Weekly national intelligencer. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1841-1869, 1845-05-03


equal to the accommodation of trade sufficient TO gany ne
most extavagant desires of its supporters The sheer cost Of
the canal up to this time is as follows
For the acquisition of lands. .S402,9l3 Va
For the Engineer department. 3os' sol va
For construction .9'oi''o'' -
Total. ... S9,775,7O2 "a
CAPACITY.
When the canal shall be finished and filed to its capacity
boats carrying 100 of tonnage may navigate It's ene
length with ease In Of the mdness of the lat
tude in which located it has heretofore seldom been closed
by ice for more than SIX weeks in the year, which generally
happens in January and February and in this respect con-
great advantages the Northern canals
whose navg alton is usually suspended for four or five months
annually It scarcely necessary to go into an estimate OF
the annual amount of tonnage that be transported on
work of this description but the calculation is before u.s.
we will here transcribe its results
Several wears ago the Chief Engineer of this Company
made estimates founded upon data furnished by the
rience of fourteen years the Erie Canal IN New ok.
The based the greatest months work, and the
other on the number Of which, the opinion Of several OF
the officers of that canal could conveniently be passed each
Assuming the capacity boats on the Chesapeake and Ohio
Canal only eighty tons, according to the first calculation
the amount of tonnage capable of being transported on dur
ing navgabe year shown to be, in both directions, with
single locks present. 3264000 TONS and with double
locks 900 and the second basis the amount
presented was with single locks 100000 of TOMS and with
double locks, 10000 900 of tons per annum With large
allowance therefore, for the usual discrepancy between theo
ntcal calculations and practical results very manifest
that many years must eapse before the full capacity OF the
Chesapeake and Ohio Canal with single locks, be tested
by actual experience.
SOURCES OF TRADE AND REVENUE.
The canal running nearly parallel with the river through
its entire length necessarily passes through the centre OF
the fertile gaingrowng valley of the Potomac, whose
agricultural and manufacturing productions WILL in great
measure be borne upon it to market Along It's line may
be created a ater-power surpassed in extent only by
that which England and the United States enjoy in common
near the western of the Erie Canal in the Falls Of
Niagara When it is finished Cumberland, it will be put
in direct communication with the trade of the West and viii
afford the most eligible and cheapest route to the seaboard
from the vast and popuous regions beyond the Allegheny
mountains With portage by wagons of only seventy
miles on the great national macadazed road, between Cum
berland and Brownsville the Monongahea towhch steam
boats of the largest class come the facilities of water
communication for freight Of every description will be afford
ed the States bordering the Ohio river and those OF the
far West who may navigate its waters in conveying their
auctions the cities of the Atlantic, receiving from thence
their supplies From the county Of Allegheny also cons
deabe of tonnage viii be supplied in iron, re bricks
cement lumber &c but by far the most important source
of trade relied on, and grasp which has been the pr
mary and controlling motive in prosecuting the work to 1T
present destination the boundess and napprcciable coal
fields Of that country. Within of from SIX to twelve
miles from the basin of the canal Cumberland the deposites
of bumnous coal Of superior quality numerous, and
morally speaking nexhaustbe Those that have been al
ready opened consist horizontal STRATA slightly elevated and
he
possible manner for sefdainsge. According to Professor
Sman the quantity of coal in that region that is thus stu
aed " abundant that it will not be exhausted for centu
RES II win the province of distant posteriy to drain the
lower beds by tunnelng or by the unlimited and untne
energy of the steam engine" But the boundless extent
the Allegheny coa6eds well the superior quality of the
Cumberland COAL matters well established now as
render parade of authorities the subject in this place su
perHuous Such may desire TO pursue the inquiry VIII lind
mass of testimony collected together in the appendix to ou
special report Of the 10th Of November, s43 and illus
taons Of its value will be seen by reference the voum
nous and very learned report Of Professor johnson on Ame
can Goals applicable navigation and to other pur
poses" made the Navy Department in June, 1884, and
recently published under order of the United States Senate
In this mentioned document which contains the results
long series of scientific experiments, will be found that
ain the order of epaporatiue potoer under equal tceght
of the highest importance for the purposes steam navigation
and of the "epaporatipc poov Of combustibk matter,
the Cumberland coal takes rank number in list Of
different varieties of COAL obtained from various
pons in the United States and Great Britain including the
Newcastle Sidney, Pcton Liverpool and Scotch Goals.
GAS fuel for domestic purposes according to the report
alluded toy il possesses the hand flame abundanty
sufficient give cheeruness the aspect Of pao fire, anc
on the other durability appormating that Of some Of the
lighter anhracites and, furnace coal for the manufac
tue of iron will be found among the best OF the bumin
GUS class snce either with without previous cokng may
be very advanageously employed in the blast furnace
Three different sizes Of chain in progress Of manu-
actne at the different periods at which these experiment.
wer. made They cam however, be all reduced to the SAM
size by comparison with standard sample OF coal
which was used on sizes Of chain Thus Atkinson ant
Cumberland coa made eighteen links ola chain
one and three eighth inches in diameter and eight links
another chain one and teenx,eenth inches in diameter b.
the se in each case Of sixty pounds Of coal Midlothian nev
sba coal of equal quantity found adequate TO the max
ING Of fourteen links Of and threceghh inch chain
three Virginia GOALS (vz Crouch d Snesds, Creek Com
tpany's and Chesterfield Mining Company having NEAR
eyapoating power almost identical with the Midlothian
SHAFT put in nine links Of one and eighth inch chain
The following table win exhibit the relative heating pow
ers Of the Cumberland and foreign Goals tested in makns
chancabe compared with their evaporative powers y
GsgI+sg5sss