Geografia d'Europa: textos de suport

The lord mayor and the alderman of York were appointed in 1462 conservators of the Ouse and the other rivers connected therewith. During the five decades 1828 to 1868, the traffic averaged about 110,000 tons per annum. The navigation in 1872 extended from 8 miles above York to the confluence of the Trent, Ouse, and Humber - 60 miles.

The Aire and Calder were incorporated in 1699, and subsequent acts of Parliament were procured in 1774, 1820, and 1828. In point of construction and operation this has been regarded up to the present time as the model canal in England.

Up to 1872 there had been expended on this work more than £2,000,000 ($9,733,000), out of which, borrowed and then due, there remained about £500,000 ($2,433,250). Interest was paid on this sum before declaring dividends. The amount of share capital and debt is not limited by the acts of Incorporation. Proprietors' interests are said to be estimated by the proportion borne to dividend. In 1872 it was stated that the Aire and Calder dividend had ranged up to that time from £40,000 ($194,660) to £72,000 ($350,388).

In 1872 reconstruction of the canal for the fourth time was taking place.

The canal was originally made 3 feet 6 inches in depth, and the locks were 60 feet by 15 feet by 3 feet 6 inches. Under the act of 1774 the locks were made 66 feet by 15 feet by 5 feet throughout the system. In 1820 the Goole canal was constructed, with locks 72 feet by 18 feet by 7 feet, and under the act of 1828 these dimensions were extended to the whole navigation. Since the year 1860 a general improvement had taken place previously to 1883, with locks 215 feet by 22 feet by 9 feet. At that date (1883) these changes lacked about three years' work of being complete as to the routes from Goole to Leeds and from Goole to Wakefield. The canal itself was then 66 feet wide. From 1860 to 1883 £600,000 ($2,919,900) was said to have been expended in improvements and purchases of mill power and water rights, etc. Of this amount £100,000 ($486,650) was spend on the port of Goole and £32,000 ($155,728) in purchasing the Bradford Canal.

A summary given in 1883 makes the distances as follows:

Goole to Wakefield, 37 miles; Goole to Leeds, 36 miles; Barnsley branch, 12 miles (acquired in 1871); Bank Dale branch, 11 miles (Bank Dale, 18 miles from Goole to Selby).

Navigation of the River Aire to Rawcliffe and intermediate points not touched by the canal was also in the hands of the Aire and Calder, so that the total length of the undertaking, reckoning canal and river together, was about 80 miles.

Over the Aire and Calder proper, not including the Barnsley Canal, the traffic in 1872 amounted to about 2,000,000 tons, total; equivalent to 42,250,000 tons carried 1 mile. At the same period the rate of the Barnsley was about 250,000 tons per annum and that of the Calder and Hebble 556,000 tons.

The gross tonnage of the Aire and Calder is given as follows: In 1838, 1,383,971 tons; 1848, 1,335,783 tons; 1858, 1,098,149 tons; 1868, 1,747,251 tons.

The locks of the Aire and Calder are divided; one length takes two boats and the other length takes one boat, so as to save the water. Three boats of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal will go through the Aire and Calder locks at once.

A large culvert extends alongside the lock, with one sluice at the upper end of the lock 7 by 5 feet (the ordinary sluice is 2 or 3 feet square); and at the lower extremity of the lock is another sluice. When that is closed and the lock is empty the upper sluice is raised. It is self-balanced, like a throttle valve. Three orifices open into the elongated lock, arranged so as to divide the boats and prevent their knocking together when they are in the lock. To empty the lock the upper sluice is closed, the lower one opened, and the water drawn into the culvert and discharged at the lower end. This plan is used instead of discharging the water at the gate. The sluices are practically self-acting; two turns of the sluice handle raise it and three turns lower it. The lock is said to be filled and emptied with much more celerity by this plan than in the ordinary way, by the gates.

By way of the Aire and Calder there are three routes from Hull and Goole to Liverpool, viz: (1) Through Leeds, by Aire and Calder, Leeds, and Liverpool; (2) through Wakefield, by Aire and Calder, Calder and Ribble, Rochdale, Bridgewater, Mersey River; (3) through Wakefield, by Aire and Calder, Calder and Hebble, Sir John Ramsdin's Huddersfield, Ashton, Rochdale, Bridgewater, Mersey River.

