The Alexandria herald. [volume] (Alexandria [Va.]) 1811-1826, 1823-03-24


make their shipments then the crops
lie on hand till next year, subject to all
the Inconvenience s losses accompany
| ing such circumstances. And when The
I Hoods are most propitious, &the navigation
! is the best under existing circumstances,
the usual consequence is, that the pro
duce OF immense districts of country. "a
| moag the most fertile in the union. is all
forced into market al one time, and a
capital which might be sufficient 10 give
better prices, 1.-THE merchant had time
to receive the proceeds of one investment
before he made second, is found made.
quate to give fair price 10 all under such
disadvantages. Thus the farmer has fire..
quently no alternative left, but to sacri-
fice the fruits of his years labor.
The expenses are already too great and
produce will bear no additional cost or
risk of shipping farther, and to carry j,
home again is impossible ; for sometimes
even the boat which brought it down,
cannot be hoated back empty IL is
surely 70 be iameuted that wretched as is
this navigation, j, is the sole dependence
OF vast extent of country, which in spite
OF its fertility, and the value of its mex
hauotible minerals of the most useful
kindS is most evidently dropping and suf>
tering, for want of ready marke; for its
productions, without which stimulus, it
is impossible for its agriculture to flourish,
or It's natural resources TO be developed.
Bad indeed as is the navigation above
described, still this conveyance il prefer.
red by all who can avail themselves of it,
to land carriage. With all its uncertain
ties e risks, is found cheaper by all the
farmers and millers than maintaining SUI.
pernumerary horses Throughout, the
year, Tor the purpose of carrying produce
to market. If additional proof were re-
CURED, stronger cannot be adduced,
than this very circumstance of the i'm
mense superiority of navigation over
land carriage. lfnavigation cucumber
ed with so many risks and uncertain
ties, and unavoidable expenses, it is still
preferred by all who can avail themselves
OF 1t, to the usual land carriage, assisted
by improved roads TO all the sea ports
and if this, the worst and dearest of all
kinds OF navigation, does yet give an in
creased value to the lands contiguous tn
IT over those whose sole reliance is on
the turnpike, what may we not reasona,
bly, caiGGn u tt.g viii be the still further TO-
safe anG constsn, still water fniaa92igatioht1Y
SLUiCE NAVIGATION.
As what has been called sluyce navi-
CATION, has been the kind adopted by the
Potomac company, and the one on which
so large part of their funds has been
expended, it may be necessary to give
an explanation drawn from an actual OBJ
servation of aha. has oeen done and
tried for many years, of this kind of work
On he Potomac
The sluices on this river are of three
kinds: the first which are chiefly found
i'll the upper part Of the river, are chan
nels formed by low walls The second
are channels formed by excavating the
rocky bottom of the rivers. The third,
kind which are yet used, and have been
Of service to the navigation in high water
are channels opened near the banks of
the river, around the rapids and small
falls in the CURRENT as at Harper's Ferry,
Paine's Falls, &c. to avoid the great force
OF the torrent in mid stream, in such stu
atoms & with the view UfgiviDg the boat
men land path on the bank, on which
by a rope they may drag the boat up the
stream, when the violence of the current
is too great to be overcome by setting
poles. These channels though used, are
of very imperfect and temporary con-
struction, the bottoms Of no one of them
being graduated. They arc certainly
too imperfect to he called canals, AL
though such is their common appellation.
The two first of this kind oil sluices are
formed on erroneous principles & have
failed TO render anv service TO the naViga-
ton ofthe rivers The errors in the FIST
requiring detail will be presently xplaina
ed. The errors in the second kind, or
in excavating channels in the bottom of
the streamS consist IN attempting on
long line of stream, N lining al the way
in its whole length, to regulate the
depth by partial cutting or deepening
the bottom. Unless you bring water to
level the whole length Of the line Of its
stream, any partial cutting or deepening
in spots along the line, so inclined, only
serves to transpose a shallow little fur
ther up the line,or to make hollow basins
Of 10 service And in a river where the
chief failure in its navigation arises from
the too long and too frequent deficiency
of depth Of water necessary for boating,
-