The Portland gazette. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1818-1824, 1822-03-05

moultercd into oblivion.
| In connection with this subject we have made
some interesting extracts from an article ~ ule
/ late number of the North American ke'icW On
the y. Y. Canals.
The first Canal ia Great Britain was CON
structed as late as the year 1853 BY the Duke u
I Bridgewater and was ouly screen miles long. In
| this country, il appears the government has not
\ been indifferent 10 the subject.
The United States have not been insensible TO the
value OF an easy and rapid REORGANIZATION be-
tween the different parts OF the union In tnat admit
! rabe Report on Public Roads and Canals, which was
made in 1907 III Pursuance Of resolution Of the SEN
ate BY Mr.. GaaIin then secretary Of the treasury,
OF these facilities stated. BY cutting ninety
eight miles at different points, an inland transportation
is secured along the whole from Name 10 the
treny OF Georgia protected Iom the dangers Oh the
ocean, and tue at4Gs OF the enemy
\ Speaking Of the vast undertaking in New
( York the reviewer remarks
Postery will look with wonder the gigantic eff
forts OF state, which with population OF 100000,
! commenced, and, trust may soon say, finished,
four hundred and twenty tour miles OF canal, with all
its immense eInbankments noble aqueduGts, and
siye locks.
The line of the great western canal begins Bula-
10; then coastDg the Niagara river till il aeets the
Ionawanta creek puisues Its bed for eleven miles,
whence II takes norln-eastery direction the town
ra and thence throu5 GenesSee Monroe Ontario,
Seneca, Cayuga. Onondaga Madison, and Oneida.
AT Rome II approaches the Mohawk rlyeT, and thence,
traversng Uuc follows the south side OF the river till
Il joins the Hudson at position in the vicinity of Al
bany The whole distance d three hundred and sixty
three miles and has been divided into three sections
The FIRST extends from the embOuchure the Hudson
10 Utica, one hundred and nine miles the second,
thence 10 Montczupa, nlnety-sIx the third thence
TO Buffalo, one hundred and fifty eight. On the FIST
second ImD fpct IL la
existed for some time
The expense of the Erie canal was estimated at
S5,000eeo, and that Of the Chanplan canal At
Sl,0000O0. An enterprise Of this description 10 Re
undertaken by state whose permanent annual rev
enue was x27l.359 ~ whose whole revenue was only
S6l9,299 %, and its expenditure nearly equalling lis
receipts, whose population only amounted TO 959,220
souls, was certainly one OF no trihing character"
Of the ChamPlain Canal he says
II OPENS market to very large part of New York
and Vermont and the masts, spans lumber, &c. on
the shores OF the lake, have already acquired value
OF which the want OF a communication with the sea-
board before deprived them. The commissioners call
ed the pubic attention this canal in 1914 LII ex
tends from Whitehall to Waterford, and occasionally
uses the bed OF Wood creek and the Hudson The
cost OF making ii estimated 81 900 600 III IS
certain, however, that II will 10 that sum
The whole Length of the Erie and Champlain canals
when finished, viii be four hundred and twenty foHr
miles Their width the top fosty feet and al tie
bottom twenty eight The locks are ninety feet long
and fourteen feet broad. The sum Of 100000 mas
been appropriated 10 the Champlan canal and the e.
tmated expense OF both is S5,37l,sI4"
The cost of the Erie Canal j. there compared
with those of other places:
81 1t will not be unintercstng, trust. 10 compare
the cost Of the Erie canal with that OF others Its
erage is xl3,80O per mile. In England, the expendi-
ture per mile may be taken at about g22 500. Mr.
tIaatin gave the medium of American canals az G3l
600. The MddleseX canal in Massachusetts cost
Dl7OOO per mile Compared. therefore, with the adj
yantages conferred, believe that the Erie canal L.
OF the cheapest ever constructed. The canal ~
Iangnedec is no less the admiration of Europe than
the glory Of the reign of Louis XIV vet in its length
the magnitude OF the interests il unites the OF
commerce 1t bears upon It, II cannot enter
parlson with the great canal Thslength OF
the former is hundred and eighty miles, is six feet
deep, and cost about D2,9O000O time when mon
ey was far more valuable than present"
Although our extracts have taken up much
room we cannot forbear adding one more to show
the difference OF eXpenCe between land carriage
and the transportation by the canals
The present cost of transportation across the noun
,ains Pittsburgh is Do per Now BY the west
canal through the village Of Ene the head waters
of the Ohio it is estimated at Dds and ifthere
good road only D28 If therefore, be true that
in three years the cost Of wagoning to Pittsburgh a
mounted nearly to D.SO00,OOO, there would have /
been saving in either OF several hundred thou
sand dollars IL stated in the introduction (aud we
these results the consequence OF diigent
inquiry that taking section Of 1000 square miles
within forty miles Of the Ohio and Sandusky as the
depot and charging land carriage the various places
Of consumption, the canal would save al least H. "
per ton and in the northeast part Of Ohio al least
D.90 per ton IN the cost OF conveyance The effects
arc more palpahle in the OF Illinois. Merchan-
disc from Philadelphia or New Orleans, paws for car
riage Dl30 per ton but when the canal shall be finish
ed, and road of sixty miles made from the head of
lake Michigan, difference Of II. 90 D.6O viii inn
mediately be felt"
The protecting force of the U. S. saws the
reviewer, will be extended to our frontier with
ease and economy by means of this canal, Which
during the late burdensome and eXpen-
sive
piece of ordnance during the late contest with
England delivered al lake Ontario, cost the country
~ 2ooo when ITS original price was only D.400"
IN From these observations il cannot but be obvi-
Gus to all that the canal system, IS fraught with N
the highest advantages both of public and pr. |
vate nature il brings the country nearer to the /
town, or which is the same thing il enables the \
farmer who lives 80 miles in the interior, to get |
his produce TO market cheap rs the one who H
now lives but ten mites from il and uses land I
carriage and itincreases the value of his acres
and ms produce in the same proportion. Its eff |
feet upon the prosperity Of the town is also in
similar proportion.
There Is now water communication. from
Portland to Waterford distance of nearly an |
miles. thrOurh Presurnscot R;yar GaL.o.. ID - \