Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1826-12-14

preference is due first to that portion ofitwhich
shall connect the coal banks with the navigable
waters ofthe Chesapeake; next to that which
shall shorten the portage between the Eastern
and Western waters; and last, to the interme-
diate Section which shall finally unite them.
| This order ofthe completion Of the entire ca
nal will accord, moreover, with the views Of
| those friends of this central communication be-
tween the Eastern and Western waters, who
deem it expedent to substitute inclined planes
or railways, or both, with fixed and movable
steam engines, for canal across the Allegany
mountains. Time, and the light of experience,
which the wide diffusion of the spirit Of internal
Improvement is about to shed upon the relative
advantages of canals Of great lockage, and rail-
ways, may clear up the obscurity which now
rests upon this new subject OF controversy be-
fore the arrival Of the Chesapeake and OhioCa-
nal al the base Of the Allegany, shall require its
decision.
But if, as the United States Board of Inter-
nal improvement appear already inclined to de-
.ermine, it may hereafter be considered expe-
dent to substitute, for what they term the mid
die section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal,
an iron railway, part of their argument in ia
vor of the Northern route from Cumberland
must be surrendered, since, with lower sum-
nit level, it has asaountan of higher elevation
at the tunnel, by near 200 feet, to contend with,
| than that upon the Southern route, by Savage
| river.
All that this reasoning, therefore, tends to en-
force in its application 10 the present purpose
Of the Convention, is the policy of leaving the
future Canal Company at perfect liberty, OF the
various routes and expedients for obviating
their greatest difficulty, 10 select the best.
L. S.o fDn fh1v
mend the new charter as to authorize, at the
discretion ofthe Company which may arise un-
der il, Limitation OF the Western end Of the
Eastern Section of the canal 10 Cumberland, on
the Potomac; the substitution, in like manner,
in any part of its route thence, towards its
Western termination, of inclined planes and
| railways, for continued canal, and the power
TO vary It's route from Cumberland, in any di-
rection suitable to connection of the Ohio and
Potomac, by navigable canal or railway; re-
tanning 10 the Company, however, in case the
| Northern route for the main canal shall be pre-
ferred, the power OF reaching the coal banks at
the mouth of the Savage, by another canal OF re-
duced dimensions.
In one view, 1t is perhaps not to be regretted
that the new charter did not originally embrace
this authority; since it might only have distract
ed the public attention from route then known,
and still admitted to be practicable, and the fur
Their examination Of which has ascertained the
possibility of gathering in ample reservoirs at
a level four hundred and ,hirty-six feet and a
| half above the Wills Creek summit, even
more water than the Casselman's river and its
| tributaries can supply, and at a distance from
the latter of little more than fifteen miles, along
which,a well as the feeders that connect the dou-
BILE reservoirs Of each summit, supply Of wa
ter mi ght be conducted from the higher to the
lower summit, without either absorption, leak
age, or evaporation, if to remedy deficiency
of water be its only purpose, in subterranean
pipes or cylinders OF iron, at comparatively mo-
derate cost.
Another act of justice is due, and cheerfully
rendered, by the Committee, 10 the o. States
Board Of Internal improvement, in reference to
| that parto their scientific report which relates
| to the breadth and depth, or the dimensions Of
the transverse section ofthe proposed canal.
| This view lis structure must indeed be in
| cluded in that comparative view Of its proba-
bic cost and utility, which must enter into eve
ry rational calculation of profit made by the
subscribers 10 its stock, or of the means of de-
fraying the expense Of its construction.
a principle in the experimental philosophy
OF navigation is supplied by the report Of the
board, which was not known to the Convention,
when after some investigation, they limited the
breadth Of the canal, by their resolutions, to
minimum of forty feet, and its depth to mini
mum Of four feet, being the breadth Of the New
York canals They confirm the expediency of
that limitation, and recommend an enlargement
beyond it of the transverse section of the canal,
as the charter was designed and is calculated,
should expedency warrant it, to admit.
The greater resistance encountered by the
boats which navigate the Schuylkill canal,
compared with that whieh they meet upon the
broad surface the river, had disclosed to vul-
gar observation this principle, in itself so OBJ
vionsly accordant with reason, but the expert
ence of the United States had not supplied the
precise measure Of its influence upon canal ma
vigation. The Board Of Internal Improve.
ment have applied the experimental knowledge
of France to demonstrate, with irresistible
force, ",hat the cross section of canal" in or
der to avoid the resistance of confined surface,
Sought to be, with moderate velocities, 646-
100 times the cross section Of the boat, and the
water line" of such surface or canal "four and
half times the breadth of the boat
"Alowing isa feet for the breadth of the