The distances are given as follows:
 

The Barnsley branch was purchased by the Aire and Calder in 1871. The 15 locks on this branch were subsequently lengthened from 66 feet, their length in 1871, to 85 feet, increasing the viable tonnage from 75 to 115. This took two years and cost about £7,500 ($36,498.75), somewhat over £500 ($2,433.25) per lock. It made the locks of the Barnsley Canal, in 1883, 85 by 15 by 6 feet. The Silkstone extension on this branch is now (1890) used merely for water supply, and is without traffic; it is 2 miles in length. It had formerly a large coal traffic on it.

The branch of the Aire and Calder from Bank Dale to Selby distributed to York, Tadcaster, and Malton, with considerable trade in 1883, which still continues.

The old line through Haddlesey and Snaith to the Ouse was in 1883 nearly disused on account of its circuitousness, and the locks remained at 5 feet, the depth of 1776. The new lines to Goole and to Selby had absorbed the traffic, leaving but a little in coal and timber to the old route. The good navigation through Whitley and Pollington is called the Knottingley and Goole Canal.

In 1883 vessels up to 167 tons burden were going on the line from Goole to Leeds or Wakefield.

The principal tonnage in 1872 was coal, but they had also a large traffic in grain, stone, timber, dyewoods, and general goods.

There were two recognized systems of traffic on the Aire and Calder - the quick transit, or merchandise system, and the slow transit, or mineral system. The company acted as carriers in addition to being takers of toll, and they still do. I learn from the company that they convey in the capacity of carriers and by means of flyboats (hauled by steam, so far as their own waters are concerned) large quantities of merchandise between the ports of Hull and Goole and Leeds, Bradford, Shipley, Bingley, Keighley, Skipton, Colne, Burnley, Accrington, Blackburn, Wigan, Liverpool, Waterfield, Dewsbury, Barnsley, Mirfield, Huddersfield, Brighouse, Halifax, and Sowerby Bridge. Through their agents, they say, they also carry to Rochdale, Todmorden, Littleboro, Heywood, Manchester and other places. They say the rates of carriage charged by water are less that those of the competing railway companies.

The merchandise traffic of the Leeds and Liverpool Canal was leased to certain railway companies for twenty-one years, expiring in 1874. On certain percentages of liability the railways paid so much a year for the merchandise traffic, leaving the mineral traffic and the maintenance of the canal with the canal company. Since the termination of the lease, according to Mr. Bartholomew's evidence in 1883, from which I derive these facts, through rates for the Aire and Calder and the Leeds and Liverpool had been arranged. A reasonable and fair increase of traffic, more than was due to the general increase of traffic of the country, had resulted.

The Leeds and Liverpool Company themselves had become carriers since the lease expired, and had carried merchandise traffic themselves largely.

A recent newspaper report makes an estimate of the amount expended on the Leeds and Liverpool Canal from the commencement of the undertaking to the present date, that is to say, from 1770 to 1889, and reckons the total sum at £1,500,000 ($7,299,750), of which by far the greater part is deemed to have been contributed from savings out of revenue.
 
 

The principal canals in this district are the Shropshire Union Canals, made up of several canals, as stated below; the Leeds and Liverpool Canal, and the Manchester Ship Canal, formerly the Bridgewater Canal.

Originally they were built generally with sloping sides, but more recently the sides are perpendicular, and the towpath side is protected by a granite wall, the other side being simply earth, protected where necessary by piling.

The locks are chiefly of stone and brick, but latterly concrete is preferred for this. The lock gates are of elm, oak, or teak wood.

The Shropshire Union Canals afford the shortest and best canal route between the Mersey and the South Staffordshire and Birmingham iron districts, and the only water route between that river and Shropshire and North Wales, Cheshire, and Chester. They also join the North Stafford Canal at Middlewich, and thus provide water communication between the Shropshire Union system and North and South Staffordshire, and also Warrington and Manchester districts.
 

