Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1828-11-14
with the Baltimore and Ohio Rail Road Com.

Pclous nEanCtai aTTahSe"ch''J a"u ""'
Gus cooperation Of the Corporations OF the
District of Columbia; together with the extra
ordinary punc,uaiity OF the private stockhoid-
ers, have removed all impedimen,s to the ap-
plca,ion of 500 900 dollars to this great work:
a sum calculated to place, beyond all doubt,
the speedy completion Of It's Eastern section,
as far as the coal banks, should The State 81
Virginia contribsa her fair proportion 10 It's
cost.
Althou gh the friends Of the canal apprehended
from the ii-heahh Of some Of the engineers, their
surveyors and assistants, engaged during the
present Autumn in locating the line oil the canal
the prevalence Of disease among the contractors
and their hands; i, is source OF heartfelt con-
graduation that very few Of the contractors
have experienced any indisposition, not ono OF
them has been dangerously i'll, nor has a-slng'e
death occurred among their laborers, who, TO
the number of several hundred, have been at
work for mure thap two moths.
II is, also, confidently believed, that, while
their contracts have comported with the facili
ties afforded by the river Potomac for the cx'
eculion of the contemplated works along It's
banks, their known skill aud character, as we'll
as fair comparison Of the prices Of their Ia
Dor, with those for like work on similar enter
3rises. in the United States, are pledges that
they will receive an ample remuneration tor
their expenditures Of time and money.
At the L.esburg letting, 1908 offers, Tor va
rious parts Of the Labor On che Canal, were
made by 100 different agents, counting each
company If persons as one agent The tar
greater portion 9th. contracts, both as to nur"s
Der and value, are made with CONTRACTORS North
of The Potomac; from Massachusetts, Connec-
ticut, New York, Pennsy lsania, and MARYLAND,
their experience and skill, having enabled them
greatly 20 underbid, except in very lew cases,
the less confident contractors from the South.
The work contracted for, is to be completed
BY the end Of the next wear, and efforts Will be
made, as speedily as possible, by other con-
tracts, 10 extend the Canal, within the same
perod, from Rock Creek 20 Shephe rdstown--
No other than legal impedimrnts can prevent
it, and the charter Of the Company provides, IT
is believed, for the prompt removal of these.
Lest the cause Of the reduction Of the contract
price Of the Canal below the prior estimates of
The United States Engineers, should be mis-
apprehendrd, a strict comparison has been in
s;tu.ed between the various quantities of work
as we'll as their value, involved in the estimate
by the United States Engineers and in the re-
cent contracts. BY the former, the Chesap"al:s
and Ohio Canal was designed TO be 48 feet
difficulties were supposed &c require its breadth
to be reduced. The sanal. Contracted for, is to
be, no where, less than so ire wide, and il is
TO be every where, less, six feet deep. II
will be 60 wherever the former was to be 48
feet wide, & six where that was 10 be five feet
deep. The comparative quantities and prices
of labor on this Canal, between a point miles
above the Monocacy, o, half nile beioH the
Ki,oc'a an Mountain and the Little Falls IT Po-
tomac, according 10 the prior estimate, AID TO
the actual contracts, are, in relation 10 the prin.
cipal details, as follow: The quantity Of exca,
walton Of all SORTS Of earth, rock, SC in this
part Of the Canal, is computed by The United
States Engineers, 10 reach 242o $50 c'.hic
yards, and 20 cost 7O2 ,94S dollars. The guam.
tity contracted Tor, according 10 the estimate OF
Messrs. Wright and Mar,ineau, is 1882, olS
cubic YARDS and l. is actually CONTRACT led COR, at
the cost Of S2i9.76s
The Embankment, computed by the former,
on the same lin. of Canal, amounts to AL lao
cubic yards, and its estimated cost is BIS, 400,
averaging more than II cents the cubic yard:
that required by the latter, amounts to 9s3 9l6
cubic yards, and is contracted for ., Sll5,283,
or IL 70 100 cents the cubic yard.
The Stone Mailing, in the estimate Of the
former, amounts, IL qu.uliiv, 20 l39, 245 perch
aud in cost, 10 437,8l2 dollars; in rthat OF the
latter, it comprehends li5,72o perches, and
has been contracted Tor ar S63,5l4.
An Aqueducl, oil arches ofrntrty feet span,
is computed in the former ,s.imaie at 80 .e23
dollars II has been contracted for upon The
same plan, and dimensions, for 900 dollars-
The loves, price in the forme, estimate for a
cubic yard Of excavation, Of any sort, is IA cts.
and the average cost Of every species, IS $40
cents; the lowest price at which his species Of
very simple work has been put under contract,
is cents the cubic yard; its average cost for
every kind Of material, to br dug, quarried, or
blasted, is, for near two millions Of cubic yards,
contracted TO be 10 c.nts per ward
The substitution of substantial aqueducts, or
massy stone for the wooden trunks, estimated,
by Messrs Geddrs and Roberts. and The great
Ut the cross section of the Canal
are evidences that its importance has been duly
and mus exclude the suspicion that
the reduction Of its cost results, in any degree,
frum diminuion otis original plan, or any
Of its permanent durability. Its en-
bankmen,s are, in truth, greatly enia, ged, and
by substituting slope, for vertical