The Online Library of Liberty

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• In Senate of the United States.
• Report.
• Great Canals, Along the Atlantic Sea Coast.
• I.: Massachusetts Canal.
• II.: New Jersey Canal.
• III.: Delaware and Chesapeake Canal.
• IV.: Chesapeake and Albemarle.
• Communications Between the Atlantic and Western Waters.
• I.: Santee.
• II.: The Lower Or Great Falls of Roanoke.
• III.: James River.
• IV.: Potomac.
• V.: Susquehannah.
• VI.: Ohio.
• Communications Between the Atlantic Rivers, and the River St. Laurence and Great Lakes.
• I.: Hudson and Champlain, Or Northern Navigation.
• II.: Mohawk and Ontario, Or Western Navigation.
• III.: Niagara.
• Interior Canals.
• I.: Merrimack.
• II.: Schuylkill and Delaware.
• III.: Schuylkill and Susquehannah.
• IV.: Appomattox.
• V.: Neuse and Beaufort.
• VI.: Cape Fear River.
• VII.: New Orleans.
• Turnpike, Or Artificial Roads.
• Recapitulation and Resources.
• Circular Queries, By the Secretary of the Treasury, In Order to Obtain Information.
• Queries Respecting Canals.
• Queries Respecting Artificial Roads.
• Mr. Latrobe’s Communication.
• Mr. Fulton’s Communication.

VII.

New Orleans.

The canal Carondelet, which has already been mentioned, extends from Bayou St. John, to the fortifications, or ditch of the city, and thereby opens an inland communication with lake Pontchartrain. A company is incorporated by the territorial legislature, for the purpose of repairing and improving that work and of uniting the canal by locks with the Mississippi. Independent of other advantages, this undertaking would enable government to transport with facility and use the same naval force for the defence of both the Mississippi and lake Pontchartrain, the two great avenues by which New Orleans may be approached from the sea.

TURNPIKE, OR ARTIFICIAL ROADS.

A great number of artificial roads have been completed in the eastern and middle states, at an expense varying from less than one thousand to fourteen thousand dollars a mile. The labor bestowed on the least expensive species consists in shortening the distance, diminishing the ascent of hills, removing rocks, levelling, raising and giving a proper shape to the bed of the roads, draining them by ditches, and erecting bridges over the intervening streams. But the natural soil of the road is used, instead of covering it with a stratum of gravel or pounded stones.

It appears by one of the papers marked (D.) under which letter will be found all the information which has been obtained respecting roads, that fifty turnpike companies have been incorporated, since the year 1803, in the state of Connecticut alone; and that the roads undertaken by those companies are all of that description. Thirty nine of those roads extending together 770 miles, are completed. The most expensive is that from New Haven to Hartford, which has cost 79,261 dollars; or the distance being 34 miles and three quarters, at the rate of 2,280 dollars a mile: but about 18,000 dollars of the capital have been expended in the purchase of the land through which the road is carried. The nett income on this road, deducting the annual repairs and expenses from the annual tolls, does not exceed 3000 dollars. Of six of the roads, which together extend 120 miles, no account has been received. The other thirty two extend together 615 miles, and have cost only 340,000 dollars, or on an average at the rate of 550 dollars a mile: and it seems that the aggregate of annual tolls on the whole is 86,000 dollars; from which deducting the annual repairs and expenses, amounting to 48,000 dollars, leaves a nett income of 38,000 dollars, or of about eleven per cent. on the capital expended.

No particular account has been received of the roads in the other eastern states; but it is known that besides some of a similar description with those of the state of Connecticut, several of a more expensive kind have been completed, particularly in Massachusetts. The cost has varied from 3000 to 14,000 dollars a mile; and amongst artificial roads of the first grade may be mentioned those from Boston to Providence, to Salem, and to Newburyport. These are all covered with an artificial stratum of gravel or pounded stones, and finished in the most substantial manner. Great expense has also been incurred in order to shorten the distance without exceeding the angle of ascent, which is fixed at 5 degrees; and it is stated that the road to Newburyport, 32 miles in length, and in which marshes and rocks presented considerable obstacles, has cost 400,000 dollars, or at the rate of 12,500 dollars a mile. Those expensive roads, however useful and permanent, appear to be much less profitable than those of Connecticut. The Salem road is said to yield six per cent. another road has been stated as yielding eight per cent. the income of all the others in the state of Massachusetts, is said not to exceed on an average three per cent. and that of the road from Boston to Newburyport, amounts to no more than two per cent.

A greater capital has been vested on turnpike roads in the state of New York, than in any other. In less than seven years, sixty seven companies have been incorporated, with a nominal capital of near five millions of dollars, for the purpose of making more than 3000 miles of artificial roads; and twenty one other companies have also been incorporated with a capital of 400,000 dollars; for the purpose of erecting 21 toll bridges. Although no particular account has been received either of the capital actually expended, of the annual amount of tolls, or of the materials of the roads, it is known that great progress has been made: and it has been stated that nine hundred miles of road were already completed by 28 companies, whose capital amounted to 1,800,000 dollars, and who had 200 miles of road more to finish.

Those roads extend in every direction, but particularly from every town or village on the North river, westwardly and north-westwardly, towards the waters of the Susquehannah, and those of the great lakes. The most expensive is that from Albany to Schenectady, fourteen miles long, and which has cost at the rate of ten thousand dollars a mile. Near 140 miles of roads extending westwardly from Albany and Schenectady, appear to have cost at the rate of 2,500 or 3,000 dollars a mile. The expense of all the others does not seem on an average to exceed 1,250 dollars a mile.

More detailed information has been obtained respecting the roads in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Maryland.

In New Jersey a turnpike road has lately been completed from Trenton to Brunswick. The distance is 25 miles; the greatest angle of ascent 3 degrees, and the road is nearly in a straight line, the only considerable obstruction being the “Sand Hills,” through which it was necessary to dig at the depth of thirty feet, in order not to exceed the angle of ascent. The road is 36 feet wide, fifteen feet of which are covered with about 6 inches of gravel. A few wooden bridges with stone abutments and piers have been erected across the intervening streams. The whole expense is stated at 2,500 dollars a mile. From Brunswick the road will be extended to Elizabeth town, and the work is now progressing. Another road has been undertaken in the same state from Brunswick to Easton, on the river Delaware. The distance is 43 miles, of which eleven have been completed at an expense of 40,000 dollars. This road will be more expensive than the preceding, both on account of the ground, the bridges being more numerous, and the Blue Ridge, (Musconekong mountain) intervening: and because a more substantial facing or greater thickness of gravel is requisite. The funds of the company are exhausted.

In Pennsylvania artificial roads of the most substantial kind, have been completed, or are progressing, from Philadelphia, in sundry directions.

The principal are to Bristol and Trenton, 12 miles of which are completed; to Germantown and Perkiomen, with two branches to Willow Grove, and to Chesnut Hill; and to Lancaster and Columbia, with a branch to Harrisburgh.

The distance from Philadelphia to Perkiomen is 25 miles and a quarter; the two branches extend, one 10 miles and the other 7 miles and a half; making together, near 43 miles. The angle of ascent is 4 degrees; the breadth of the road fifty feet, of which 28 feet, having a convexity of 15 inches, are covered with a stratum either of gravel 18 inches thick or of pounded stones 12 inches thick. One half of the stones forming the lower part of the stratum, are broken into pieces not more than five inches in diameter: the other half or upper part of the stratum consists of stones broken into pieces not more than two inches and a half in diameter: and this difference in the size of the stones is represented as a considerable defect. Side or summer roads extend on each side of the gravel or stone road. The five miles next to Philadelphia have cost at the rate of 14,517 dollars a mile. The other 20 miles and a half at the rate of 10,490 dollars a mile. Yet there were no natural impediments, and only small bridges or culverts were necessary. The capital expended on these 25 miles and a half is 285,000 dolls.: the tolls amount to 19,000 dollars: the annual repairs and expenses to 10,000 dollars: the nett income to about 9,000 dollars, or little more than 3 per cent. on the capital expended.

The distance from the Schuylkill, at Philadelphia, to Lancaster, is 62 miles and a quarter. Exclusively of the side or summer roads, twenty four feet of the bed of the road are covered with a stratum of pounded stones 18 inches thick in the middle of the road, and decreasing each way to 12 inches. The Valley hills are the most elevated and steep on the road; but the angle of ascent no where exceeds 4 degrees. Stone bridges have been erected across all the intervening streams. That across the river Conestogo consisting of nine arches, is private property; and the most expensive built by the company, is that across the Brandywine, consisting of three arches of solid masonry, and which cost 12,000 dollars. The capital of the company amounted to 360,000 dollars; but this being insufficient, it became necessary to apply a considerable portion of the tolls to the completion of the work. The whole expense amounts to 465,000 dollars, or at the rate of about 7,500 dollars a mile. The annual tolls have not yet exceeded 25,000 dollars; and the annnual repairs and expenses are estimated at 13,000, leaving a nett income of about 12,000 dollars. The prospect of an increased profit, derived from the proposed extension of the road, has however raised the price of that stock nearly to par.

The Lancaster road, the first extensive turnpike that was completed in the United States, is the first link of the great western communication from Philadelphia. It has been extended ten miles westwardly to Columbia on the Susquehannah, and another branch is now progressing northwestwardly to Harrisburgh, also on the Susquehannah, and 36 miles from Lancaster. The state of Pennsylvania has also incorporated two companies in order to extend the road by two different routes as far as Pittsburgh on the Ohio, and near 300 miles from Philadelphia. The southern route, following the main post road, passes by Bedford and Somerset. The northern route passes by Huntingdon and Frankstown, the highest point to which the Juniata branch of the Susquehannah is navigable. To this route the state has authorised a subscription of one hundred thousand dollars.