(1)	Chester Canal, between the River Dee, at Chester and Nantwich, a distance of 20 miles, the statutory authority for which was given in 1772.
(2)	The Ellesmere Canal, from Carreghofa, in Montgomeryshire, where it joins the Montgomeryshire Canal, to Hurleston, in Cheshire, where it joins the Chester Canal, with a branch from the Dee at Chester to the River Mersey at Ellesmere Port. The distance traversed covers 86 miles. The act of Parliament was passed in 1793.
(3)	The Birmingham and Liverpool, from Autherly, a point of junction with the Stafford and Worcester Canal near Wolverhampton, to Nantwich, where it joins the Chester Canal, with a branch to the Shrewsbury Canal at Norbury Junction, the distance covered being 53 miles. Authority for construction was given in 1826.
(4)	The Montgomeryshire Canals, from Carreghofa (where the Ellesmere Canal begins) to Newtown, in Montgomeryshire, with branches. The distance covered is 25 miles. The authority for this was given in 1794.
(5)	The Shrewsbury Canal, from Wombridge to Shrewsbury, in Shropshire, the distance covered being 22 miles, the authority for which was granted in 1793.

The whole of these canals were formed into the Shropshire Union Company in the year 1846. The total length of the various canals forming the company's system is about 206 miles.

The canal from Nantwich to Ellesmere Port (its terminus), where it joins the River Mersey, is sufficient to pass lighters and flats carrying from 40 to 60 tons, and such craft are constantly employed upon it.

On other parts of the system narrow boats 7 feet wide are used, which carry from 18 to 30 tons, according to the depth of water. The depth of water varies from 3 feet to 4 feet 6 inches.

The locks on the canal from Chester up to Nantwich are broad, and admit two narrow boats at a time. On other lengths they are narrow.

In all districts the width of the waterway is sufficient to admit of two narrow boats passing at the same time, except through the locks, tunnels and aqueducts.
 
 

By courtesy of Mr. E. Thomas, the engineer and manager of the Regent's Canal, I am informed that, under the authority of the British Parliament, the canal was commenced in the year 1812 and occupied about eight years in construction, being open for traffic in the year 1820. It was constructed in the ordinary manner, but differs from other canals by having two locks at each variation of level, side by side, to economize consumption of water.

The Limehouse dock has a water area of 10 acres, and extensive quayage, with a ship entrance 350 feet long, 60 feet wide, and with sills laid 28 feet below Trinity high-water mark; also an entrance for barges 79 feet long, 14 feet 6 inches wide, with sills laid 22 feet below Trinity high-water mark.

The wharves and jetties in the dock are provided with hydraulic and other cranes for transshipping and loading coals and other goods up to 15 tons weight.

The dock, which is within and part of the port of London, is most conveniently located on the north bank of the River Thames, about a half mile below the Shadwell entrance to the London docks, 1 1/2 mile below London Bridge, and one-third of a mile above the Limehouse entrance to the West India docks, and is close to the Stepney station of the London and Blackwall Railway, which is reached by trains from Fenchurch street station in eight minutes; and trains run to and from this station to all stations on the Great Eastern Railway, and the London, Tilbury and South End, Thames Haven and London, Woodford and Ongar branches thereof, and also in communication with the trains of the North London Railway Company passing Bow station.

Screw steam vessels to and from Liverpool calling at Falmouth, Plymouth, and Southampton, leave and arrive at the dock weekly. London agents, J.D. Hewett & Co., 101 Leadenhall street, and John Allen & Co., 150 Leadenhall street.

The jetties in the dock are capable of transshipping and weighing, with great rapidity and small breakage, coal from screw steamers and other vessels into craft for the River Thames and other inland navigation. The Regent's Canal communicates with the dock and River Thames, and is navigable for barges of 100 tons burden. It passes through Stepney, Mile End, Bethnal Green, Hackney, Shoreditch, St. Lukes, Islington, St. Pancras, Marylebone, and Paddington, in which last-named parish it communicates with the Grand Junction Canal.

Large warehouse accommodation and extensive wharf area for storing timber, stone, and other goods are provided within the dock premises.

