The enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1804-1815, 1808-06-28

ter - Tie performance OF that condition, is now
suspended by an act OF the legislature oc Vir.i
ma and there seems To be considerable llsvcrsi.
" of opinion en that subject In a national pout
of view, the plan which, will ut the le.s. expencc
put Goals on board vessels laying at Rockets, Se
serves the preference. For 'coAl is in no other
part of the United States found in abund ,;,ce in
the vicinity OF tide waer.-A At present the ex-
pense OF transportation by the canal is already
reduced to one third Of The land carriage ..
The original capital of the company amounted
to 10000 dollars, of which the state OF Virgil
ma owns fifty Thousand; and $1,000 dollars ari.
sing from the proceeds of tons had before the 1st
ot january, 1905, been applied to The work, In 4
Sng together AN expenditure of 23l, 600 dollar,
The annual tolls raised on fourteen thousand tons
OF country Produce, and on two thousand coal
BOAT Save amounted to $3.50 dollars; and the
| ann'iai repairs and expenccs are estimated NJ
D ooO0. But as the COMPANY draw also reve-
nue. tom The rent OF water, applied 20 mills and
other water works erected along the canal they
have been able in some years to make dividends
OF 10000 dollars, being at the rate of - per cent
on the original capital, but of only about 2 ner
cent. if calculated on the sum of 2i4 900 dollars.
tile amount OF capital expended, and interest &C
crued before any dividend was made
Nv. PoTeMAc.
The company Incorporated by the states of Ma
ryiand and Virginia, for improving the nayrati-
on of that lver has executed the folio wing work.
-
the tide, which ascends about three miles above
lhe city OF Washington, the river is las feet high
er than tide water. at that place designated bv
the name OF Great falls the boats passing through
canal one mile in length, six feet deep, and
twenty-five feet wide, descend rs feet bv five
locks, 100 feet long, and 10 feet wide each, and
re-entcring the river, follow It's natural bed eight
miles and halt. Another canal of the same di
mansions and two miles and half in length brings
them then through three locks and by descent
OF 81 feet to tide water. This last fall is distin.
guished by the name of Little falls The two
lower locks of the Great falls, escavated out of
The solid rock have each lift of Ii feet: the
three upper locks of solid masonry are of unequal
height, and have together lift of forty feet The
three locks OF the Little falls, are each one hun
dred feet IN length and eighteen feet wide That
breadth is unnecessary, and consumes too much
water, defect which will be remedicd, when
stone locks will be substituted to those now in
use which being of wood will soon be decayed.
Three other canals without locks have been o.
pened around three distinct falls the principal
at the Shenandoe falls below Harper's ferry, and
at the place where the Potomac breaks through
the Blue Ridge, is one made in length around
tall OF fifteen feet Between this and the Great
ialis another canal three quarters of mile in
length, is opened around the Seneca falls The
third fifty yards in length, has been cut around
Houre's falls, five miles above the Shenandoe
fails Above this place. the navigation has been
improved by deepening occasionally the channel
raising tie water iii shallow places 10y small
dams, and opening sluicss along the shore 1t is
believed that by multiplying the number of those
low dams, by throwing the channel along the
shore, and when necessary opening canals with
or without locks around the principal rapids, the
navigation may be improved perhaps as high ,p
as Cumberland, 1873 miles above tide water. to
such degree as TO render the river passable for
boats the greater part of the year. And if this
he found
the most rapid of the great Atlantic rivers, the
same improvements may with greater facility be
effected on any of the Others. 1t will be indis-
Pensable, III order to attain that object on the Po-
tomac, that additional canals with locks, should
be opened at the Shenaudoe or Blue Ridge falls
which as has already been stated, fail 43 feet, in
the distance of five miles.
=. The Shenandoe, river nearly az large as
the Potomac itself, after course of $50 miles
through the Great Lime stone valley, unites its
waters with those of the Potomac at Harper's
ferry, just above the Blue Ridge. From Port
Republic till within eight miles of the Potomac.
distance OF near 200 miles, 1t affords good ma
VACATION, the fall of the river being 1t the rate of
less than two feet mile. In the last eight miles
1t falls eighty feet, and was impossible before the
improvements completed last year by the Poto-
mac company-SiX different canals twenty feet
wide, four feet and a half deep, and extending al
together 2,4OO yards, have been opened round
TIC iiost uiinCult lailS. through those, and five
stone locks, hundred feet long and twelve feet
wide each, and effecting together a descent of
near nifty feet, the communication is now opened
and will render the undertaking III lch mole pro-
ductiye than heretofore. The water in all those
canals and locks, as well in those executed or
the Potomac Is uniformly supplied by the river
itself.
The capital originally subscribed amounted to
81, $50 dollars, divided into 70l shares of which
the state of Maryland owns two hundred and
twenty, and the state of Virginia seventy. The
total amount expended, including an additional
payment received from the subscr bers, 5000
dollars arising from tolls, which have been APP
piled to the work, and debt of about 81, 900 dol
lars contracted by the company, amounts to
444,652 dollars. The annual tolls raised on eight
thousand tons of sundry articles, valued at more
than half million of dollars, have not before the
opening Of the Shsnandoe, exceeded / 900 dol
lars ) and the annual expences and repairs are
stated at 5000 dollars.
One hundred shares of e las sterling each,
remain open for subscription
{ To be continued
LdW INTELLIG ENCE EXTP1ORDJNl.