The Sun.
London, England, 1817-09-19 00:00:00

A-MER MAN ENTERYRIZE.

" The OFTIVIAI, IfF:POlei'S of the CANAL 'COMNILS-
STONERS of Ofe STATE a NEW YORK, and 'the
AC: ••• the LEGISLATURE', 'respecting NAVIGABLE
CeMINIUNICATIONS between the Great %VESTEItN
and NOR I I ERN LAKES and the ATLANTft OC N
n Pei icuous NlapS and Prot4.les. Published at the
• request of the Board of tanal COmmiss'ioners.

iiitrOtur 01, T::E 'CANAL CoNiMissioNEfti.

(Guttintivil iris Yeiterd ty'3 S'uN-)
• " At a froitit eleven -.tildes op the Torinelt'anta
creek, from it; Month, that .s'eetion of tilt route
assigned to S►m s Geddes,. ISpqj• as eugineer,
commences, and extends eilstw‘eilit to the Seneca
In the detads of this suction, reference
is made to the minutes, maps, profiles atui
dr;4llglits of the said engincet, herewith pre-

ri s.•t, r

vented. •
" Pursuing this route, the Canal never rises
above the Lake Erie level. It would, therefore,
derive its ,waters, until it descends to the Ge-
nesee level, and as much further as may'he ne-
cessary, from that never failing reservoir.
i\lal► No. I, includes six Miles and forty4wo
chains of the route, on this section.
" From the place of its commencement, at the
distance of five miles and sixty-four chains, this
route reaches the brow of the mountain ridge.
For the first forty-foiir chains.of this distance, it
falls in tl►e channel of •a small stream, and for
wenty-1%.v0 chains the channel of that stteam is
suflitiently wide and deep for the Canal. But a
towing pall on its margin would cost 7 50 dollars
I►er chain, . Dollars, 165
•• To give the other twenty-two chains the
averagtt width and depth of the Canal, 2438 cubic
yards of eartl► must be excavated ; at eighteen
cents, this would cost Dollars, 440
Add for towing path, at the same rate as above,
Dollars, 165
The e,,pence of the next thirty chains, as a little
deep cutting is to be' encountered. in it, is es-ti-
mated at Dollars, 3018
At tl►is place, seventy-four chains northerly front
the Tonnewanta creek, commences the deep cut-
ting, which continues four miles and seventy
chains to the brow of the ridge above-mentioned;
and there terminates the Lake Erie level, in this
three: ion.

As the excavation of the Canal, through this
distance, constitutes one of the most serious dif-
ficulties presented on the whole route, great pains
have. been taken to avoid all impracticable data
of calculation relating to It, and, at the same time,
to:give to the work such dimensions and con-
struction as may he required, k% idi the greatest
attainable economy. Throughout this deep cut-
tin.g the calculations embrace a width of water on
the surface of the Canal of twenty-seven feet.; a
bank Irom bottom to an elevation of five feet
on each side, of such a slope as that twelve.inclies
rise evil eve base of eighteen, inches; .a recess
at this elevation, in oue bank of two feet, anti in
the other of one; and an ascent of both banks
trout these recesses, to the natural surface of the
earth, at an angle of forty-five degrees with the
horizOn. The earth here consists of a stiff brown
cliy, which 'in the banks ot the Tonnewanla,
va;,(ts iit.teen feet high-at a steeper slope than
the one Awe proposed for the Canal banks above
the water. Of the recesses, the lease is for a
berm, the largest for a towing7path, to be com-
pleted in' a manner described below.
ortle-r to conform to these calculations,
the' fiist sixty-one -chains of this deep cutting,.
which rises freink fourteen to seventeen fret above
the-bwtom of the Canal., would require 'the ex-
cavation of 68 .106. cubic yards ; but as there flows
through this distat,Ce a brook, whiCh has scooped
out a channel averaging three leer deep by thirty
feet' wide, there inay be deducted 13,380 cubic.
ytods frotb the finnber alrove.,stated, leaving to
be actually exc'av'ated 54,726, wl ich at twenty-
five cents will cost Dollars, 13 681
, . )
" For the next forty chains'and twenty
the depth of cutting v. ill average eighteen feet,
and making for this distance a deduction, on ac-
contlt of the channel. of the brook, at nearly the
sante rate as above, the number of yards to be
excavated will be 60,000, which at twenty-seven
cents will cost - Dollars, 16,200
" For the next forty-eight chains and eighty
the average depth is nineteen fe'et.seventyL
five hundredths ; number Of yards to be excavated
97,442, which at twenty-eight cents will Cost
Dollars, 20,983
t'For the next two hundred and forty chains,
the average depth is_ twenty-five feet,. number of
yards to be excavated 687,866, at thirty-one cents,
will cost , Dollars, 213,238
The medium expence of
,excavating a cubic
yard of earth, in this deep pitting, has been
adopted from an estimate of the expense of such
excavation to four different depths below the sur-
face, viz.: to '6 1.4 feet, to 12 1-2 .feet,, to-18'
3-4 feet and twenty-five feet ; and the medium
expence or such excavation to the first depth is
estimated at Dollars, 00 16.
T 0 the 2d at , 26
To the 3d at 36
To the 4111 at 46