The company is permitted under a sufferance license (Class B), received from the honorable board of customs, to receive into the dock and land upon the quays, or transship into craft for river or canal, every description of goods and grain.

The facilities which are now afforded at this company's dock are strongly recommended to the notice of traders and lightermen on the Thames and the Regent's Canal, Hertford Union Canal, Grand Junction Canal, River Lee, and other inland navigations connected therewith, as considerable inconvenience, detention of vessels, and expense, also risk of damage to valuable cargoes such as grain, etc., in barges, consequent upon navigating the River Thames, would be avoided by using the dock.

The Great Eastern, Great Northern, Midland, and London and Northwestern Railway companies have their goods termini on the banks of this canal, and the Great Western Railway upon the Paddington Basin.
 
 

This canal was constructed, under an act of Parliament, in the year 1873. The length of the main line and its branches is about 140 miles, and the carrying capacity of barges navigating the canal varies from 50 to 76 tons, according to the craft and section of canal navigated. This company has power to charge toll for distances of about 100 miles of 16s. 10 3/4d. per ton, but in point of fact the traffic will only bear a toll of 2s. 6d. a ton over that section, thus showing a large reduction that has now been effected on the expectant sources of revenue at the time of construction.

This canal, for 30 miles from the river Thames, at Brentford, Middlesex, was partly constructed by canalizing the rivers Brent, Colne, Gade, and Bulbourne, and is not much used for irrigating purposes.
 
 

The canal belonging to this company was constructed in the year 1807. The canal is a short one - only 4 miles in length, being part of a scheme devised in the early part of this century for communication from Rotherhithe, which is about 1 1/2 miles from London Bridge, to Battersea, which is about 3 miles from London Bridge, but the plan was not carried out in its entirety, and the canal terminates at Camberwell and Peckham, suburbs of London. The canal was constructed for the class of barges ordinarily navigating the river Thames, and is camp sheeted for nearly its entire length, rendering full width available.

The traffic consists entirely of barges engaged in supplying the wharves and premises on the banks of the canal with goods which enter the company's docks at Rotherhithe.

The premises on the canal are chiefly occupied as tar distilleries, chemical manufactories, and wood yards, and a large part of the revenue from the canal is derived from the dues on coals which are brought up the canal to the South Metropolitan Gas Company, whose works have a water frontage on the canal. The canal is virtually a part of this company's dock system.
 

The Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, the Dun Navigation, the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, and the Dearn and Dove Canal were constructed about one hundred years ago, and there has been but little improvement in them since they became the property of the Manchester, Sheffield and Lincolnshire Railway Company in the year 1849. The size of these canals is such as to limit boats and barges trading between Sheffield and the river Trent to a carrying capacity of about 80 tons each. The use of steam as a propelling power is prohibited, and the length of time required to pass between Sheffield and tide water averages about a week. The locks are small and numerous, and from the canal into the Trent only one boat can be passed through at a time, giving a total of only about twenty boats at each tide. In spite of this unfavorable condition, however, not less than 500,000 tons of through traffic pass the locks at Keadby in the course of a year.

The canals being in the possession of a railway company which reaches the same points between Sheffield and the coast, there is consequently no competition on rates of traffic between the two. Thus the railway company's rate on coal for shipment at Hull from South Yorkshire amounts to 2s. 10d. (69 cents) per ton, or double the rate charged by the Aire and Calder Canal over an equal distance from the West Yorkshire collieries to Goole.
 
 

The canals and inland navigation enterprises in Ireland are of three classes, viz:

First. Those owned and operated by private companies or corporations. Under this head are the following: The Grand Canal, with a total length, including branches, 165 3/4 miles; the Barrow Navigation, partly canal and partly river, 42 miles; the Upper Boyne, all river, 6 miles, completed in 1800; the Lagan, mostly river, 26 miles; the Newry, canal and river, 35 miles; the Suir, all river, 16 miles; the Royal Canal, 96 miles. These, of course, are maintained out of funds belonging to their respective companies. From their importance, the Grand Canal, the Royal Canal, the Barrow Navigation, and Lagan Navigation will be considered separately and in greater detail further on. The improvements upon the routes described by the Upper Boyne, the Newry, and the Suir were largely accomplished by means of assistance in the forms of loans of public money, or by grants from general or special taxes. Some of these loans have been paid and some remitted. There is no considerable traffic upon these canals now, and the profits derived therefrom are small.