Other roads in a north-west direction from Philadelphia, towards the Genessee and Presqu’isle on lake Erie, are also progressing, and have been encouraged by the subscriptions or donations of the legislature. They are generally on a much less expensive plan than those in the direction of Pittsburgh. A section of 30 miles from Lausanne on the Lehigh, to Nescopeck on the Susquehannah, has been completed at the expense of 36,000 dollars, by a company; and it is intended to extend it 70 miles further to Newton, on the Tioga branch of the Susquehannah.

In Maryland, roads extending from Baltimore in various directions, have lately been undertaken by several companies and are rapidly progressing. On the falls turnpike, which extends in a northerly direction, about four miles of a road 22 feet wide, covered with a stratum of pounded stones 10 inches thick, and having an ascent not exceeding 4 degrees, have been completed at the rate of 7,500 dollars a mile.

The “Reister town” turnpike, in a northwestwardly direction, extends 16 miles to that village; whence two branches extending one 19 and the other 29 miles farther, will enter Pennsylvania at two different places. The road 24 feet wide, is covered with a stratum 12 inches thick, of pounded stones not more than 3 inches in diameter. The angle of ascent does not exceed 3 degrees and a half. Ten miles have been completed at the expense of 10,000 dollars a mile, and the work is progressing. The capital of the company amounts to 420,000 dollars.

The capital of the “Frederick town” turnpike company amounts to 500,000 dollars; and the company is authorised to open the great western road, as far as Boonsborough, beyond the Blue Ridge, and 62 miles from Baltimore. The angle of ascent will not exceed 4 degrees; the road has a convexity of 9 inches, and on a breadth of 22 feet is covered with a stratum 10 inches thick of pounded stones, not exceeding 3 inches in diameter, over which are spread two inches of gravel or coarse sand. The first 20 miles next to Baltimore have cost at the rate of 9,000 dollars, and the next 17 miles are contracted for at the rate of 7,000 dollars a mile.

The distance from Boonsborough to Cumberland, at the foot of the Allegheny mountain, following the present road is 73 miles; and although the company is not yet authorised to extend the turnpike to that place, the ground has been surveyed, and it is ascertained that the road may be continued with an angle of ascent not exceeding 4 degrees. The ascent of the road laid out by the United States from Cumberland to Brownsville, on the Monongahela, does not exceed 5 degrees, and the distance is 72 miles: making the whole distance of a turnpike road from Baltimore to the navigable waters of the Ohio, 207 miles. The distance from the City of Washington to the same spot on the Monongahela is some miles shorter, being as has already been stated, the shortest communication between tide water and the navigable western waters.

South of the Potomac few artificial roads have been undertaken. From Alexandria one is now progressing in a northwestwardly direction towards Middleburgh. Another has lately been commenced from Richmond to Ross’s coal mine. But the only one which, so far as any accounts have been received, is completed, extends 12 miles from Manchester, opposite to Richmond, in a westwardly direction to the coal mines of Falling creek. This road, 36 feet wide is gravelled and has cost 50,000 dollars: but the last 4 miles did not cost more than at the rate of 3000 dollars a mile. Yet it is sufficiently substantial, the foute being very level, to admit waggons carrying four tons.

The greater progress made in the improvement of roads in the northern parts of the union, must be principally ascribed to a more compact population, which renders those improvements more necessary, and at the same time supplies with greater facility the means of effecting them. The same difference is perceptible in the number of bridges erected in the several states.

In the eastern states, and particularly Massachusetts, wooden bridges uniting boldness to elegance, and having no defect but want of durability, have been erected over the broadest and deepest rivers. In the lower counties of Pennsylvania stone bridges are generally found across all the small streams. Both in that state, and at some distance eastwardly, bridges with stone piers and abutments, and a wooden superstructure are common over wide rivers. Of these the most expensive, and which may be considered as the first in the United States, is the permanent Schuylkill bridge near Philadelphia, erected by a company at an expense of 300,000 dollars. Its length including the abutments does not exceed 750 feet, and it is supported only by two piers and the abutments. But those piers, 195 feet apart, are of the most solid workmanship, and one of them was sunk at a depth of more than 24 feet below low water. The bridge is 42 feet wide, and the wooden superstructure is enclosed and covered with a shingle roof.

The want of bridges south of Pennsylvania, even on the main post road, is sensibly felt. One lately thrown across the Potomac 3 miles above the city of Washington, and which without any intervening piers is wholly suspended to iron chains extending from bank to bank, deserves notice on account of the boldness of its construction, and of its comparative cheapness. The principle of this new plan, derived from the tenacity of iron, seems applicable to all rapid streams of a moderate breadth.

The general principles of improved roads seem to be: 1st, the reduction of hills by diminishing the angle of ascent, which ought not to exceed, whenever practicable, 3 degrees and a half, and under no circumstances five degrees: 2d, a sufficient convexity in the bed of the road, together with ditches and drains, all which are intended to prevent the injury caused by standing water or freshets: 3d, an artificial bed of pounded stones or gravel sufficiently substantial to support the weight of the carriages in general use on the road, either for the conveyance of persons, or for the transportation of merchandize.

On the last point it appears from the facts already stated, or scattered in the communications received on that subject: 1st, That the stones ought to be similar in quality and reduced to the same size, which should not exceed three inches in diameter: 2d, That the preferable qualities of stone, rank in the following order—hard black stone, granite, flint, or quartz, blue lime stone, white ditto: 3d, That the stratum may be either of pounded stones 12 inches thick, or of pounded stones 10 inches thick, with 2 inches of gravel spread over the stones; or entirely of gravel 18 inches thick: 4th, That when the materials are equally convenient, the expense of those three modes will not materially differ, but that the rate of expense depends principally on the number of hills and bridges, distance of materials, breadth of the road, and price of labor: and 5th, That the general adoption of broad wheels for the transportation of heavy loads, is necessary to the full enjoyment of the advantages expected from the most substantial artificial roads. On the degree of convexity and on the proper shape to be given to the natural bed of the road under the artificial stratum, a diversity of opinions seems to prevail.

The roads heretofore made may be divided into three general classes.

1. Those where the only improvement consists in the reduction of hills, and in the convexity and ditches of the road, whereby the angle of ascent is rendered more easy, and standing water excluded; but where the natural soil is used without any artificial stratum. The expense of these roads may vary according to local circumstances, and the perfection of the work, from five hundred to one thousand dollars a mile. They are most generally in use in the eastern states, and may be introduced with advantage in all those districts of country, where wealth does not admit more expensive improvements, or where the materials of an artificial stratum are altogether wanting. It is only in the last case, that they may be considered as a national object; and no other improvement besides bridges and causeways, is perhaps practicable in the lower country of the southern states. Iron, and even timber rail roads, may however be sometimes substituted in those level parts of the country, where stones and gravel are not to be found.

2. Roads prepared as above, of a reduced breadth, and covered with a thin coat of gravel not more than six or nine inches thick; such as the turnpike lately made between Trenton and Brunswick. These roads, the expense of which may be estimated at about 3000 dollars a mile, may be used wherever the frost does not materially affect them, and in every climate, when they are intended principally for the conveyance of persons, and not for the transportation of heavy loads.

3. The artificial roads of the best contruction, such as have been already described. These when not exceeding 22 feet in breadth, and except in the vicinity of large cities, will cost at the rate of 7000 dollars a mile, exclusively of bridges over large rivers. And they must be resorted to, whenever a commercial road for heavy transportation is intended, particularly in the middle states, or rather in the United States, between 41 and 36 degrees of north latitude. North of the 41st degree, the snow lies generally during the whole winter; and the great bulk of heavy transportation is effected in sleighs during that season. There is therefore less necessity for using the roads in the spring; and they are also better protected against the effects of the frost by the snow. South of the 36th degree, which in the Atlantic states may be considered as the boundary of the great cotton cultivation, the frost does not materially injure the roads. It is between those two extremes that the most substantial are required; and it also happens that the great land communications with the western country, which considerably increase the amount of transportation, are principally within the same limits.

The same principles, which have directed the arrangement adopted in this report in relation to canals, will also point out those roads which seem in the first instance to claim the patronage of the general government.

Those which appear most necessary for the communications between the Atlantic and western rivers have already been mentioned under that head; and the improvement of the water communication between the North river and the great lakes ought to take the precedence of any other in that direction.

That road which therefore seems exclusively to claim public attention, is a great turnpike extending from Maine to Georgia in the general direction of the sea coast and main post road, and passing through all the principal sea ports. The general convenience and importance of such a work are too obvious to require any comments: and the expense seems to be the primary object of consideration.

The distance will be roughly estimated at 1,600 miles; and from what has been stated on the subject of roads generally, it may be inferred that the greater part of the road being intended almost exclusively for travelling, and not for transportation of heavy articles, the expense cannot exceed the rate of 3,000 dollars a mile. For although some detached portions of the route, being commercial roads, must be improved as such, and at a greater expense; an equivalent reduction in other parts will result from those portions which are already improved by private companies, and from the impossibility, for want of materials for an artificial stratum, of going in some places beyond what has been described as the first or cheapest species of turnpikes. The whole expense may therefore be estimated at 4,800,000 dollars.

