Waterways and Water Transport in Different Countries / With a description of the Panama, Suez, Manchester, Nicaraguan, and other canals.

by J. Stephen Jeans

The most probable, and at the same time one of the most important of the foregoing proposals, is that designed to connect the Forth with the Clyde, thereby enabling vessels of considerable tonnage to pass from the one sea to the other, without passing round the further extremity of the island. There is already a canal between the two seas, but this waterway is too contracted to be of much use for vessels of any size, and it is not, therefore, proposed to utilise the existing canal in the new scheme.

The greatest height of the present canal is 141 feet. It is crossed by about 30 drawbridges, and passes over 10 considerable aqueducts, and 30 small ones, the largest being that over the Kelvin, at Maryhill, near Glasgow. The canal is supplied with water from eight reservoirs, which cover 721 acres. The original cost of the canal was about 300,000l., and 50 years after its opening the annual revenue amounted to about 100,000l., and the expenditure to about 40,000l. In 1869, the canal passed into the possession of the Caledonian Railway Company, when, with the adjoining Monkland Canal, it was valued at 1,141,000l. The Caledonian Company undertook to pay an annuity of 91,333l., being a guaranteed dividend of six and a quarter per cent. It was, however, like many other similar arrangements made by railway companies in Great Britain, a very bad bargain for the new proprietors, since the profits from the working of the canal are now much less than they were.

Messrs. Stevenson, of Edinburgh, who have been consulted as to the most practicable route for the proposed canal, have recommended that the canal proper should begin at Alloa on the Forth, where vessels would be raised by a lock to the level of Loch Lomond, 13 feet above high water, which would be the summit level of the canal. The canal would proceed thence along the valley of the Forth to Loch Lomond, through that loch to Tarbet, and would afterwards be carried along the narrow neck of land to Loch Long, or, alternatively, across to the opposite shore of Loch Lomond, near Arden, and thence into the Forth of Clyde, near Helensburgh. The average depth of cutting is stated at 47 feet, but there would be a heavy cutting, some three miles long and 203 feet deep on an average, which the engineers propose to make a tunnel, with 150 feet of headway. The estimated cost of the work is about 8,000,000l., or much the same as the cost of the Manchester Ship Canal. The traffic is calculated at 9,516,000 tons, and it is estimated that at 1s. 6d. per ton, this traffic would yield a gross annual income of 713,748l. which would be sufficient to yield 8 per cent. after deducting working expenses, &c. It is proposed to make the canal 30 feet deep, and 72 feet wide at the bottom.

And the route has been recommended for the proposed ship canal, which is termed the direct route, and which is 27 miles shorter from Greenock than the proposed Loch Lomond route viâ Tarbet. This route would start from the Clyde at a point near to Whiteinch, join the line of the present Forth and Clyde Canal near Maryhill, and thereafter proceed in the same direction to the junction of the canal with the Firth of Forth. The shorter route would, however, be the most difficult, inasmuch as there is a very steep hill immediately after leaving the Clyde, between Whiteinch and Maryhill. The height to be surmounted here is not less than 150 feet; and for a ship canal, which ought to be a tide-level waterway, in order to be satisfactory, this would be a serious drawback.

It is contended that, being the shortest route between America and the Baltic, the Continent, and the east coast of Scotland and England, the through traffic would be considerable. This may be true, but the gain in time would be reduced materially by the fact that vessels in coming off the Atlantic would be required to sail up the long forth (Clyde), and would probably require, particularly if deeply laden, to wait on the tide to get to Bowling, which is some distance up the river, or the channel would need to be deepened and broadened, thus adding to the cost. For channel steamers going from Ireland, or the west coast of Scotland, England or Wales to the east coast or the Continent, the canal would be a decided benefit, for not only would their voyage be shortened, but the rocky and dangerous coast of the north of Scotland would be avoided. The canal would pass through the coal and oil districts of Scotland, a fact which has been adduced in favour of the scheme.

Another consideration which carries much weight is the facility gained for the rapid passage of battleships from one shore to another, rendering defence in time of war more effective.

The Proposed Sheffield and Goole Canal.

The town of Sheffield, with a population of some 300,000, and extremely important and diversified industries, has hitherto been practically landlocked. There is, however, a system of canals actually in existence which gives communication with the sea. This system embraces the Sheffield and Tinsley Canal, 4 miles long; the Dun Navigation, 28¼ miles; the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, 12¾ miles; and the Dearne and Dove Canal, 14 miles, giving a total of 59 miles of navigation.

In this chain of communication the most important link is the Dun River Navigation, which begins near the village of Tinsley, and proceeds thence by the Tinsley Cut, which was made to avoid a bend in the river, under powers of the Act of 12th George I. There are several other cuts in the river which have been constructed at various times, their total length, from Mexborough Church to the Dearne river, being not less than 2220 yards. The river has passed through the hands of Vermueden, who, in the reign of Charles I., used it to drain the low lands in the vicinity of Hatfield Chase. The total rise of the Dun Navigation, by sixteen locks, from low-water mark in the river, is 92¼ feet. Writing in 1831, Priestley stated that “the Dun Navigation is of the utmost importance for exporting the produce of the extensive coal and iron works which abound at its western extremity; also, the vast quantity of manufactured iron goods and cutlery which is annually produced in the populous town and neighbourhood of Sheffield.” This, however, was before the present system of railways was completed, and before the waterways on this route fell into the hands of their great rivals. Not more than half a million tons now annually pass through the port of Keadby, which is the connecting point between the Dun Navigation and the Stainforth and Keadby Canal, the latter being a continuation thereof, and the river Trent.