Second. Those owned and operated by the Government and maintained out of imperial funds. This class is composed of the following lines: The Lower Boyne, canal and river, 19 miles; the Maigue, all river, 8 miles, improved in 1751; the Shannon, chiefly river, 158 miles; the Tyrone, all river, 4 miles; the Ulster Canal, 44 miles. The improvement or construction of these channels, as the case may be, was accomplished by direct grants of the public funds and advances realized by local assessment. The latest reports rendered by the commissioners, under whose management are these several lines of navigation, show that the total annual receipts amount to £6,584, and the annual disbursement for expenses for all purposes, to £6,192. Thus it will be seen that the receipts derived from rents, tolls, etc., make them a trifle more than self-sustaining. Of the lines mentioned, the Shannon Navigation and the Ulster Canal are the most important. The improvement of the former involved an outlay of £683,312, and the construction of the latter about £170,000.

Third. Those under the direction of local trustees. This class includes the Ballymore and Ballyconnell, mostly canal, 37 miles; the Lower Bann, mostly river, 50 miles; the Upper Bann, all river, 21 miles; and Lough Corrib, mostly river, 23 miles. The improvement or construction of these lines, as described, was also accomplished by grants of public money and advances secured in local taxation, amounting in the aggregate to about £600,000. These public works covered a period from 1845 to 1859. The group, as given above, is also a little more than self-sustaining. With the exception of the first mentioned, the latest figures show that the total annual receipts are £3,261, and the total disbursements are £2,553. As stated, these works are managed by local trustees, representing the property interests which are contiguous to the several lines. In case of a deficiency, the difference is made up by means of local taxation. In case of a surplus, the local taxation is less by that amount. The system of management is the same as that which applies to public highways.
 
 

This is the most important artificial waterway in Ireland. Its main line extends from Dublin westward to the Shannon River, and from thence westward to Ballinasloe, with branches to the Liffey, Robertstown, Blackwood reservoir, Monastereven, St. James Well, Athy, Mountmellick, Edenderry, and Kilbeggan. Its summit level is 279 feet above sea level, which point is 26 miles west of Dublin. The locks upon this canal are 60 feet in length, 13 feet in width, and have 5 feet lift. Although steam is used somewhat, horses are used principally as the power for moving the boats. The traffic upon this canal amounts to 600,000 tons annually. The Grand Canal now earns for the shareholders £1 15s. on each £100 of the capital stock. The construction of the Grand Canal was commenced in 1753, and the main line was completed in about 1800. The line west of the Shannon River and the branches were opened in 1830. The entire work involved an outlay of £2,000,000. A considerable portion of this amount was made up by grants from special or general taxes and also by loans, a part of which has been repaid to the Government and a part of which has been remitted. The present capitalization of the company is £165,000.
 
 

The Royal Canal proceeds northwesterly from Dublin to Cloondara, on the Shannon, with a branch to Longford; the total length of channel being 96 miles. Its summit level is 324 feet above sea level. It is fed from Lough Owel, near Mullingar. The dimensions of the locks are 70 feet in length, 13 feet in width, with 5 feet lift. The Royal Canal Company was organized in 1784. The first 46 miles of the channel was completed in 1813. The remainder of the work was completed in 1822. It received large assistance from the Irish Parliament, and from the Union after that was established. The total cost of the work was something over £1,900,000. In 1813 the original company became insolvent, the charter was forfeited, and the property transferred to the directors-general of inland navigation. Again, in 1845, the Royal Canal was transferred to the Midland Great Western Railway Company, the consideration being £298,050. An essential condition of the transfer was that the purchaser should maintain the navigation and not vary the tolls except with the assent of the lord lieutenant of Ireland. Being its own competitor, however, the company does not utilize the facilities of the canal to any considerable extent. The annual tonnage amounts to only 86,500, on an average.
 