A secondary object, but of more importance to government than to individuals, would be the improvement, on a much less expensive scale, of certain portions of roads leading to some points on the extremes of the union, intended principally for the purpose of accelerating the progress of the mail, and the prompt transmission of information of a public nature. The points contemplated, are Detroit, St. Louis in Upper Louisiana, and New Orleans. The portions of road which traversing a wilderness cannot be improved without the aid of the United States, are; from the Tuscarora branch of the Muskingum to Detroit; from Cincinnati, by Vincennes, to St. Louis; and from Nashville in Tennessee, or Athens in Georgia; to Natches. The expense necessary to enable the mail and even stages to proceed at the rate of 80 miles a day, may, at the rate of about 200 dollars a mile, including bridges over all the small streams, be estimated for those three roads, at 200,000 dollars.

RECAPITULATION AND RESOURCES.

The improvements which have been respectfully suggested as most important, in order to facilitate the communication between the great geographical divisions of the United States, will now be recapitulated; and their expense compared with the resources applicable to that object.

I. From north to south, in a direction parallel to the sea coast:

An annual appropriation of two million of dollars, would accomplish all those great objects in ten years, and may without inconvenience, be supplied in time of peace, by the existing revenues and resources of the United States. This may be examplified in several ways.

The annual appropriation on account of the principal and interest of the public debt, has, during the last six years, amounted to eight millions of dollars. After the present year, or at farthest, after the ensuing year, the sum which, on account of the irredeemable nature of the remaining debt, may be applied to that object, cannot in any one year exceed 4,600,000 dollars, leaving therefore from that source alone, an annual surplus of 3,400,000 dollars, applicable to any other object.

From the 1st January, 1801, to the 1st January, 1809, a period of eight years, the United States shall have discharged about 34 millions of the principal of the old debt, or deducting the Louisiana debt, incurred during the same period, and not yet discharged, about 23 millions of dollars. They may with equal facility, apply in a period of ten years, a sum of 20 millions of dollars, to internal improvements.

The annual permanent revenue of the United States, calculated on a state of general peace, and on the most moderate estimate, was in a report made to Congress on the 6th day of December, 1806, computed for the years 1809-1815, at 14 millions of dollars, The annual expenses on the peace establishment, and including the 4,600,000 dollars, on account of the debt, and 400,000 dollars for contingencies, do not exceed eight millions and a half, leaving an annual surplus of five millions and a half of dollars. To provide for the protection and defence of the country, is undoubtedly the object to which the resources of the United States, must, in the first instance be applied, and to the exclusion of all others, if the times shall require it. But it is believed, that in times of peace, (and to such period only are these remarks applicable) the surplus will be amply sufficient to defray the expenses of all the preparatory measures of a permanent nature which prudence may suggest, and to pay the sum destined for internal improvements. Three millions annually applied during the same period of ten years, would arm every man in the United States, fill the public arsenals and magazines, erect every battery and fortification which could be manned, and even, if thought eligible, build a navy. That the whole surplus would be inadequate to the support of any considerable increase of the land or naval force kept in actual service in time of peace, will be readily admitted. But such a system is not contemplated: if ever adopted, the objects of this report must probably be abandoned. For, it has not heretofore been found an easy task for any government to indulge in that species of expenses, which leaving no trace behind it, adds nothing to the real strength of the country, and at the same time to provide for either its permanent defence or improvement.

It must not be omitted that the facility of communications, constitutes, particularly in the United States, an important branch of national defence. Their extensive territory opposes a powerful obstacle to the progress of an enemy. But on the other hand, the number of regular forces, which may be raised, necessarily limited by the population, will for many years be inconsiderable when compared with that extent of territory. That defect cannot otherwise be supplied than by those great national improvements, which will afford the means of a rapid concentration of that regular force, and of a formidable body of militia, on any given point.

Amongst the resources of the union, there is one which from its nature seems more particularly applicable to internal improvements. Exclusively of Louisiana, the general government possesses, in trust for the people of the United States, about one hundred millions of acres fit for cultivation, north of the river Ohio, and near fifty millions south of the state of Tennessee. For the disposition of those lands a plan has been adopted, calculated to enable every industrious citizen to become a freeholder, to secure indisputable titles to the purchasers, to obtain a national revenue, and above all to suppress monopoly. Its success has surpassed that of every former attempt, and exceeded the expectations of its authors. But a higher price than had usually been paid for waste lands by the first inhabitants of the frontier became an unavoidable ingredient of a system intended for general benefit, and was necessary in order to prevent the public lands being engrossed by individuals possessing greater wealth, activity or local advantages. It is believed that nothing could be more gratifying to the purchasers, and to the inhabitants of the western states generally, or better calculated to remove popular objections, and to defeat insidious efforts, than the application of the proceeds of the sales to improvements conferring general advantages on the nation, and an immediate benefit on the purchasers and inhabitants themselves. It may be added, that the United States, considered merely as owners of the soil, are also deeply interested in the opening of those communications, which must necessarily enhance the value of their property. Thus the opening of an inland navigation from tide water to the great lakes, would immediately give to the great body of lands bordering on those lakes, as great value as if they were situated at the distance of one hundred miles by land from the sea coast. And if the proceeds of the first ten millions of acres which may be sold, were applied to such improvements, the United States would be amply repaid in the sale of the other ninety millions.

The annual appropriation of two millions of dollars drawn from the general revenues of the union, which has been suggested, could operate to its full extent only in times of peace and under prosperous circumstances. The application of the proceeds of the sales of the public lands, might perhaps be made permanent until it had amounted to a certain sum, and until the most important improvements had been effected. The fund created by those improvements, the expense of which has been estimated at twenty millions of dollars, would afterwards become itself a perpetual resource for further improvements. Although some of those first communications should not become immediately productive, and although the same liberal policy, which dictated the measure, would consider them less as objects of revenue to government, than of increased wealth and general convenience to the nation, yet they would all sooner or later acquire, as productive property, their par value. Whenever that had taken place in relation to any of them, the stock might be sold to individuals or companies, and the proceeds applied to a new improvement. And by persevering in that plan, a succession of improvements would be effected until every portion of the United States should enjoy all the advantages of inland navigation and improved roads, of which it was susceptible. To effect that great object, a disbursement of twenty millions of dollars, applied with more or less rapidity according to the circumstances of the United States, would be amply sufficient.

The manner in which the public monies may be applied to such objects, remains to be considered.

It is evident that the United States cannot under the constitution open any road or canal, without the consent of the state through which such road or canal must pass. In order therefore to remove every impediment to a national plan of internal improvements, an amendment to the constitution was suggested by the executive when the subject was recommended to the consideration of Congress. Until this be obtained, the assent of the states being necessary for each improvement, the modifications under which that assent may be given, will necessarily control the manner of applying the money. It may be however observed that in relation to the specific improvements which have been suggested, there is hardly any which is not either already authorised by the states respectively, or so immediately beneficial to them, as to render it highly probable that no material difficulty will be experienced in that respect.

The monies may be applied in two different manners: the United States may with the assent of the states, undertake some of the works at their sole expense; or they may subscribe a certain number of shares of the stock of companies incorporated for the purpose. Loans might also in some instances be made to such companies. The first mode would perhaps, by effectually controlling local interests, give the most proper general direction to the work. Its details would probably be executed on a more economical plan by private companies. Both modes may perhaps be blended together so as to obtain the advantages pertaining to each. But the modifications of which the plan is susceptible must vary according to the nature of the work, and of the charters, and seem to belong to that class of details, which are not the immediate subject of consideration.

At present the only work undertaken by the United States at their sole expense, and to which the assent of the states has been obtained, is the road from Cumberland to Brownsville. An appropriation may for that purpose be made at any time. In relation to all other works, the U. States have nothing at this time in their power but to assist those already authorised; either by loans or by becoming stockholders; and the last mode appears the most eligible. The only companies incorporated for effecting some of the improvements considered in this report as of national and first rate importance, which have applied for such assistance, are the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, the Susquehannah canal, and the Dismal swamp companies; and authority might be given to subscribe a certain number of shares to each, on condition that the plan of the work to be executed should be approved by the general government. A subscription to the Ohio canal, to the Pittsburgh road, and perhaps to some other objects not fully ascertained, is also practicable at this time.

As an important basis of the general system, an immediate authority might also be given to take the surveys and levels of the routes of the most important roads and canals which are contemplated: a work always useful, and by which the practicability and expense of the undertakings would be ascertained with much more correctness than in this report. A moderate appropriation would be sufficient for those several objects.

In the selection of the objects submitted in obedience to the order of the Senate, as claiming in the first instance the aid of the general government, general principles have been adhered to, as best calculated to surpress every biass of partiality to particular objects. Yet some such biass, of which no individual is perfectly free, may without being felt, have operated on this report. The national legislature alone, embracing every local interest, and superior to every local consideration, is competent to the selection of such national objects. The materials contained in the papers herewith transmitted, and the information to be derived from surveys taken under the authority of the general government, will furnish the facts necessary for a correct decision. Two communications, by Mr. B. H. Latrobe, and by Mr. Robert Fulton, marked E. and F. are in the meanwhile respectfully referred to, as containing much interesting practical information, connected with observations of a general nature, on the subject.

All which is respectfully submitted.

ALBERT GALLATIN,
Secretary of the Treasury.

Treasury Department,
4th April, 1808.

Circular Queries,

By the Secretary of the Treasury, in order to obtain information.

Note. All the documents were obtained in answer to those queries.

QUERIES RESPECTING CANALS.

1. Points united by canal, and their distance by said canal.

2. Elevation of the highest ground through which canal passes; descent thence to the two extremities; and number of miles where canal is level.

3. Number, dimensions, contents, construction, and situation of locks.

4. Supply of water; whence obtained; its amount reduced to cubic feet per minute, hour or day; its elevation above the highest point of the canal; length of feeders; situation and contents of reservoirs. What additional resources may be resorted to if the present supply should fall short of the quantity wanted?

