South Branch intelligencer. [volume] (Romney, Va. [W. Va.]) 1830-1896, 1835-06-13
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.

caring Nv JUnTs OVWs
| CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.
The seventh annual report of the Pre-
sident and Directors Of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Canal Company, has been made
and published, by Hon. G. c. WASHING.
TON. President of the Company.
The entire cost of the Canal, includ.
ing acquisition oflands, engineer de.
partment, pay of officers, and all other
expences, is estimated at $4,200,5
of which sum about half a million Of
dollars was expended ON the costly
! consI. aoiion through Georgetown and
Washington to the Tiber basin.
The completion Of the Canal to
Cumberland is no longer considered a
question Of doubt; and results highly
beneficial to the Stockholders and to
the District Of Columbia,it is predict.
ed, will ere long be felt from this im-
provement. The water power furnish.
ed within the District, is perhaps UNI
equalled in this country.
The Canal from Georgetown to the
Little Falls is 80 fee, wide at the wa
ter line, and Z feet deep. and to Har.
pers Ferry, average fully 60 feet in
width, and E feet in depth; from that
point to dam No. 5. s miles above
Wiliamsport, it is reduced to so feet
in width, and 6 in depth, and will re-
tain the same proportions to Cumber'
land. There are no distractions from
Georgetown to the western limit Of the
canal to prevent the free passage of
Steamboats,.
The locks are 6s in number, includ-
ing guard and 2 tide locks, and 2
lift locks to accommodate the Virginia
trade. The elevation, being 353 feet
from tide water TO dam No. 5. is over.
come by A locks, averaging about s
feet lift, 100 feet in length by $ in width.
The Culverts are 1856 in number va.
rying from 2 feet to more than 80 feet
in width from 100 TO 40 in length
Several Of them are used as roadways
under the canal.
There are S aqueducts, all cons
structed of solid masonry. The en-.
tire canal is fed from dams, viz -
The Little Falls Feeder, which sup
plies from that point to the basin in
Washington The Feeder at Seneca,
supplying II miles-the Potomac at
the head Of Harper's Ferry Falls, sup.
plying for the next 40 miles-and for
the distance of 423 miles above this
point, the supply OF water is had from
the 2 dams, Nos. a and S, recently
finished by the company.
AS the company ascend the Poto-
mac, they find scarcity Of stone Of
suitable quality for the construction Of
locks and aqueducts; they therefore
suggest that, unless suitable stone
should be found in the immediate vi.
entity of Cumberland, at the points
where those difficulties are found TO ex-
list, temporary woodlocks might be used
with advantage, which would probably
last Is years, and might be replaced,
when they begin to fail, by stone, which
could be dressed at the splendid quar-
ries below, and transported on the
canal at comparatively small cost.
The extension of the Canal to Ca.
capou, contracts for which will be
made during the present month, brings
US to the commencement of one of the
heaviest timbered regions south of the
Allegheny bordering on the Potomac,
& penetrating by its tributary streams,
estimated to exceed 10000 square
miles. The unbounded resources to
be derived from coal and lumber a.
lone, would fully justify the most
sanguine calculations which have ever
been made of the future resource Of
this Canal. The cities of the District
of Columbia as well as the great conn
mercial emporium of Maryland, may
look forward with confidence to the
highest degree of prosperity from this