 

This route connects the Athy branch of the Grand Canal with the tidal part of the River Barrow, below St. Mullins, and affords water communication to Carlow, Leighlin Bridge, Bagnalstown, Goresbridge, and Graignamanna, and thence by tidal part of the Barrow to New Ross and Waterford. The work was commenced in 1759, and up to 1790 cost £80,769, about one-half of which was derived from public sources. It also received other grants after the Union, but the exact amount is not available. There is considerable traffic upon this route, but I have been unable to get figures showing annual tonnage. The profits to the shareholders are moderate.
 
 

This is owned by the Lagan Navigation Company. The works were commenced by the commissioners of navigation for Ireland, the expense being defrayed by a local toll on beer, ale, and spirits imposed by an act of 1753.

In 1771 prosecution of the work was delegated to local commissioners, who raised money on the securities of the tolls. Afterwards these creditors were constituted a company by act of Parliament. The canal extends from Belfast to Lough Neagh, 26 miles, and has 26 locks, capable of passing lighters 62 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, with a maximum draft of 5 feet 6 inches.

The traffic is about 156,000 tons per annum, consisting of coal, Indian corn, timber, slates, brick, etc., and return cargoes from Lough Neagh of sand for building purposes.

The company is managed by a Belfast board of directors, with secretary and manager of works.

The company are not carriers. The lighters trading are owned by different individuals. Wherever the canal touches, railway rates are brought down to canal rates. Roughly, the effect in cheapening transportation would probably be about from 15 to 25 per cent, or perhaps even more.
 
 

The works on this canal were commenced by the Ulster Canal Company under an act of 1826. Loans to the extent of £130,000 were made by the commissioners of public works in Ireland. In 1865 the canal was transferred to the commissioners in discharge of the debt. More money was expended on the canal, but under the commissioners it has been kept in such want of repair and want of water that there could be no traffic. By an act of Parliament, passed in 1888, it was transferred to the Lagan Navigation Company, as a gift, with £3,500 toward cost of repairs, the company being obligated to keep it in order for the public, charging fees regulated by act of Parliament.

It is now being put in order. The canal extends from Lough Neagh to Lough Erne, 44 miles, and has 26 locks capable of passing lighters 65 feet by 11 feet, with a maximum draft of 5 feet, when in repair.
 
 

Commenced in 1732 by the commissioners of Ireland, its navigation continued in their charge until 1787, when the works were transferred to parties undertaking to complete and extend the canal. In 1800 the navigation came into the hands of the directors-general of Ireland, and between 1800 and 1831 the sum of £26,240 was expended upon the works. In 1831, on the abolition of the directors-general of Ireland navigation, the management was transferred to the commissioners of public works, in whose charge it has since continued, and a sum of £5,177 has been expended by them.

Under an act of 1888 it was transferred as a gift to the Lagan Navigation Company, with obligation to keep it in order for the public, charging tolls regulated by act of Parliament. The canal extends from Blackwater River, which runs into Lough Neagh, to the town of Coal Island, 4 1/2 miles, and has 7 locks capable of passing lighters 62 feet by 14 feet 6 inches, with a maximum draft of 4 feet 9 inches. Traffic, about 15,000 tons per annum.
 
 

The only system of inland navigation within the limits of the consular district of Leith (Edinburgh) is the Union Canal, an artificial waterway extending from Port Hopetown, in the western suburbs of the city of Edinburgh, to a junction with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Port Downie (a large basin at Lock 16), adjoining the town of Falkirk, in the county of Stirling.

The construction of the Union Canal was undertaken in the year 1817. It was opened in 1822, but as a property it proved a great failure. The returns from all departments - passengers, parcels, and miscellaneous goods, coals, stone, and other minerals, manure, etc. - proved much less than had been anticipated. The real returns during the seven years after opening did not amount to $85,000 a year, while the estimated returns had been set down at $275,000 a year. The canal was not intended for ship transit, but solely as a waterway of inland navigation for passenger traffic and merchandise between places on its own banks, and chiefly between Edinburgh and Glasgow, and therefore it was for a long period generally called the Edinburgh and Glasgow Canal.