5. Designation of such parts of the route where the natural or improved bed of rivers is used.

6. Depth and breadth of canal; burthen of vessels; breadth of towing paths.

7. Aqueducts across valleys or rivers; tunnels through hills; bridges across the canal.

8. Particular obstructions and difficulties surmounted or to be encountered.

9. Defects either in the plan or execution, and the proposed remedies.

10. Estimate of the tonnage of vessels; species, weight and value of the articles annually conveyed by the canal; expense of carriage by canal, compared with land or river carriage before canal was made: time employed in navigating through the whole canal.

11. Capital already expended, vested or wanted for completing the work.

12. Expenses per mile and in the whole, and as far as practicable, of every component part of the work in all its details.

13. Rate and gross amount of tolls; annual expenses of repairs and contingencies; annual nett income.

14. Substance of charters and acts of legislature on the subject.

QUERIES RESPECTING ARTIFICIAL ROADS.

1. Points united and their distance.

2. Elevation of the hills over which the road passes; greatest angle of ascent which has been allowed.

3. Breadth, form, materials of the artificial road.

4. Bridges, their dimensions, materials, construction.

5. Particular obstructions and difficulties surmounted, or to be encountered.

6. Expenses per mile, and in the whole, and as far as practicable, of every component part of the work in all its details, viz. forming the bed of the road, cutting hills, quarrying, transporting, breaking, laying stones or gravel, &c.

7. Capital already expended, vested or wanted for completing the work.

8. Rate and gross amount of tolls; annual expenses of repairs and contingencies; annual nett income.

9. Substance of charters and acts of legislature on the subject.

Mr. Latrobe’s Communication.

(E.)

Washington, March 16, 1808.

Sir,

I HAVE the honor of your letter of the 29th of July, 1807, transmitting to me a copy of the resolution of the Senate of the United States, of the 2d of March, 1807, together with a list of queries respecting artificial navigations, and canals, to which you request my answer and opinion.

In order to give you all the information on this subject which you wish, and I possess, and in the most condensed form, I ask your permission to depart from the order which your questions demand, and after treating the subject generally, to enter upon an account of those works, in detail, with which my personal experience has made me more particularly acquainted.

The most striking circumstance in a view of the Atlantic states of the union, in relation to the improvement of their internal navigation, is the uniformity of the natural arrangement of their rivers and mountains, and that this arrangement differs from that of ever other country in which artificial navigation has been attempted.

In other countries the general course of the rivers is between the mountains, and along the vallies; in this, the general course of the rivers is across that of the mountains and of the vallies. Our mountains, from their termination to the south west in Georgia, hold a course to the east of north; the general direction of our principal rivers is to the east of south: and on inspection of the map, it will be observed, that as the direction of the mountains to the N. E. of the Delaware, becomes more easterly, so do our rivers acquire a more southern course, always crossing the mountains at nearly the same angle.

Our rivers may be divided into three classes;—

Primary rivers, that discharge their water immediately into the ocean. Of these the relative magnitude might berated, according to the surface they respectively drain; Secondary rivers, or such as fall into the first, above their tide water; and Creeks, properly so called, which rise below the falls of the first rivers, or rather collect the water of the level land below the falls, and discharge it into the tide waters.

Of our primary rivers, the Susquehannah is the principal. By a great degree of geographical injustice, this mighty river loses its name at the foot of its falls, and is called, the Chesapeake bay, from thence to the ocean; although its width compared with its length, forbids the term of bay to be applied to what is called the Chesapeake. All of these rivers cross in the greatest part of their course the direction of the mountains. Of the secondary rivers, many of which are of great importance and magnitude, some and perhaps the greatest number hold a course parallel to the mountains, as the Shenandoah, the Conogocheague, the Lehigh, &c. draining the vallies, and receiving away the torrents of the mountains.

The third order of our water courses rise either in the lowest ridge of our hills, which I will call the granite ridge, and over which all our principal rivers, from Georgia to the Hudson, fall, and then run through the alluvial country which lies between the granite ridge and the ocean. Such rivers are, the Nottoway, the Blackwater, the Meherrin, the Annacosta, (eastern branch of Potomac) the Elk river, and the very important creek in the state of Delaware, the Christiana; or they are merely drains of the alluvial country, assuming an appearance of importance below the head of the tide, above which they are mere torrents, almost dry in the autumn. Such streams are all the rivers of the eastern shore of the Chesapeake, and of the lower part of the Jerseys, and innumerable water courses, forming large estuaries in the southern states.

Our great north western lakes, from their first source to the eastern end of lake Erie, may be considered as part of the great river St. Laurence, following the direction of the rest of our rivers, until opposed by the northern extremity of the Allegheny. From thence its course follows the valley west of the Allegheny, through lake Ontario to the ocean, receiving the waters of the northern extremity of the mountain in its course.

This general view of the construction of our country was necessary in order to understand the general principles on which our artificial navigation can be so conducted, as to be useful, or even practicable; and to explain why connections of waters, which on the map appear advantageous and feasible, would be useless, and perhaps impracticable, by any effort of art.

Two principal objects will dictate all the exertions towards the improvement of our internal navigation, which can for many years to come be attempted: 1. To carry our produce by water to the nearest port for its exportation, and the importation of foreign articles: 2. To exchange by internal commerce the articles reciprocally deficient on lines parallel to the sea coast. Canals, the use of which arises from manufacturing activity, will not probably be soon required.

The first object,—as all our principal rivers run seaward, and generally by the shortest course,—must be attained by the natural or improved navigation of the rivers themselves, or by cannals cut parallel to them: the second may often require a navigation parallel to the vallies, so as to communicate one principal river with another.

The former attempt at improved navigation has already been made on many of our principal rivers,—the latter has been seldomer undertaken; and only once above the falls of both primary rivers, in the canal intended to join the Susquehannah and Schuylkill, and the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers above Philadelphia.

The general construction of our country opposes to artificial navigation, in either of these directions, difficulties, which in no part of the world exist in so uniform, and certain a degree. Canals parallel to our rivers, have three formidable obstacles to encounter and overcome.

1. The rapid descent of the ravine cut through the mountains by the river itself, along which the canal must be carried;—or, if the ravine be quitted, difficulties on the high levels, which, the further you go from the river, are always intersected by the more numerous ravines; and embarrassed by the difficulty of returning to the ravine of the river.

2. The invariably rocky nature of the ground, which is uniformly of granite in all its varieties; and has numerous fissures which carry off the water, and require lining.

3. The difficulty of keeping off the land water, and of crossing the lateral branches and torrents of the river.

On the other hand, canals parallel to our mountains must necessarily cross the ridge or spur of the mountain which divides the waters of two primary rivers. On this ridge above the falls, the water requisite to supply the canal, is always scanty, often there is none: and though a tunnel or a stream engine, or in the last resort a rail road, are certain means of obviating the difficulty, they are expensive, inconvenient and imperfect. Below the granite ridge, the difficulty is less. There may always be found a supply of water from the ridge itself, and the feeders, though carried through rocky and expensive ground, are themselves useful as small canals, as far as they extend; and below the ridge the soil is easily cut and embanked.

Having so frequently mentioned the granite ridge, I will here trace its extent as far as my knowledge of our country enables me to do it.

The granite ridge forms the shore of the north side of Long island opposite to the island of New York. All the south of the island is alluvial, and is the first margin of alluvial soil below the granite ridge. This margin of alluvial soil beginning at Long island, widens as it extends to the south west, until in Georgia it becomes more than 200 miles in width.

Staten island and Bergen point, are two spurs of this same ridge, which continues nearly in the line of the post road to Trenton, where the river Delaware falls over it, having worn down the rocks more deeply there than many other of our rivers. The Delaware runs in its general direction for 60 miles under the ridge as far as New Castle, leaving it only for a short distance at particular bends of the river. At Philadelphia the ridge crosses the peninsula to Gray’s ferry on Schuylkill. The softer granite of Schuylkill has been worn down so that the falls are 4 miles from its lower edge. From Philadelphia the ridge runs with the post road to Havre de Grace, where it is visible on both shores, although the tide extends 6 miles above, to the foot of the falls.

The Susquehannah, by the name of the Chesapeake, may be considered as running under the foot of the granite ridge almost as far as Baltimore, which city is built upon the foot of the ridge. At the river Patuxent, on the post road, the ridge appears again, but is lost under the incumbent soil, and is not again visible until it appears at Georgetown. The harder granite of the Potomac has resisted the force of the water more than the granite further to the north-east, and the tide reaches only 3 miles above its outrunnings. From the Potomac, the falls of Rappahannoc at Fredericksburgh, of James river at Richmond, Appomatox at Petersburg, Roanoke at Halifax, beyond which point my personal observation does not extend, point out the course of this ridge in a line nearly parallel to the Blue ridge, diverging to the eastward as it extends southward.

Of the improvement of the natural navigation of our rivers leading to the sea, and of canals cut parallel to them.

The difficulties of the natural navigation of our rivers are: In spring,—the danger of wreck in the wild water of our rapids; in autumn,—obstructions created by rocky shoals; and, in most of them, rapids and falls impracticable at all times. The least expensive and most obvious means of removing the former are the blowing of the most prominent rocks, so as to straighten the channel, and procure a passage at low water. This has in almost all our rivers been attempted on a greater or less scale, and with various degrees of success. When injudiciously performed, and in rivers of rapid descent, and liable to great variation in the quantity of their water, more injury has been done than advantage obtained. Many of our worst obstructions act as natural dams, which holding up the water, create a large extent of excellent navigation above them. Of this the James river above Westham, and the Susquehannah above Chickisalunga and Hunter’s falls, are instances in point. Such obstructions when removed, let down the water rapidly from above, without supplying deeper navigation below.

