Evening star., 1902-08-09

American imports up to the middle Of
last April were almost 100000 bales and
the Egyptian about one-fourth that num-
Der. AT the lumber docks 1 saw a ship
from Mobile unloading a cargo of pitch
pine and at the same wharf was one SINH
larly loaded from Pensacola. There were
great tank steamers from the Russian oil
nelds at the Russian oil tanks the right
bank of the canal, and on the left other
tank steamers discharging American petro-
Ieum. l passed the freezing works where
the New Zealand ships land their frozen
mutton in my sail on the Duke of Lem
ster and also the great cattle sheds and
abattoirs belonging to the Manchester
corporation. of which [ may speak further
in another letter.
Some Wonders of the Canal.
The ride down the canal was one of great
est interest. The canal company owns
much of the land along the way, and this Is
of such q nature that there could be an al
most continuous dock from one end of it to
the other. Leaving Manchester you sail by
the great warehouses and factories on the
caraIS bank. Now you passing through
fields as rich as any in old England They
are bounded by hedges and upon the green
grass fat cattle are feeding. Cheshire coun-
ty on Your left is one of the richest dairy
counties of the united kingdom, and Ian
cashire on your right is the busiest manu-
fdcturing country of the whole world We
saw large manufacturing towns at every
lew miles and often passed other steamers
coming up te the city The locks ware
| easily and quickly gone through: the sluice
gates open and shut automatically and the
steamer drops twelve feet within less than
half as many minutes.
Curving Bridges.
We steamed under great railroad bridges
so high above the canal that the masts of
the ships do not touch them as they pass
on below These bridges were erected at
an immense cost by the canal company
The railroad companies were opposed to the
enterprise, as they thought it would cut
| down their traffic between LIVERPOOL and
Manchester, so they forced the canal peopIe
| to not only build the bridges but to raise
| the railroads for several miles on each side
| of the canal, so that the slope of the road
| crossing the canal might not be steep.
| The most surprising bridge on the canal
| however, is one where the Bridgwater canal
| crosses the Manchester ship canal. The
| 1BridgeWater canal has for years done a
| large business between Manchester and
| Liverpool. 1t was bought by the Manches-
ter company at the time they began the
! ship canal and it was then making profit
OF something like 100000 a year 1t is still
In use, and it carries considerable freight
| The line of this canal was right across the
| route necessary to the Manchester shin
| canal. and at first 1t seemed as Though the
construction or the latter would necesSitate
| It's destruction.
This was objected to. and the engineers
| solved the problem by making a swinging
| aqueduct bridge at the crossing This
| bridge be closed with the wafer and
| even the boats within it, and by machinery
| p moved around to the side that the ships
can pass through in the greater canal be-
] low. When they have passed the bridge
| moves back into place and the water flows
| on undisturbed. The aqueduct, with the
| water In it, weighs 400 tons and II is
| moved as easily as though it weighed less
| than fourteen pounds 1t can be swung In
| a couple of minutes so that the barges of
| the Old canal are almost unhindered by the
mighty ships of the new
England's Big Canal System.
| This bridgewater canal is only one of a
| large number of waterways which distribute
| freight to all parts of England We are
| prone to look upon this as railroad coun-
! try. 1t is canal country as well. The
| united Kingdom has altogether 1907 miles
! OF canals, and of these about 200 beIono
| to England and Wales. More than one,
| third of the whole are the property of the
| railways, the others~beng managed BY pri-
| Vate corporations. Many of the canals are
| connected with London. one joins I,iyerpool
| and birmingham, others tap the country
apout Leeos, and others are found In the
! distrlct or Sheffield. Ireland has about 500
| miles of canal and Scotland seventy miles !.
| Upon these waterways about 40 600 Oeo
t-tons OF freight are annually carried at a
cost of more than $4,000 600 They are said
TO pay with horses as their motive power.
, ana II Is now proposed to run them nv
| electricity and understand that some os
! our American capitalists have been look,np
| into this transformation as a field for
| profitable investment
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
First Theolog..Well, You wouldn't look