Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1876-12-20
THE CLYDE.

THE CLYDE.
How Energetic Glasgow Improved The
Clyde and Thereby Made Herself a
Great Maritime Port.
From Chambers Journal
A hundred and fifty years ago, the
inhabitants Of Glasgow, then only q
few thousands IN number resolved on
improving the Clyde, and they have
gone on working at the idea ever since.
It was q shrewd conception. The city
had great capabilities of advancement.
The neighborhood abounded in iron
and coal. The river opened into q
channel communicating with the west
coast of England and the Atlantic; and
and the Atlantic was the highway to
America. There lay the elements Of
wealth, and no doubt wealth would be
realized in imm easurable abundance if
the river could be rendered navigable
Such was the reasoning of these Glas-
gov people. They hardly vet imagined
the possibility of bringing the sea up to
their CITY, They would establish q
port near the salt water, and carry on
traffic by means of lighters. That was
the primary nation, and it did good SER
vice in its day In process of time as
trade and wealth increased, the i'm
proving of the river on a
grand scale, and making Glasgow
itself a port, became q predominant
idea Z in this keen-witted and
self-reliant community. In short the
tidal water must be made to flow up
ward over space of fifteen Or eighteen
miles, to the Broomielaw, SO as to Sc
cure the advantage Of harbOrs and
docks with clear and direct route to
the sea. Mr.. Deas presents narrative
of proceedings for deepening, widen
ing and Strengthening the river, which
in some places was so shallow that it
could be forded on foot. Where sand
banks we're bare at low-Water, land
ploughs drawn by horses were en-
ployed to break UP the banks SO that
the current might carry the sand away.
Where the sand-banks We're under
water, they were torn up by harrows
attached by tackle to the stern Of steam
tugs, the liberated debris being swept
away by the current and refux of the
tides. They began processes of
dredging, at first by a chain of
iron buckets worked by hand and by
horses, but afterwards by steam power.
Sometimes the dredgers encountered
rocks and boulders, and these had to be
mastered by recourse to divlng-bells
and blasting For long time the en-
gineers were unaware Of a remarkable
bed or dykesof whin-stone rock at the
bottom of the river near Elderslie,
about four miles from Glasgow. This
formidable bee of rock. which was
only discovered by the grounding of a
large steamer in 1854, extended nine
: hundred feet in length by about three
hundred feet in breadth, 1t was blown
up by gunpowder, the charges being
fred by galvanic. battery. The cost
Of these blasting operations was up
ward of 916,O0O. Much, we are told
remains to be done; but the northern
half of the rocky area has been lower
ed so as to give channel of fourteen
feet at low water, the other half having
an available depth of eight feet. Ulti-
,mately, as is expected, there. will be a
deuth throughout Of twenty feet at low
water. The cost Of the sundry opera
tons on the Clyde has from first to
last, in virtue Of acts of Parlialnen
been borne by levying rates on the tom
mage of vessels using the river. The
administration throughout has been
marked by great prudence. With
some insignificant failures, whatever
has been done has been done well.
The total expenditure of the Clyde
trust from the year 1879 to June, 1875,
amounted to -e6,7 $4,000. Let us now
take glance at the revolution which
the outlay of this large sum of money
has happily affected. The first steam
er, called the Comet, constructed by
Henry Bell, and placed on the Clyde in
1872, drew four feet of water, and was
capable of carrying forty passengers.
1t went down the river to Greenock one
day and returned the next. Mr.. Deas
was informed by an old gentleman
seventy-seven years of age, that he had
made q voyage III the Comet. "He
left Greenock at ten III the morning
for Glasgow, but IN consequence Of a
ripple of head-wind, it was two in the
afternoon before they got to Bowling,
ten and a half miles from Greenock,
where all the passengers were land
| ed, and to walk to Glasgow,
Ca distance of ten to eleven
miles), owing to the want of water, the
tide having ebbed. It was no uncom-
mon occurrence for the passengers,
when the little steamer was getting ex-
hausted, to take to turning the fly
wheel to assist her." We have spoken
of what came under Our observation in
1924, when several steamers of moder-
ate size were successfully plying. Since
then, through the effects of dredging
and the enterprise of the people, the
Clyde takes rank as river of tirst-rate
importance. The river on which
Henry Bells little steamer occasionally
stuck carries ocean steamers without
obstruction to the harbor of Glasgow.
At present the minimum depth of the
navigable channel may be stated at
fifteen feet at low water, and about
twenty five feet at high water. Yes
sells drawing twenty-three feet, three
inches have, within the last few