In a river of such magnitude as the Susquehannah, indeed, no gap or sluice artificially cut, can materially affect the rapidity of the stream, but in lesser rivers, great care is required, not only to prevent lowering the water above, but to avoid giving a new direction to the current, more mischievous in its effects than that which has been changed. But with whatever judgment the natural navigation of a river perplexed by rapids and shoals may be conducted, and however its descent may be thereby facilitated, its ascent cannot possibly be rendered more easy, in the same degree. Thus for instance, although by the monies expended by the state of Pennsylvania and the Susquehannah canal company, on the natural navigation of the Susquehannah below Wright’s ferry, it has been rendered much less dangerous to run down the distance of 41 miles, almost the whole of which is a tremendous rapid, from Columbia to the tide, and thereby to carry lumber, iron, and agricultural produce to Havre de Grace, and thence to Baltimore,—yet so difficult is the upstream navigation by the same route, even with the assistance of the Susquehannah canal, that the returns in imported articles have been generally purchased in Philadelphia and conveyed to Columbia or Middletown, above the rapids, by the Lancaster turnpike, thence to be boated to the country watered by the upper branches of the Susquehannah. And although the Philadelphia market has hitherto offered more advantages to the buyers of imported goods than that of Baltimore, yet the expense of transporting them 72 miles by land to Columbia, would, if there were a good navigation from Havre de Grace upwards, destroy this advantage.

The difficulty of carrying canals parallel to our great rivers, the scarcity of engineers possessing knowledge and integrity, the want of capital, and above all the erroneous dread of bold measures, and the fear of uselessly expending money in works hitherto unknown among us, has deterred those interested in improving our navigation, from deserting the beds of our rivers, while it was practicable to keep them. They have therefore had recourse to canals only where navigation was otherwise impossible; where obstructed by rocks, or broken by a cascade.

There cannot however be a reasonable doubt, that if in England, where, compared with the United States, the quantity of water in the rivers varies little between the driest and the wettest period of the year, a canal running parallel to a river, furnishes a much more certain and safe and equal and cheap navigation than the river itself—it is infinitely more the case here. Unfortunately those of our canals which have been cut to pass the rapids and falls of our rivers, partake in a great measure of the inconveniences of the rivers themselves; some wanting water when the river is low, some incapable of being entered excepting at a particular height of the water in the river, some subject to constant accumulation of bars, and all of those with which I am acquainted, much less useful than the money expended on them ought to have made them.

Those canals, of which I now particularly speak, are, the James river canal, the Potomac canal, the Conewago, and Susquehannah canals. Of the canals north of the Delaware, and south of Virginia, I have not sufficient knowledge, nor can I speak of the Appomattox canal. It is, I believe, not liable to the same strictures in all points, which I shall make upon the others, but though I am well acquainted with the ground, I have not seen the manner in which the work has been executed.

One great and fatal error has been interwoven into the scheme of the other canals, excepting only that of the Potomac: They have been dug as much with a view to the erection of mills, as to the purposes of navigation. To fit them for mill-races, their descent is rapid, and their current strong. They are liable, of course, to the variation of the quantity of water in the river; they bring down with their current, the alluvium of the river; bars are formed in them, as well by this alluvium, as by the land wash; and their banks, where they are not of rock, or walled, are liable to perpetual wear by the current. The canal is, besides, itself an inconvenient rapid to those who would ascend it.

Besides these inconveniencies, the contracts binding the company to furnish to the millers the water, when it rises above a certain gage-selle, for an annual rent, or on other fixed and permanent terms, tie the canal company to the original construction of the work, and forbid future improvement. For instance, if a lock were found to be useful above the highest mill, it could not be erected, because it would rob the mills below of their stipulated water; the inclination of the canal cannot be lessened, because it would have the same effect. In the James river canal, more than in any other which I have seen, this error, though now generally considered as a very great advantage, will at some future period be discovered and deplored. The Potomac canal, more especially that of the Little falls, has the same defect of a too rapid descent, although the object of a mill race is placed by their charter out of view. But its principal defect is of another kind, to which that of James river is also, but in a less degree, subject. It receives the wash of all the hills and ravines of the north bank, which ought to be discharged through culverts, or carried over bridges: and that legislative impartiality which has required the canal to enter the river at the very head of the tide, in order that Virginia may have an equal chance of becoming the depot of its commerce with Maryland, has very much injured its utility to the country at large.

In a still greater degree than the Potomac canal the Susquehannah canal, beginning at the Maryland and Pennsylvania line, and ending at the head of the tide, has the defect, not only of receiving the landwash of the hills and ravines, but also two considerable rivers, the Conewingo and Octorara, partaking this of all the danger arising from their inundations, and receiving their alluvium. This canal is also applied to the purposes of a mill race. Other inconveniencies attend it, which arise from the most unfriendly nature of the river, and the local feelings of the state legislatures of Pennsylvania and Maryland, at the period of the incorporation of the company.

The Conewago canal, about 50 miles highe up the Susquehannah, is also a mill race, and is the property of an individual. It is of difficult entrace, which is to be regretted, as it ought to be the mans of passing a short but very dangerous fall of the river, which interrupts along extent of very good navigation.

Having thus pointed out the general and common defects of these canals, to which I may add the general want of proper slopes to their banks, I will now enter upon the very thankless task of giving an honest opinion respecting them in detail, viewing only the public interests, and perfectly conscious of the bearing of what I shall say, upon private feelings. These feelings, however, are extremely short-sighted; for nothing could be more advantageous to the individuals most interested, than those measures which would most benefit the public.

The James river and Appomattox canals stop short of tide water. The most important of these canals is that of James river. Upon the coal mines of James river our Atlantic sea ports will soon become dependent for their chief supply of fuel. That dependence exists already in respect to the fuel required for a variety of manufactures, and even now the smiths within 10 miles of our sea ports, require in order to carry on advantageous business, a supply of Virginian coal. There are three means (and I think only three)—by which the Virginian coal can be brought to the tide: 1. By a small canal and rail roads, immediately from the mines south of the river to the shipping tide water at Ampthill or its neighbourhood, along the valley of Falls creek: distance, I believe, 20 miles. This is a route easily practicable and at a moderate expense, for Falls creek rises in the coal mines themselves. 2. By the turnpike road to Manchester opposite Richmond. This road has been sometime completed, and is of the highest utility. 3. By James river to the head of the falls, and thence by the canal to Richmond. This is for two thirds of the coal country, the best and most obvious route. For from all the mines the coal may easily be brought to the river on rail roads, and thence boated, independently of the cheaper conveyance which Tuckahoe creek might be made to yield to a great extent of coal land now little worked. But of what adequate use is this navigation in boats carrying at an average 200 bushels of coal only, when, if the canal were well constructed, 1000 bushels might be as easily and cheaply conveyed; and when, on their arrival in Richmond, they must be unloaded, again loaded into carts and carried down by a bad road to the tide at Rockets, to be shipped? The Manchester turnpike, with all its expense of waggons, horses, and drivers, and the consequent waste of labor, capital, food, and forage, is a better, and I am told, as cheap a mode of conveyance.

The means by which the canal itself may be made much more useful, I will not consume your time and patience in detailing; what is most important, taking the whole subject into view, is to connect the canal, such as it is, with the tide.

In the year 1796, Mr. Weston, then engineer to the western navigation companies of the state of New York, was called to Richmond to give his advice and opinion on this subject. It amounted to this: to connect the basin with the foot of the falls, by a succession of ten or eleven locks in one tier, carrying the race of Ross’s mill upon an aqueduct across the canal at the foot of the locks. With all deference to his talents, I cannot help remarking, that of all expensive projects of which I ever heard, this would have been one of the most useless. For independently of the excessive inconvenience and detention which such a tier of locks at the most busy part of a navigation would occasion, the boats would arrive at their foot, in a very considerable rapid, now impracticable, and which could only be made practicable by blowing up the rocky bed of the river. When arrived there, two miles of tide water must be encountered; to navigate which, these boats are wholly unfit. I cannot help thinking that the present mode of conveying the coal to Rockets is not much less eligible. I refrain from stating many other objections, which are professional, and which I believe were, as well as those already mentioned, as evident to Mr. Weston as to myself; but objections of another nature, more powerful than mere physical difficulties, opposed every project excepting that which he proposed.

In order to connect the basin of the James river canal with the tide, a very simple means is offered by the nature of the ground. To do this it will be necessary to form a capacious basin at Rockets, communicating with the tide by one or more locks. To carry a canal from thence along the level bank of James river to Shockoe creek. A cheap aqueduct of one arch of 30 feet span will carry the work across the creek into the back street. The canal will then go up the back street, mounting by successive locks, not more than two in each tier, into the basin. The canal from Rockets to the basin on Shockoe hill, should be of 9 feet draft of water, and the locks 100 feet long and 18 feet wide. This canal would of course bring vessels which navigate our coasts and bays and run out to the West India islands, into the basin on Shockoe hill.

