Phenix gazette. [volume] (Alexandria [D.C.]) 1825-1833, 1831-06-14
PsDoH Of the President and Directors ofthe Ches
egeaks and Ohio Canm ComPany.
CONTINUED.


From the character of the canal already COM
uleted below the Point Of Rocks, aud especially
of that part Of It between the lth and SD Sec
tons, as well as in the vicinity of Georgetown,
IL must now be apparent that the early assurance
given to the public, that the entire eastern Sec
ton could be completed m three years from its
commencement, might have been realized. pro-
vided no legal obstruction had impeded ITS pro-
gress, and adequate funds could have been pro-
vided.
II is rs confidently believed, that nothing more
i, necessary, in order to manifest the superiority
ofthe Chesapeake aud Ohio Canal, to any other
mode of transportation applicable to the valley
ofthe Potomac, than to bring it into actual use
above the distractions Of that river at tarper's
Ferry.
The annexed tables, presenting an exhibit OF
the cost of each section OF the canal, from the
tide lock in the mole at Washington, to the
Point of Rocks. and of the estimated cost Of the
twelve miles above that point, which remain to
be constructed in order to reach the mouth Ut
he Shenandoah, will show that the work above
GEORGETOWN. done and to be done, on the first
sixty miles of the canal will cost about so, 600
dollars mile, exclusive Of contingencies. In
one of these tables a comparison Is instituted
between the actual cost Of this work. and the
estimate made of II by the United States Engi-
neers, who terminated their calculations at Mar
ket street, In Georgetown. where they proposed
20 form a basin, aud to which this comparative
view is, therefore, made to descend.
For the sake of any.intercnce which may be
drawn from this comparison. it should not be
forgotten, that the breadth OF the canal at the
water-!ne was designed by the unlted States
Engineers 10 be iorty-eight feet, Its bottom SS
feet, and its depth feet; OF which they say
.. this transverse section is 10 be modified where
s'Ocal circumstances require II, anu more espe'
cially in the cases OF deep cutting, steep'sde
:, cutting, embankng, and also where the canal
sis supported by walls. The depth Of feet
:, has been persevered throughout the line, but
:. the breadth has often been much lessened."
The actual canal, on the contrary, is 60 feet
wide at the water-line, 40 at bottom, and s feet
deep, and has been reduced in breadth below
these Dimensions, though all the above contin-
sencies frequently occur IN ITS course, for less
.han single mile altogether. Of the AZ now very
yearly completed. Ii is, indeed, much more
frequently enlarged than reduced; it is never
less than 6 feet deep; and where its breadth. as
for the four miles next above Georgetown, is less
than so feet. its depth is extended to feet below
the top water line. forming cross section through
out Of about 4S0 feet below water.
To compare these two canals together, their
respective tow-paths and berm-banks being, with
the same inside slope, two feet above their water
i,ne, il shuuld be considered, that their entire
cross-sectious, or mean breadth, multiplied into
their depth, are to each other as 4S2 to S04.6:
and the cross sections Of their water prisms,
where the larger Is only feet deep, as 500 to
202. 5.
The breadth Of the tow-path of the larger Ca
nal is, also, constructed two feet wider than that
required by the estimate of the smaller; the cul-
verts. Of the larger are never reduced to d less
length, than a canal Of so feet breadth requires;
all Of them are constructed, where practicable,
" high, as to enable ataboFer to walk erect