- -
Diside the aggregate of these sums by 4.1 124

and the medium is 31
which is the rate per yard adopted, for the most
part, in the above calculations ; and where it is
not, to avoid fractious, a rate somewhat higher
has been adopted.
lit effecting this excavation; it is proposed
to use the machine described in page eighty.two
of a publication entitled " A Treatise on internal
Navigation, &c." To the above items of expence,
therefore, add, for making the Illa Chine, keeping
it in repair, and moving it as may he walited,
Dollars, 2,m00
cc To construct a towing path thratigntinite„p
cutting, it %Via be necessat y to erect a dry stone
wall, on the side of the largest recess above
tianed, three and an half miles lon.- This wall
should he thirty inches thick at the bottom, twen-
ty-four at the top, and six feet high. Let it be.
twig feet below the water, to prevent iijory
by frost, and four feet above, with a suitable bat-
teriug .611 space between it and tie rvcess,
bud then the wall; the recess add- the space bi-

tween filled up, will forma towing path six fe4l
wide. Such a %van would consume 10,080 perches
of stone, after they are laid op. They may be
laid up 'eighty-seven and a half cents per perch,
. .
amouromg•to - Dollars, 8,820
The stone Could be 'furnished, froM the north end
Of the deep cutting, without any expence, except
that .of moving tbeni Cu the line of the wall,
which, estimated it two dollars per cord, and
braking an allowance for tyaste cif more than 25,
per cent., would amount to - Dollars, 5,040
" For one mile and thirty chains of this deep cut-,
ling, no expellee of erecting a wan to support the
towing path is estimated. By sinking shafts,
where the ground is dry, and sounding it with a
pole where it is not, in various places, ,from the
brow of the pret ipice southerly, it ,is found, that
a rock of line-:torte roust be excavated„ for that
distance, lying at from one to ten feet below the,
surface. But the number of cubic yards to be
excavated in this rock will he so much diminished
by making the banks perpendicular, that after
allowing a recess in one of them for a towing path
six feet wide, and calculating the expence of such
excavation at seventy-two cents per yard, which
it is believed will he warranted by the data afford-
ed in the two letters front Mr. Porter and the
Messrs. Browns, subjoined to this Report, the
extra expence of this one mile and thirty chains
will he Dollars, 25,000.

" At the end of this deep cutting the line of the
canal descends sixty-five feet to the level of Ge-
nesee River; and this descent is calculated to be
effected by eight locks, of which the whole ex-
pence is estimated at Doikrs, 73,58 G

" The remainder of the route, on this map, is 51
chains, which exhibits an uneven sin lace, re-
quiring, however, no considerable embankment
or deep cutting, brut in some places rugged with
stone. The expellee of it is estimated at

Dollars, 5,610

"Many bridges will be required across this canal,
but they need not 5e expensive. Make two stone.
abutments twenty-two feet apart ; let six feet be-
tween them serve for a towing pad], leaving six-
teen feet in width of water ; let string •pieces be
laid, from one of these abutments to the other, in
sufficient numbers and size to support a flooring
twenty feet wide; make this floot lug of plank ;
over the whole place a suitable rail tig ; and the
average expence of such bridges will not exceed
Dollars, 300

"Much of the route of t he canal will pass through
woods, or land newly cleared. Considerable ex-
pellee, in grubbing and clearing, will therefore he
incnrred.—'l•his expence will he estimated at one
thousand dollars per mile.
`‘. Add, therefore, to the foregoing items of cx-
pence the cost of one bridge, Dollars, 300
grubbing • and clearing six miles and forty.two
chains, Dollars, 6,525
and the aggregate amount of expenses through
the first map will be Dollars 401,271
[To be continued.]