The Delaware register, or, Farmers', manufacturers' & mechanics' advocate. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1828-1829, 1828-11-15


ter the port. AS the sea in question is full of shall
lows throughout all ordinary means Of improving the
access TO the port were necessarily Intellectual and
the resolution therefore at length adopted, OF cut
ting canal from the town to the Holder the North
erasnost point of the Province of Holland. The dis
lance between these extreme points is Al English
miles, but the length of the Canal is about 503 The
breadth at the surface of the water is l244 English
feet the breadth bottom &c. the depth feet inches
Like the Dutch Canals generally its level that OF the
high tides of the sea- from which it receives its supply
Of water. The only locks it requires of course, are
two tide locks at the extremtes but there are, be-
Sides two sluces with flood gates in the intermediate
space 1t has only Ii bridges (draw brdges) IN its
whole length. The locks and sluces double, that
is to say, there two in the breadth of the Canal
and we learn from Mr. Bald, that their construction
and Workmanship excellent. They are built OF
brick for economy, but bands of limestone are nerpo-
sed at intervals, and these project about inch be-
yond the brick, to protect it from abrasion by the
sides of the vessels There is broad towing path on
each side, and the Canal is wide enough to admit OF
one frigate passing another.
The line which the Canal follows may be easily ira
ced on a map of Holland. From the river le, at
Amsterdam, it proceeds North to Purmerend, thence
West to Alkmaar Lake; thence North, by Alkmaar,
to point within two miles of the coast, Petten,
and ii con inues to nearly parallel to the coast
from this point to tile eluer Wnere IL IONS tne sea,
at the fine harbor of Nowediep, formed within the
last thirty years. AT the latter place there is pow
erfu steam engine, for supplying the Canal with wa
ter during the neap tides, aud other purposes. The
time spent in tracking vessels from the Helder to Am
sterdam is 10 hours. The Helder Point is the only
spot on the shores OF Holland that has deep water
and it this advantage to the Island of Texel OPP
posite, which by contracting the communication be-
tween the German Ocean and the Zuyder Zee to the
breadth of a mile, produces current which scours
and deepens the channel. immediately opposite the
Heder there is 100 feet of water at the high tides
and at the shaowes part of the bar to the WESTWARD
there are 81 feet In the same way the arti6cia
mound which runs into the lake river Ye, opposite
Amsterdam, by contracting the water way to abou
1000 feet keeps depth of 40 feet in the port at higf
water, while above and below there is only 4 or II
The canal was begun in 1919, and finished in 1925
The cost was estimated at ten or twelve millions o
forms, about one million sterling. If we compute
the magnitude of this canal by the cubic contents o
its bed, it is the greatest we believe in the world-un
less some of the Chinese canals be exceptions. Tn
volume of water which it contains when filed or TIN
prism de remphsSage is twice great that Of tn
New York Canal, or the Canal of Languedoc, ant
two and half times as great that of the Caedon
an canal if we include only those parts of the latte
which have been cut with human labor. We hav
not heard what returns it yields but we may safel
assume that, for years. it will not be proftabl
concern. Even in Holland where interest is low,
would require tolls to the amount of $4,000 per
mum to cover interest and expenses We find froI
the Bulletin des Sciences that ,932 ships entered tn
port of Amsterdam in 1897. Most of the small one
4 l.lt