The legislature of the state of Virginia, (for the commonwealth is deeply interested in the stock) has from time to time expressed great anxiety on the subject of completing this canal. But the dread of unforeseen difficulties and risks in carrying the work below the basin, and the value and productiveness of the stock in its present state, have hitherto overbalanced this anxiety. But considering Richmond as the principal source of fuel to the cities on our sea coast, at least until the mines of cape Breton shall supply us, I feel a national sentiment in deeply regretting the very fatal policy which maintains and supports the error, and the mutilation of this most important work. I will not at the same time deny, that when it is considered that those who projected and executed the canal were men of no acquaintance either with general science, or with this particular branch of art, and knew nothing of canals but from books or hearsay, they have already done wonders. They deserve the thanks of their state, and of the union. But the work should not stop where they have left it. Nature, has perhaps, done more for Richmond than for any scite where a city has been planted. For 10 miles above the city on both sides, and upon several islands of the stream, there are innumerable mill seats, supplied by one of the noblest rivers in the union. Immediately above the head of the falls lies an inexhaustible treasure of coal. Every art and manufacture to which human ingenuity can employ fire and water, may be here carried on with the least expense. From above, an easy and wide spreading navigation, collects on this spot all the raw materials which our climate can produce; below, a river capable of bearing sea vessels sufficient for every trade, but that across the ocean, is ready for the exportation of its merchandize. The town itself is placed on a healthy and commanding ground. But to improve these advantages to the utmost extent to which our population is equal, nothing would so much contribute as the completion of the Richmond canal.

I have dwelt specially on the coal trade to which this canal is subservient, as of first rate national importance. It is of no less importance to the state of Virginia as a means of conveyance of agricultural produce. As you will receive an answer in detail to your queries relative to the amount of all the sorts of produce carried upon it, and of its actual trade, I will not add any thing further to what I have already said on the subject, but to observe,—that at some distant period, the Chickahominy, a river rising in the coal country, and discharging itself into James river NA miles below Richmond, where ships may take in their cargoes, offers a means of carrying down the coal destined for distant exportation.

A canal has often been projected for passing the falls of the Rappahannoc at Fredericksburg. There is no reasonable hope, however, that this work can soon be executed. The ravine of the river at the falls on either side is so abrupt, rocky, and irregular that great expense must be incurred to effect it,—an expense not likely to be repaid by its trade for many years.

A canal to connect the Rappahannoc with the Potomac, a few miles below Fredericksburg, across the northern neck, has also been spoken of. It would be a highly useful work, but would require a tunnel of 2 or 3 miles. I believe it could be executed at an expense not greater than the tolls would remunerate. Such a canal, however, does not belong to the class of which I am now speaking.

The Potomac canal consists of two parts,—one to pass the Great falls 14 miles above Georgetown,—the other to pass the Little falls. The errors committed in the construction of the work have been enumerated above. The trade of this canal, especially during the year 1807, has been so great, that there appears every prospect of its becoming a productive work,—in those years in which there is a considerable and equal quantity of water in the river. But upon this circumstance it must always depend. The information respecting it, which can be obtained from the company, on the spot, renders it unnecessary for me to say more upon it.

No attempt at the improvement of the navigation of any of the rivers of Maryland between the Susquehannah and the Potomac, has been made, nor is there in the prospects of advantage to be derived from the navigation of the two Patuxents, the Patapsco, or any of the lesser rivers falling into the Chesapeake, any thing which could at present tempt capital into such an undertaking.

But the Susquehannah itself has been for many years the object of almost all the attention directed in the states of Maryland and Pennsylvania to the improvement of our internal navigation. About 6 miles above Havre de Grace, this mighty river meets the tide. The place is now known by the name of Smith’s ferry. The map of the river from thence up to Wright’s ferry (Columbia) in Pennsylvania, which I made in the year 1801, when directing the works carried on for the improvement of the natural bed of the river, and which by favor of the governor of Pennsylvania, I am able to exhibit with this memoir, will explain the nature of this part of the river very minutely, being drawn to a very large scale. The whole of this extent is one tremendous rapid, which in fact continues to the N. W. side of the Chickalunga hills, 3 miles above Columbia. The rapid is not every where of equal velocity, or equally dangerous. Wherever the river crosses a valley of limestone or slate, the rocks are worn down into a smoother and wider bed: but when it has to cross a ridge of granite, its course is immediately broken by irregular masses and range of rocks; its bed is narrow and enclosed by precipices, and its torrent furious and winding.

The Chickisalunga falls can be descended without danger, and no attempt to open them has been thought necessary. The ridge of granite hills through which they break, bounds on the N. W. the beautiful limestone valley of Columbia. Across this valley the river runs rapidly, but smoothly. Another narrow ridge of granite hills crosses the river immediately below Columbia, over which the river falls rapidly, and then enters the wider limestone valley known by the name of the Jochara valley. The river spreads here to the width of three miles, its stream is gentle though rapid, and it abounds in beautiful and fertile islands. It then suddenly contracts and is received into the narrow ravine which it has sawed down in the granite hill called Turkey hill. From its first entrance into the Turkey hill, to the tide, there is no part that deserves the name of a sheet of smooth water. When the river is full, the whole ravine about half a mile in width contains only one furious torrent in which few rocks comparatively are to be seen above the water; but the danger is not the less, and very skillful pilots, and many and stout hands are required to carry a boat or an ark safely down. But in the autumn, and in a dry season, the river itself can for 6 miles scarcely be seen, and its bed appears a barren and dry waste of irregular rocks, among which the loud roaring of water is only heard: for, from the Turkey hill to near the mouth of Conestogo, the whole river is discharged through a channel generally about 60 feet wide, in the greatest part of which the depth and the rapidity of the torrent is such, that it has not been fathomed. About a mile below the mouth of Conestogo, a narrow limestone valley touches the river on the N. E. side, but on the west shore not a trace of Limestone is to be seen. Four miles below Burkhalter’s ferry, the river arrives at the high range of granite hills, abounding in copper, in which the gap mine is situated, and at a place called M‘Call’s ferry, it narrows to the width of 16 perches. Here I attempted to find bottom with a line of 180 feet, but failed, notwithstanding every precaution taken to procure a perpendicular descent of the weight attached to it. Through this pass the water is rapid, but smooth and safe. The river rises here rapidly and very suddenly after the fall of rain above; and it will never be possible to erect a safe bridge at this place, so often mentioned as the most practicable. The obstructions to navigation by 3 rapids below M‘Call’s, is not so considerable as to endanger the arks and boats that descend, until they arrive at the Baldfriar falls, below Peachbottom and about 8 miles above the tide. From M‘Call’s to the slate valley of Peachbottom, the river is filled with islands called the Bear islands. Across the valley of Peachbottom, and above the Baldfriar falls, the river is wide and safe. The best natural navigation, and that always pursued by boats descending by the natural bed of the river, is on the west side, from the foot of the bear islands. Above that point to Columbia, the best passage is on the east side. The most dangerous falls below Peachbottom were Amos’s and Hector’s falls, on which many wrecks annually occurred until the late improvements of the navigation were made.

From this description it may easily be imagined that if the descent of the river with boats loaded with produce was dangerous and difficult, the ascent was still more so. The natural obstructions were besides increased by fish-dams in every part of the river, and the rival interests of the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland prevented, for many years, every attempt at artificial improvement of the bed of the river. In the mean time each state took measures to go as far towards rendering the navigation of this river useful to their respective interests, as their means and limits would permit; and a company was incorporated in Maryland, to make a canal from the Maryland line to the tide, to pass all the obstructions of the river of the eight lowest miles; and in Pennsylvania two companies were also incorporated, the one to connect the Susquehannah with the Schuylkill, by a navigation taken out above all the dangerous falls, and the other to connect the Schuylkill with the Delaware. The objects of none of these companies were advantageously accomplished. The Susquehannah canal company have, however, completed a navigable canal, liable to the objections which I have above noticed. The Pennsylvania companies have made considerable progress in the works, under the direction of a very able engineer, Mr. Weston, but have not completed either canal so as to render them useful or productive.

At last, in the year 1801, the states of Maryland and Delaware having passed laws incorporating a company for the purpose of cutting a canal between the Chesapeake and Delaware, a former law of Pennsylvania, appropriating 10,000 dollars to the removal of obstructions in the Susquehannah, went into effect; and the late Colonel Fred. Antes, than whom no man was better fitted to accomplish its object, was charged with its execution. But he died on his arrival at the river, and the direction devolved upon me. The enclosed report to the legislature on this subject, details the extent of the work executed, and the principles on which I proceeded in the attempt to make a practicable and safe navigation both up and down the river. I will here only repeat that all my exertions were bent to force through all obstructions, a channel clear of rocks, of 40 feet wide, close to the Eastern shore, never leaving any rock upon which a vessel could be wrecked between the channel and the shore,—so that in the most violent freshes a boat should always be safe, by keeping close in shore. Rocks of immense magnitude were therefore blown away, in preference to the following a crooked channel more cheaply made, but more difficult and dangerous, and varying in safety and practicability, according to the degree of the rise of the river. There is however one part of the navigation in which the bed of the river must forever be pursued, namely, from the Indian steps above M‘Call’s to below the gap at M‘Call’s:—a part of the navigation, which, if art can conquer it, must be undertaken in a state of the country infinitely more abounding in wealth and population than at present.

Of the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal.

Having now answered that part of your inquiry which relates to the general subject of canals, I come to the particular merits of the Chesapeake and Delaware canal, of which you have requested me to give special information; together with my opinion on its location, unbiassed by any interests but those of the public.

The very able report of the committee to whom your letter to the president and directors of the company was referred, and who did me the honor to confer with me on the subject, conveys to you all the information which can be given of the history of the company, their pecuniary resources and difficulties, the motives that directed their choice in the location of the work, and the system under which it was begun and pursued. Every thing also that can be collected by the most indefatigable enquiry as to the probable proceeds of the canal, and the advantages it offers to those who have adventured in it, is also detailed; and there remains to me only the task of giving you that professional information, which as engineer to the company, I have obtained; and to explain to you the means of executing it, as far as they are determined by the nature of the soil and the levels of the country.