The company owning it worked their business with great spirit, and adopted every available means in the endeavor to make their enterprise a paying one, or even to raise it to a fairly hopeful condition; but when the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway was opened, February 18, 1842, it was seen that the canal could not long survive as an independent system of passenger and goods traffic between the two cities. A brisk competition was maintained for some time with little success, and ultimately, in 1849, the Union Canal was amalgamated with the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, both of which undertakings in 1865 passed into the hands of the North British Railway Company. The Union Canal, therefore, although still remaining as a work, is quite absorbed as a business in the interests of the railway.

The total length of the Union Canal, from Port Hopetown, at Edinburgh, to the junction with the Forth and Clyde Canal at Lock 16, is 31 1/2 miles.

The medium width at top of bank is 40 feet; at surface of water, 37 feet, and width of water at bottom of canal, 20 feet. The depth of water is 5 feet.

There are 11 locks, 12 1/2 feet wide. Depth of water on sill of locks, 5 feet 9 inches. Total rise or fall of locks, 10 feet 3 inches.

The traffic consists entirely in conveyance of coals, stone, bricks, and other minerals, and manure.

The present owners are merely toll takers, not carriers. Other people put on the barges or boats. The management of this canal is entirely in the hands of the North British Railway Company.
 
 

The Union Canal at its western extremity terminates in the Forth and Clyde Canal, an artificial navigable line of communication between the Firth of Forth and the Firth of Clyde.

From the Forth, at the port of Grangemouth, the navigation into the canal runs about a mile up the river Carron from low-water mark in the firth to the first lock, where there are extensive harbor accommodations. Passing southwesterly through Grahamstown and the Carron Iron Works, the canal proceeds to Camelon and reaches Lock 16, where it attains an elevation of 128 feet above the level of tide mark at Grangemouth. At Lock 16 is the large basin called Port Downie, from which the canal sends off on its east side the Union Canal to Edinburgh, above mentioned. At Windford Lock, near Castlecary, it attains its highest elevation, and continues to preserve the same onward past Port Dundas at Glasgow, on the one hand to the junction of the Monkland Canal, and onward on the other till near the aqueduct across Kelvin water. Thence it continues to the western terminus in the river Clyde at Bowling Bay, near the village of Bowling in Dumbartonshire, on the road from Dumbarton to Glasgow.

The work of excavation was begun in the year 1768, but on account of unforeseen difficulties, by reason of inexperience of its projectors in such schemes, the canal was not completed until 1790.

The Forth and Clyde Canal was incorporated with the Monkland Canal in the year 1846.

The extent of the Forth and Clyde Canal in all its parts is 38 3/4 miles. The navigation direct from the Forth to the Clyde is 35 miles; the side branch to Port Dundas, 2 3/4 miles; the continuation to Monkland Canal, 1 mile.

The number of locks on the eastern part of the canal is twenty, and on the western nineteen, the difference being occasioned by the higher level of water in the Clyde at Bowling Bay than in Grangeburn or the Carron at Grangemouth. Each lock is 74 feet long and 20 feet broad, and procures a rise of 8 feet.

The locks admit vessels of 68 feet keel, 19 feet beam, and 8 1/2 feet draft of water.

The greatest altitude of the canal is 156 feet; its medium breadth at the surface, 56 feet, and its medium breadth at bottom, 27 feet.

The canal is crossed by thirty-three drawbridges and passes over ten large aqueducts and thirty small ones or tunnels.

The tonnage dues imposed were, from sea to sea, 5s. 10d. ($1.41); from Grangemouth to Port Dundas, 3s. 10d. (93 cents); from Bowling Bay to Port Dundas, 2s. (48 cents). Subsequently tonnage dues were greatly reduced making the rate not more that 1 1/2d. (or 3 cents) per mile, but they continued to be remunerative.

In the year 1867 the two canals passed into the possession of the Caledonian Railway Company, and that company has ever since had the entire management of both of those systems of navigation.
 
