Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1827-09-21

line Of The canal since that has, in truth, never
been traced along the ground which 1t Is 10 oc- |
cupy. Approximations only nave oeen maas |
towards such an estimate, resting on assumed
data. The first was presented in 1920, ny MI.
Thomas Moore, the PRINCIPAL Engineer Of Vir-
v;n;a. This was designed for continued ca
nal from Cumberland 10 the Great Falls OIL Fo>
,omac. distance Of l76 miles, with lockage
Of s72 feet, and it amounted to 3D. 4,3oo
The Committee of the House Of Representa-
lives ON the District Of Columbia, founded, on
the report of this Engineer, their computation
of the cost Of this work, in report OF the 81
of May, 1892, at two millions oil dollars, which
thew deemed sufficient to connect the present ca
mails of the Potomac, and TO extend them to tide
water. For the purpose Of raising this sum,
they recommend il to Congress 10 subscribe
one million TO the stock Of the Potomac Com.
pany, whose charter they merely proposed TO
amend.
The next estimate was that Of Messrs. Moore
and Briggs--of the gentlemen before named'
and Isaac Briggs, civil Engineer OF iepu'a-
ton, (see Colden's Memoir,) who jointly sur.
veyed the river Potomac, under the direction oil
Commissioners appointed by the States OF Wa
ryaud and Virginia, in the autumn OF ls22'-
They reported survey aud estimate OF a cahai
from Cumberland 10 tide water, a distance oil
1879 miles, to be 80 Zee, wide at top, 90 at bot
tom, and s feet deep, and to cost 5 57s, 954.-
"The average rate says Mr.. Briggs, the SUR
viving Engineer, on the 9th OF December, 1922,
con the whole canal being Ss,s76 per mile,
would, il applied in exact proportion, to ca
nal of the same dimensions as those in The STATE
OF New York, be Sl5,73a per mile; and this &C
cords" he adds, "with the actual cost ct such
parts Of the New York canals, as resemble ours
in the amount Of lockage, and in laborious ex :
cavation."
The fourth estimate may be said 10 nave been
that Of Messrs. Lacock and Shriver, Of Pennsyl-
yania, the one formerly Senator Of the United
States, and now an acting Canal Commissioner
of the State which he then represented, the o.
Their highly respectable Civil Engineer. These
gentlemen offered TO construct canal from the
tide to Cumberland, for two millions and hall
Of dollars, and to furnish adequate security tor
the fulfilment Of their engagement.
1t being subsequently, determined to enlarge
the dimensions as we'll as to extend the length
Of the Potomac Canal, under the new denomi-
nation Of the "Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, a
fifth estimate was submitted to the Convention
which assembled in Washington on the 9th OF
November, 1923. This computed the cost Of
this part Of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal al
S2,7s ,oos, and required its breadth to be forty,
and It's depth four feet at least. Like the re-
port Of the Committee on the District OF Co.
iumbia, this estimate was accompanied by a Il.
uanciai plan for raising the sum that it rcqoir-
ed, which was also approved by the Convention,
and has been in part executed by the proceed
ings of the State Of Maryland, and the recent
determination Of the cities Of the District OF
Columbia. Another estimate, being the sixth
in order of time, disagreeing in many par,icu-
lars from all the preceding, has been submitted
bv the United States Engineers to the War
Department, and by the Presiden, to Congress,
though not as conclusive, since the Engineers
intimate that no estimate can be so, which does
not succeed or attend the labor of tracing the
canal over the exact ground which it is to oc-
cupy. This last estimate accompanied the plan
Of canal O! more enlarged dimensions than
had been hitherto contemplated 1t underwent
review by the last Washington Canal Con-
vention in December, 1895, and afterwards by
Committee of the House of Representatives
Of the last Congress. The Committee adopted
the dimensions for the Canal recommended by
the United States Engineers, with an enlarge
ment Of its breadth to sixty feet at its surface,
wherever that can be effected by easy excava
ton: and they specially require the Canal TO
nave tnal DTtdQlu USiOW tuC uCdu vi 'hS ANtt'S
Falls Of the Potomac, or for about five miles
above its termination in the proposed basin al
Georgetown. The object Of this enlargement,
by the Board and Committee is the same,
namely, to diminish the resistance Of the water,
and has reference 20 the particular dimensions
Of boats adapted to the size Of the locks OF the
Canal. With ordinary velocities, they are cal
culaled TO move as easily upon a canal Of those
dimensions as on an indefinite exDanse OF wa
ter.
The estimate Of the Committee, founded on
the report Of the United States Engineers, on
the numerous facts collected by the Washington
Convention, and the information Of many men,
Der. of the House of Representatives, allowed
four millions Of dollars for the cos, OF the Ca
nal from Georgetown to Cumberland; and the
bill which they reported on the subject prosid,
ed an additional million in order 10 reach the
Coal Banks of the Potomac upon the Deep
Creek route, should it be found impractical able
to conduct the canal boats into the mines near
Wills Creek, on the more Northern route, a.
cross The Allephanv by Casselman's river