The alluvial land lying below that part of the granite ridge which crosses the peninsula from the ferry opposite to Havre de Grace, reaching the shores of the Delaware at Wilmington, may be considered as a regular inclined plane, sloping gradually to the south-east at the rate of about 6 inches in a mile. Immediately below the granite ridge,—that is, along the foot of Gray’s hill, Iron hill, and along the south bank of Christiana creek, which runs parallel to, and close under, the ridge,—its highest inequalties seldom exceed 80 feet, nor does the common surface fall below 70 feet above the tide of the Chesapeake at high water. This plane extends from the granite ridge to the ocean,—and the only considerable depressions to be found in it, are the beds of the land drains, which are worn down into it and produce the appearance of vallies; but there are no insulated hills whatever, and the vallies are merely depressions of the ground below the plane. Hence it is evident, that by going round the heads of the water courses, a line of canal may be found across the peninsula between any two points on the opposite bays, in which the variation of level on the summit will be very small, and that by making the bank out of the spoils of the cut, a canal may be made at the smallest possible expense of digging and removing earth, and at no expense whatever for works of masonry, excepting at each end, where the descent requires the construction of locks. For by following the ridge dividing the waters which drain into opposite creeks, the necessity of culverts and aqueducts may be wholly avoided. The soil is also of the kind most easily cut, being generally of a sandy loam on and near the surface, and beds of good clay are found in abundance for all purposes of puddling.

The advantage of so level and soft a surface for the cut is counterbalanced by the total absence of water to supply it. This circumstance is very important in determining the choice of the line of the canal, among so many that are equally praeticable; for as all its water must be brought from the higher grounds upon the ridge, its location ought to be as near to the ridge as possible, in order that the feeder being short, the leakage and evaporation of a long feeder may be avoided. The location of the two ends of the canal does not, however, entirely depend upon its general course along the summit; and a great variety of terminations have been proposed, as equally eligible, both on the Chesapeake and the Delaware side. The former, after long and careful examination, has been decided in favor of Welch point, where there has, within the memory of man, been no diminution in the depth of the water, which is below the deposit of alluvium from Elk creek, and where the water is so wide and so deep, as to furnish a very capacious basin for many years to come, for the inconsiderable land wash of Back creek and the small drains in the neighbourhood. But on the Delaware side much difference of opinion has prevailed. The summit level of the canal in every case must reach the principal road leading from Christiana bridge down the peninsula, near a tavern called the Bear. This place is only two miles distant from Hamburg or Red hook, on the bay of Newcastle, and a cheap and short cut might be made to either of these points, especially to Red hook, did not two considerations forbid it,—the broad and wild water of the bay, and its shallowness at a great distance from the shore, there being only 4 feet 6 inches at low water. Newcastle, is the next eligible point. Newcastle is situated on a prominent point, which is swept both by the flood and the ebb tide. There will therefore be always deep water at the outer wharves and piers at that place, and less than 21 feet has not been found on the outside of any of the piers lately erected; or formerly, and even at present, at the wharves, excepting only where the eddy occasioned by the piers has accumulated soft banks of mud.

There could not be a moment’s hesitation in fixing the termination of the canal at Newcastle, unless the following reasons should be thought to outweigh the advantages of the best water in the Delaware, and the shortest navigation across the peninsula, which this point offers. It is in the first place feared, that in time of war, when the canal would be invaluable as a means of conveyance of military stores and bodies of men, an enemy’s ship of war might destroy the works at Newcastle in a sudden incursion, and return to sea, before the mischief could be prevented. It is further urged, that the mouth of the canal on the river below the tide would be liable to be filled up, in a very short time, as are all places on the Delaware where there is an eddy.—And it is also alledged, that Newcastle is situated so far below Philadelphia (33 miles), that unless with a favorable wind, dull sailing vessels cannot reach Newcastle in one tide, when they might reach the mouth of Christiana, 4 miles higher up the river, and go up the creek with the flood.

The first argument, appears to me to be deserving of consideration in a national point of view, and a small fort would be necessary to defend the mouth of the works against an enemy who should attempt to land, to blow them up. But they could not be injured even by shells beyond the destruction of the gates, which a few hours could put again into repair. To obviate the second objection it would be necessary to place the tide lock as far out as possible, and to carry out and wharf the side of the canal below the lock as far into the river, as the most projected wharf. The line of the wharves is now limited to 600 feet beyond the lowest street, called Water street, and unless further protruded into the river by a law of the state, this distance presents no formidable difficulty to the work, and places the utmost extension of the wharves, beyond the present time. The third objection is not without foundation. But the narrow and crooked navigation of Christiana creek, presents infinitely more causes of delay than the distance of four miles in the bold navigation of the Delaware. There is however in these objections enough to render it an object of infinite importance both to the nation and to the company, to avail themselves of both the eastern terminations of the canal, and to make a cut also from the Bear to the Christiana creek, about three miles above Wilmington, on a line not altogether so favorable, nor so short as that to Newcastle, but presenting no difficulties of importance whatsoever. From the point (Mendenhall’s) at which the termination is proposed, 10 feet may be carried out to the river Delaware. The objections to this termination are: the tedious and very crooked navigation of the creek for seven miles to the Delaware. The drawbridge at Wilmington, which must be passed; but more than any other, the opposition of the tides of Delaware and Christiana creek. For if a boat comes into the canal at Welsh point at high water, and passes across in six hours, she will find half flood in Christiana, and must wait the ebb to go down. On her arrival in the Delaware in two and a half or three hours, she will have again to wait three or four hours for the flood to proceed to Philadelphia, or up the Brandywine to the celebrated mills, the interests of which are well worthy of attention. Whereas a vessel arriving at Newcastle and finding the flood tide running, which will always happen if she comes to Welch point with a flood tide, may at once proceed up the Delaware, or up the Brandywine or Christiana creek, without delay. It must also be mentioned, that without a favorable tide, it is difficult to work down the Christiana creek against the wind, which is always unfavorable in some reach or other of its crooked navigation, when on the contrary, there is ample room in the Delaware to use all advantages of wind and tide.

On the other hand, it must be urged in favor of Christiana creek, that there is navigable water for boats drawing 8 feet above the proposed termination of the canal, as far as Christiana bridge, and that the navigation may be pushed still higher;—that the little town of Newport is now the depot of the produce of a very extensive and fruitful country extending into Lancaster county, and is 20 miles nearer to Lancaster than Philadelphia, and that to connect so important a field of productive business immediately with the canal, it may be worth while to incur an encreased expense and some inconvenience and delay in the mere thoroughfare navigation: and it may be added, that the large fixed capital of the town of Wilmington, far exceeding that of Newcastle, demands from the good policy, as well as the good will of the company or the nation, some consideration.

Well aware of the thankless task of giving a decisive and honest opinion on either side, I content myself with furnishing the materials of determination to you, and proceed to describe the nature and principles of the work actually executed in the feeder, and proposed for the canal.

Between the waters of the Chesapeake and the Delaware there are three streams which, rising in the high land above the canal, may be brought down to it as feeders, the Christiana creek, the Whiteclay creek, and the Elk itself.

The Elk and the Whiteclay are nearly equal in the regular quantity of water they supply, the Christiana is both smaller and more irregular. The Elk descends in a very crooked and rapid stream, 84 feet in four miles from Elk forge to the tide near Elkton, and unites with the wide water of the Chesapeake at Turkey point. The ridge that seperates its waters from those of the Delaware terminates in a high insulated hill, called Gray’s hill, which is united to the high land by a low and narrow ridge, crossing the post road on the boundary line of Delaware and Maryland. The Christiana creek is the first water falling from the high land into the Delaware. It collects all the waters that fall round the high insulated hill called Iron hill, at the N. E. foot of which it turns to the N. E. and, running in that direction under the foot of the granite ridge into the Delaware, receives the Whiteclay, Redclay and Brandywine in its course, and also numerous land drains from the level land to the South East. Of these three streams it has been ascertained that they may all be brought to the canal, but the Elk with the least expense and the shortest cut. The vallies in which they all run having been worn in deep and rocky land, and branching into deep ravines, the beds of rapid rivulets, offer great difficulties to the work necessary to divert their course.

In the Elk feeder, the canal is cut in the rock for about half a mile; embankments are made across several vallies, but the principal difficulty and expense consisted in cutting through a tongue of high land called Bellhill, through which the digging is 30 feet for near half a mile, and again through the dividing ridge, to the depth of 25 feet for above half that distance; these two difficulties have been conquered. Another smaller hill remains to be cut through, but it may be avoided by a circuitous cut, much less expensive, but also much less eligible. On the Delaware side of the ridge, the feeder is cut through a swampy flat of more than a mile in length, while the descent is only six inches. The general elevation of this flat is 86 feet above the tide, and as the head of the feeder at Elk forge is only 84 feet, it could have little descent, and falls only 2 inches in a mile. It has on this account been made a spacious canal of 3 feet 6 inches water, 22 feet 6 inches on the surface, and 12 feet at the bottom, affording as far as it goes a good and valuable inland navigation. The feeder is 6 miles in length; at the end of 5 miles is a lock for the passage of boats, and a side cut to communicate with the reservoir. A contiguous valley offers the means of making a reservoir, of more than a hundred acres. It has been proposed to embank 30 acres for this purpose. The lock is of 10 feet lift. The reservoir will be level with the upper feeder, of course 10 feet above the level of the canal, and under such a head will give the canal a plenteous and rapid supply as it is wanted. Below the lock the feeder is 5 feet deep, and 27 feet on the surface of the water: it will join the canal about a mile west of Aikentown. In the construction of the feeder permanence has been a very principal consideration. All the culverts are of solid masonry; no land water can run into the cut; the banks are sloped as 2 to 3; the embankments are well puddled, and the piers of the bridges are of hewn stone.

