and meafurements of the line of 
the intended canal, from Lech-Eil, near 
Fort-William, on the Welt-fea, to Loch- 
Beauly, near Invernefs, on the Eaft-fea. 
The total meafurement of this line, was 
found to be 59 miles-and 16 chains, or 
Sths of a mile. Of this diftance, 21 miles 
and 55 chains were on dry land; 37 miles 
and 41 chains, were the meafurements of 
the pafliges through the Loch of Dough- 
four, Loch Nefs, Loch Oich, and Loch 
Lochy. 
"At Mr. Telford’s requet, Mr. Mur- 
doch Downie, allo, executed a furvey of 
the navigation of tre Moray Frith, and 
loch Beauly, from the entrance of Cro- 
marty harbour, and of Loch Nef, Loch 
Oich, and Loch Lachy. Aas accurate 
chart of the entrane=s to the canal, and of 
the courlé propoted for its navigation, was 
from {uch inveftigations prepared. The 
depth of the water, the nature of the bot- 
tom, the accefg to the fhore, tne Shelter 
from winds, and the courle of the tides, 
were tound’to be, every where, from the 
entrance of Cromarty-harbour, to the 
point marked for the eaftern commence- 
ment of the canal, as favourable to the 
approach and fafety of thipping, as they 
had ever been prefumed. Loch Nefs, exe 
tending in a north-eaft and fouth-wef di-- 
rection, 