 

This is an artificial navigable communication between the city of Glasgow and the district of Monkland, in the county of Lanark. Commencing in the northern suburbs of Glasgow, at Port Dundas, where it is brought into junction with the Glasgow branch of the Forth and Clyde Canal, it proceeds east southeastward through the parish of Old Monkland to the river North Calder. The canal sends off four branches - one, about a mile in length, to Calder Iron Works, near Airdrie, in the parish of New Monkland; one, about a mile in length, to Gartsherrie Iron Works, one, about a quarter of a mile in length, to Dundyvan Iron Works, and one, also about a quarter of a mile in length to Langloan Iron Works, all in the parish of Old Monkland.

The canal originally was projected as a measure for securing to the inhabitants of Glasgow a constant and plentiful supply of coal. The corporation of the city adopted the project and, having employed the celebrated James Watt to make surveys of the ground, obtained an act of Parliament for carrying out the design and subscribed to a number of shares of the stock.

The width of the Monkland Canal at top is 35 feet, and at bottom 24 feet. Upon the lock sills the depth of water is 5 1/2 feet.

By reason of the advantage possessed of easy communication with both the eastern and western seas, and because of its unlimited command of coal, the vicinity of the Monkland Canal has always been reckoned favorable for the establishment of manufactures, such as iron works and others of a like nature.
 
 

This is a navigable line of communication through the Great Glen of Scotland, which extends across the country directly southwest from the Moray Frith, between the mouth of the river Findhorn and two bold promontories called the Sutors of Cromarty; onward to the island of Lismore, dividing the county of Inverness and the Highlands generally into two nearly equal parts, while it connects the German Ocean and the Atlantic at those points.

The northeast end of the canal is occupied by about 23 miles of the narrow or upper portion of the Moray Frith; the southeast end is occupied to the extent of 32 miles by the sea lochs, Loch Eil and Loch Linnhe, and the intermediate portion has a total length of 60 1/2 miles, of which 37 1/2 consist of the four natural sheets of water named Loch Dochfour, Loch Ness, Loch Oich, and Lock Lochy. This intermediate portion is the region of the Caledonia Canal, which comprises works at its extremities and 23 miles of dry cutting.

It appears that by reason of the decay which has been rapidly going on in many parts of the original structure much of it has to be renewed and otherwise improved. In response to an application for assistance, the Government of Great Britain has sanctioned the sum of £5,000 ($24,332.50) as a contribution toward liquidating debt already incurred by the commissioners of the Caledonian Canal, and it is hoped that Parliament will approve of further annual sums being devoted toward the renewal of the original structure, as suggested in the report made by the superintendent.
 
 

This is a work at the north end of the peninsula of Cantire (otherwise Kintyre), in the county of Argyle, intended to afford a waterway between Loch Gilp and the Atlantic Ocean, in order to avoid the difficult and circuitous passage of 70 miles around the Mull of Cantire. The Crinan Canal is about 9 miles long, and contains fifteen locks, thirteen of which are 96 feet long, 24 feet wide, and 12 feet deep, and two locks are 108 feet long and 27 feet wide. Eight of the locks occur in the extend from Loch Gilp, or Ardrishaig, at the east end, and seven in descending to Crinan at the west end. The canal is chiefly used by small coasting and fishing vessels and by the steamboats which ply between Inverness and the Clyde. It is navigable by vessels of 200 tons burden. The small passage steamers do the distance from one terminus to the other, including the locks, in about two hours.

It is expected that the Isthmus of Cantire at no distant date will be cut off from the mainland by the formation of a ship canal connecting East and West Lochs Tarbert. The cost of such an undertaking has been estimated at £140,000 ($681,310).

From the foregoing description of the various lines of inland navigation at present in use in Scotland it will be noted that the three first mentioned, namely, the Union, the Forth and Clyde, and the Monkland, are all connected and worked as one system of water carriage, managed and controlled entirely by railway companies.

The Caledonian and Crinan are each quite independent of railways, but both are controlled and subsidized by the Government of Great Britain. Therefore, in the first instance, there is no competition as to rate of cargo, and the latter independent systems have no competing lines of transit.
 
 

Fuente:
Bill Carr - Great Canals of the World
The United States Department of Commerce and Labor, Bureau of Statistics
http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/whitford/1906/vol2/part5.htm