From the description which I have given of the soil of the peninsula, it is evident that the amount of digging constitutes the chief expense of the canal. To lessen this amount and to shorten the canal, it is proposed to quit the level in three places, and to cross three land drains that lead into Christiana creek, one at Aikentown, and two between Aikentown and the Bear. Small aqueducts and short embankments only are necessary to effect this. If the canal should terminate at Newcastle, a narrow marsh must also be crossed,—if at Christiana, deeper cutting must be encountered.

But neither of these difficulties increase the expense of the canal more than $ 7,500 each, beyond that of the same length of the general cut.

On all other points the report of the committee furnishes ample information; and I will only add,—that neither in Europe, nor in our own country do I know a line of inland navigation, which by so short a distance, and at so easy an expense, unites such extensive and productive ranges of commercial intercourse.

With the highest respect,
I am yours,

(Signed) B. H. LATROBE.

Albert Gallatin, Esq.
Secretary of the Treasury.

POSTSCRIPT.

April 1, 1808.

IN the questions proposed to me by you, the subject of artificial roads was comprehended. But being informed by you that the canal companies of Pennsylvania and Maryland, had transmitted to you ample accounts of their undertakings, and as in their works, experience has taught a system and mode of execution, of the most perfect kind; I have refrained from adding any thing to the information thus acquired. It has however occurred to me, that a few remarks upon rail roads might not be unacceptable to you, especially as the public attention has been often called to this sort of improvement, and the public mind filled with very imperfect conceptions of its utility.

Rail roads may be constructed of iron or of timber. The most durable (but also the most expensive) rail roads, consist of cast iron rails let down on stone foundations; such roads will last for ages. Cast iron rails secured on beds of timber, are sufficiently durable for our country, and of moderate expense. Rail roads entirely of timber, are fit only for temporary puropses.

A rail road consists of two pair of parallel ways, one pair for going, the other for returning carriages: single roads with occasional passing places, are applicable to some situations, and are of course less expensive. I will concisely describe the road best adapted to the objects that in our country can be attained by it:—The rails are of cast iron, and consist of a tread and a flanch, forming in their section the letter The tread is 3 inches wide, the flanch 2 inches high. The rails need not be more than ⅚ of an inch average thickness, and they may be cast in lengths of 5 to 6 feet each; each rail will, at six feet length, contain 225 cubic inches, which, at 4 inches to the pound, is 56 lb. each rail, or 1 cwt. for every 6 feet in length of the road, or 44 ton per mile.

In order to form a road of these rails, they must be laid at the distance of from 3 1-2 to 5 feet (according to the carriage that is to run upon them) parallel to each other; the ends of every two pair of rails being let and pinned down into a piece of timber lying across the roads, the holes for the pins must be cast in the rails. These pieces of timber may be of any form, provided they are level at the top, and they cannot be a great part of the expense of the road in any situation. The most durable timber is certainly the best: but no timber can be very durable in the situation it must occupy on the surface, and partly or wholly covered with earth. The perfection of the road consists in the parallel rails being laid perfectly level with each other across the road, and perfectly jointed. In most parts of the union the rails could, I think, be delivered at from 80 to $ 90 per ton, and in many at $ 60—but taking $ 80 as the average on the spot, the road will cost—

The carriages which travel on these roads may be of various dimensions, agreeably to the material to be conveyed, and the necessary angle of the road. They have low cast iron wheels fast upon the axle, which turns round. Thus, the two wheels on the axle making the same number of revolutions in the same space of time, the carriage necessarily goes straight forward, and cannot be thrown off the ways by any small obstruction on one side.

The principle upon which such astonishing loads may be drawn on the ways by a single horse, is the dimunition of friction in the greatest possible degree. On a good rail road, descending under an angle of only one degree, one horse may draw eight tons in 4 waggons of two tons each without difficulty. The astonishing loads drawn upon rail roads by single horses in England, have induced many of our citizens to hope for their early application to the use of our country. I fear this hope is vain, excepting on a very small scale, and that chiefly in the coal country near Richmond. For it is evident that upon a rail road no other carriage but that which is expressly constructed for the purpose, can be employed,—and that to render a rail road sufficiently saving of the expense of common carriage, to justify the cost of its erection, there must be a very great demand for its use. But the sort of produce which is carried to our markets is collected from such scattered points, and comes by such a diversity of routes, that rail roads are out of the question as to the carriage of common articles. Rail roads leading from the coal mines to the margin of James river, might answer their expense, or others from the marble quarries near Philadelphia to the Schuylkill. But these are the only instances within my knowledge, in which they at present might be employed.

There is, however, a use for rail roads as a temporary means of overcoming the most difficult parts of artificial navigation, and for this use they are invaluable, and in many instances offer the means of accomplishing distant lines of communication which might otherwise remain impracticable, even to our national resources, for centuries to come.

Mr. Fulton’s Communication.

(F)

Sir,

BY your letter of the 29th of July, I am happy to find that the attention of Congress is directing itself towards the opening of communications through the United States, by means of roads and canals; and it would give me particular pleasure to aid you with useful information on such works, as I have long been contemplating their importance in many points of view.

But a year has not yet elapsed since I returned to America, and my private concerns have occupied so much of my time, that as yet I have acquired but very little local information on the several canals which have been commenced.

Such information, however, is perhaps at present not the most important branch of the subject, particularly as it can be obtained in a few months at a small expense, whenever the public mind shall be impressed with a sense of the vast advantages of a general system of cheap conveyance.

I hope, indeed, that every intelligent American will in a few years, be fully convinced of the necessity of such works to promote the national wealth, and his individual interest. Such conviction must arise from that habit of reflection which accompanies the republican principle, and points out their true interest on subjects of political economy. From such reflections arises their love of agriculture and the useful arts, knowing them to agument the riches and happiness of the nation; hence also their dislike to standing armies and military navies, as being the means of increasing the proportion of non-productive individuals, whose labor is not only lost, but who must be supported out of the produce of the industrious inhabitants, and diminish their enjoyments.

Such right thinking does great honor to our nation, and leads forward to the highest possible state of civilization, by directing the powers of man from useless and destructive occupations, to pursuits which multiply the productions of useful labor, and create abundance.

Though such principles actuate our citizens, they are not yet in every instance, aware of their best interests; nor can it be expected that they should perceive at once the advantages of those plans of improvement which are still new in this country. Hence the most useful works have sometimes been opposed; and we are not without examples of men being elected into the state legislatures for the express purpose of preventing roads, canals and bridges being constructed. But in such errors of judgment our countrymen have not been singular. When a bill was brought into the British parliament 50 years ago, to establish turnpike roads throughout the kingdom, the inhabitants for 40 miles round London petitioned against such roads; their arguments were, that good roads would enable the farmers of the interior country to bring their produce to the London market cheaper than they who lived nearer the city and paid higher rent; that the market would be overstocked, the prices diminished and they unable to pay their rent, or obtain a living. The good sense of parliament, however, prevailed; the roads were made, the population and commerce of London increased, the demand for produce increased, and he who lived nearest to London still had a superior advantage in the market.

In like manner I hope the good sense of our legislature will prevail over the ignorance and prejudice which may still exist against canals. And here an important question occurs, which it may be proper to examine with some attention in this early stage of our public improvements,—whether, as a system, we should prefer canals to turnpike roads? Our habits are in favor of roads; and few of us have conceived any better method of opening communications to the various parts of the states. But in China and Holland, canals are more numerous than roads; in those countries the inhabitants are accustomed to see all their productions carried either on natural or artificial canals, and they would be as much at a loss to know how we, as a civilized people, could do without such means of conveyance, as we are surprised at their perseverance and ingenuity in making them.* England, France, and the principal states of Europe commenced their improvements with roads; but as the science of the engineer improved, and civilization advanced, canals were introduced, and England and France are now making every exertion to get the whole of their heavy productions waterborne, for they have become sensible of the vast superiority of canals over roads.

Our system perhaps ought to embrace them both: Canals for the long carriage of the whole materials of agriculture and manufactures, and roads for travelling and the more numerous communications of the country. With these two modes in contemplation, when public money is to be expended with a view to the greatest good, we should now consider which object is entitled to our first attention. Shall we begin with canals, which will carry the farmer’s produce cheap to market, and return him merchandize at reduced prices? Or shall we first make roads to accommodate travellers, and let the produce of our farms, mines and forests, labor under such heavy expenses that they cannot come to market?

To throw some light on this interesting question, I will base my calculations on the Lancaster turnpike road. There the fair experiment has been made to penetrate from Philadelphia to the interior country, and the mode of calculation here given will serve for drawing comparisons on the utility of roads and canals, for all the great leading communications of America.

From Philadelphia to the Susquehannah at Columbia, is 74 miles; that road if I am rightly informed, cost on an average, 6,000 dollars a mile, or 444,000 for the whole. On it, from Columbia to Philadelphia, a barrel of flour, say 200 weight, pays one dollar carriage. A broad wheeled waggon carries 30 barrels or 3 tons, and pays for turnpike 3 dollars; thus for each ton carried the turnpike company receives only one dollar.

I will now suppose a canal to have been cut from Philadelphia to Columbia, and with its windings to make 100 miles, at 15,000 dollars* a mile, or for the whole 1,500,000 dollars. On such canal, one man, one boy and horse, would convey 25 tons 20 miles a day,† on which the following would be the expenses: