35. The Panama Canal, again, although approximately about the same

length as the ship canal between Manchester and the sea, has cost, up to the present time, about 60,000,000_l._ sterling, including the expenditure on financing. The Nicaraguan Canal, again, which is now about to be undertaken in real earnest, is estimated to cost from 13,000,000_l._ to 20,000,000_l._, and will involve the cutting of some 28 miles of canal, in addition to the almost equally serious work of canalising the St. Juan River. But these are all works of a different character, and having a different object in view. The Suez, Panama, Nicaraguan, and Corinth Canals are isthmian waterways, intended, or constructed with the view of connecting together seas or oceans that Nature had divorced, and thereby carried out with the primary, if not with the sole, object of abridging distance. The Welland and the St. Mary’s Falls Canals, in Canada and the United States, are of much the same character, their object being that of uniting waters that were originally kept apart by natural barriers. But the Manchester Ship Canal has but few antetypes. The canals already in existence that most nearly correspond to it in character are the Erie Canal, which connects Buffalo with New York, and thereby secures an unbroken line of water communication between Chicago and New York, a distance of over 1000 miles; and the Poutiloff Canal, 38 miles in length, which connects Cronstadt with St. Petersburg, and has converted the latter city into a seaport. The design of the Manchester Ship Canal is to transform that large centre of population and industry from a landlocked city into a seaport, and to confer the same facilities on a number of other towns in the neighbourhood. There is no district and probably no community that appears to offer better facilities for making the experiment of providing a great inland waterway of this description. Manchester and Liverpool, with their immediate suburbs contain at least a million and a half of souls. But the trade and industry of the two towns are even more important than their population, relatively to other districts. The cotton trade of the world is carried on in this part of Lancashire. Manchester and Liverpool together have obtained and maintained a great repute as the centre of large industrial operations of almost every kind: engineering works, shipbuilding works, alkali works, tobacco factories, chemical and copper works, and many others. Liverpool has to-day a larger export shipping trade than any other port in the world, and is only eclipsed by the Thames in the matter of imports. But this great business of imports and exports is not originated in Liverpool herself. She is only the distributing centre for a very large and a very populous district, and a centre moreover that did not appear to offer to that district the economical facilities and advantages to which it was entitled. The port and harbour dues at Liverpool were heavy and onerous, and the rates charged by the railway companies for the transportation of traffic between the Mersey and the interior of the country were deemed to be much higher than they should have been, having regard to the importance of the traffic. The proposal to construct a canal is by no means a new one. Manchester, as every one knows, has for more than a century and a quarter been the foremost in all plans and operations designed to secure economy and facility of transport. Many years ago it was proposed to convert the Irwell into a navigable river, and this, of course, would have connected Manchester with the Mersey and so with the sea. But the Irwell—a tortuous, narrow, and in many respects unsatisfactory stream—did not readily lend itself to a grand proposal of this kind, and the little that was done to make it a maritime highway was never attended with any real advantage to trade and commerce. The Bridgwater Canal was a larger and more ambitious venture. It also connected Manchester with the sea by the Mersey, as well as with many inland towns by auxiliary canals—Bolton, by the Manchester, Bolton, and Bury Canal; Rochdale, by the Rochdale Canal; Blackburn and Accrington, by the Leeds and Liverpool Canal; Ashton and Huddersfield, by the Manchester and Huddersfield Canal; and so with some other large towns. The truth is that Manchester is, and has been for more than a century, the centre of a vast network of canals, whereby water communication was made possible with nearly every other important town and district in the country. But this possibility was one that could only be taken advantage of to a very limited extent. The canals surrounding Manchester have been of small size and depth, admitting of the passage of small boats and barges only, so that they could not be utilised for sea-going craft. For most practical purposes, such waterways were therefore of little use. What was felt to be necessary was a canal sufficiently broad and deep to admit of the passage of large ocean-going steamers right up to the warehouses and mills of Manchester and the neighbouring towns. This necessity was all the more keenly felt, and all the more readily acted upon, that the railway rates between Manchester and Liverpool were generally onerous and oppressive. [Illustration: TRACING OF THE MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL.] It was under the circumstances just stated that a meeting was held at the house of Mr. Daniel Adamson, in June 1882, to discuss the question of constructing a canal from Manchester to the sea. The outcome of this meeting was the appointment of Mr. Hamilton Fulton and Mr. E. Leader Williams as engineers, with instructions to investigate the subject, and to submit separate schemes to a provisional committee showing the best means of carrying out such a work. Mr. Fulton’s scheme was to improve the existing navigation through the estuary of the Mersey by dredging and retaining walls, and to excavate, straighten, and improve the Mersey and Irwell Navigation to Manchester, leaving, when completed, a tidal canal to Manchester, with a depth of 22 feet at low water spring tides. Passing places were to be left every 3 or 4 miles, and the traffic was to be worked as on the Suez Canal. Docks were to be constructed, and all necessary works. The gross estimate, including water and land, was 5,072,291_l._ Mr. Williams’s proposal was to construct a canal 22 feet deep and 100 feet wide, with three locks. The channel through the estuary was to be confined between training walls from Garston to Runcorn, and from there the channel was to be improved and straightened to Latchford (first lock), and be practically a tideway. Between Latchford and Manchester it was to be a canal with locks, the existing navigation to be improved and utilised where practicable, otherwise to be filled up; while docks were to be made at Latchford, Irlam, and Barton. The water-level in the docks at Manchester were to be 8 feet below the level of the quays. The estimate of cost, including works, water, and land, was about 5,160,000_l._ [Illustration: MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL MANCHESTER AND SALFORD DOCKS.] Mr. Williams argued that were the tide to be brought to Manchester, the bottom of the dock would be 92 feet below the surface of the ground, and therefore most inconvenient for working. The docks and canal ending abruptly, would, moreover, form a depositing place for silt brought up by the tide, and the tide flowing up or down would materially affect the passage of vessels proceeding the reverse way. Mr. Abernethy, who had, in the meantime, been appointed consulting engineer, considered both of these proposals, and reported favourably on Mr. Williams’s scheme, practically endorsing his views, but suggesting an additional dock at Warrington, and some deeper dredging, and estimating the cost of the work at 5,400,000_l._, or 240,000_l._ more than Mr. Williams had provided for. Mr. Abernethy also expressed the opinion that if the work was carried out with energy, it could be completed within four years from the commencement. Upon the basis of the report of Mr. Williams, endorsed by Mr. Abernethy, the committee decided in the end to proceed with the scheme. The promoters had to secure the power to acquire “all the easements, rights, powers, authorities, and privileges of the company of the proprietors of the Mersey and Irwell Navigation,” as the ship canal, if constructed, would clash with and extinguish these. The Bridgwater Navigation Company were possessed of the foregoing rights, and were a wealthy corporation, owning a going and paying concern, with a capital of over 1,300,000_l._ Notice had to be served that power would be sought to absorb this company also. Then, again, the powers sought by the ship canal were certain to clash materially with the dock and other interests in Liverpool, as well as with the several lines of railway at present dominating the carrying trade of Manchester. The property owners along the route, and many other interests, joined together to oppose the new enterprise. After the most arduous and prolonged struggle in the annals of private bill legislation, the Manchester Ship Canal Bill became law, and received the Royal Assent as an Act of Parliament on the 6th August, 1885. The inquiries of the six Parliamentary Select Committees appointed to investigate into the merits of the project extended over a period of 175 days. The total number of individual witnesses (including both promoters and opponents) was 285, and the number of repeated witnesses (including those on both sides) was 543. As illustrating the exhaustive character of these inquiries, it may be mentioned that no less than 87,936 questions were put and answered. The Right Honourable W. E. Forster, Chairman of the Commons Select Committee, which was the last to deal with the Bill, in announcing that their decision was favourable, said, “The conclusion we have come to is unanimous,” the Committee considering the preamble proved, subject to certain obligations being imposed upon the promoters, but none of an onerous character. The House of Commons Select Committee, before which the first inquiry was made, acting entirely upon its own initiative, inserted the following clause in the Bill, a proceeding said to be without precedent:—“And whereas it appeared from the evidence adduced that if the scheme could be carried out with due regard to existing interests, the Manchester Ship Canal would afford valuable facilities, and ought to be sanctioned.” It is worthy of remark that though two Select Committees declined to take the responsibility of passing the Bill absolutely in the form in which it was presented to them, all the six Committees were satisfied as regards the necessity of the undertaking. The Manchester Ship Canal Company is incorporated by 48 and 49 Vict. cap. 118, for the following amongst other purposes:— To construct a ship canal from the river Mersey at Eastham, near Liverpool, past Ellesmere Port, Weston Point, and Runcorn, to Warrington, Salford, and Manchester, available for the largest class of ocean steamers, with docks at Manchester, Salford, and Warrington, and other incidental works. To purchase the entire undertakings of the then existing Bridgwater Navigation Company (Limited), including not only the Bridgwater canals and the Runcorn and Weston canal, but the Mersey and Irwell Navigation, the Runcorn docks, the Duke’s dock in Liverpool, and all that company’s warehouses, wharves, buildings, lands, rents, rights, and privileges, as a going concern. A further Bill, authorising the payment by the Manchester Ship Canal Company of interest at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum to shareholders during the construction of the works, became law and received the Royal Assent as an Act of Parliament on 26th June, 1886. During the progress of this Bill, on a division in the House of Commons on a motion by a Liverpool member for reference to Committee and _locus_ for opponents, the motion was negatived by 375 votes as against 61 votes. The authorised share capital of the Manchester Ship Canal Company is 8,000,000_l._, with borrowing powers to the extent of 1,812,000_l._, making the total authorised capital 9,812,000_l._, a sum sufficient to enable the company to complete the construction of the works, to pay interest during their construction, and to carry into effect all the objects of the Act and leave an ample surplus. The Act provides that the Bridgwater Navigation Company shall sell the whole of the Bridgwater undertakings for the sum of 1,710,000_l._ These undertakings earn a net revenue of nearly 60,000_l._ per annum. Under the auspices of the Manchester Ship Canal Company, a considerable development of the traffic on the Bridgwater canal system is expected to result from the abolition of the bar tolls, which obstruct traffic, and from throwing open the canal to general carriers. DESCRIPTION OF THE CANAL WORKS. A brief description of the canal works may here be introduced. The engineering journals, from which we have mainly borrowed our facts, have dealt with them so fully as to render a detailed statement quite unnecessary. The Manchester Ship Canal begins at Eastham, on the south bank of the Estuary of the Mersey, and about midway between its mouth and head near Runcorn. The canal follows this bank for 13½ miles, the greater portion being in entirely solid ground, but, sometimes going below high-water mark, it is confined by embankments and retaining walls until reaching Runcorn, where it leaves the waters of the Mersey, and takes an independent and almost direct course to its terminus in the docks at Salford and Manchester. The total length of the canal is slightly over 35½ miles. This is practically one continuous cutting, but it has been subdivided into thirty lengths or sections, each with a local name and number; these vary in cubical contents from 223,000 cubic yards in the smallest, to 3,345,000 cubic yards in the largest. The total quantity of earthwork to be moved is 44,428,535 cubic yards, composed of 6,970,815 cubic yards of rock, and 37,457,720 cubic yards of soft materials. Of the rock, 1,591,570 cubic yards will be utilised for lock and river wall work, abutments of railway bridges, facing slopes of the canal in soft ground, and other operations, the remainder going to spoil. Of the soft excavations 3,603,690 cubic yards are to be used in forming the embankments of the canal, 5,176,278 cubic yards for forming embankments on railway diversions, 1,555,000 cubic yards in filling up what will be the disused bed of the Irwell and other water-courses; 552,000 cubic yards in raising quays and making roads; 800,000 cubic yards are to be stacked along the canal banks for future use in maintenance; and the remainder, amounting to 31,149,997 cubic yards, will go to spoil. The carrying of the Bridgwater Navigation across the Manchester Canal at the distance of 32 miles, will be one of the most interesting works in the contract, because an entirely new departure will be undertaken in the aqueduct. It was on this navigation that Brindley made his famous viaduct, the precursor of the more splendid structures of Rennie and Telford. As the level of the Bridgwater Navigation has to be maintained, and as the saving of water is a consideration, Mr. Williams proposes to make the aqueduct in the form of a swing bridge, which may be opened, swung, and closed again without losing any water either from the swinging portion or from the canal. Here also, parallel to the aqueduct, will be constructed a hydraulic lift, to lower barges and boats from the waters of the navigation, to the canal, where they will cross on its level to a similar lift, there to be raised to their former waters and level. A similar lift has been at work for some years with satisfactory results at Anderton on the Weaver Navigation, of which Mr. Leader Williams was formerly the engineer. Throughout the entire length of the canal, hard red sandstone forms the bedrock, and the formation, of course, varies according to the nature of the stratification. For instance, at 1½ miles distance, where the canal works are inside high-water mark, all layers of deposit have been washed away, and only from 2 feet to 4 feet of black sludge overlies the rock. Occasionally the rock dips and leaves the bottom of the canal in the softer deposits, in some places beds of what has been termed black river sludges, but which are, in all probability, peaty deposits, are sandwiched in, and underlie deposits of from 15 feet to 16 feet of clean river sand. At 5½ miles between Stanlow Point and Ince Lighthouse, large beds of blue loam are met with, varying in depth to 25 feet; and at 6 miles black sludge comes in again, about 20 feet in thickness. At 6½ miles there is a peculiar erosion of the underlying sandstone, apparently from some creek having cut across the line of canal. At 8 miles the section overlies a bed of gravel, and at 9 miles the bottom of the canal runs into a large deposit of sand. From about 10 to 10½ miles the strata becomes very soft, being sludge, sand, and gravel mixed. At 11 miles 45 chains the bottom of the canal is again very soft ground, the sandstone suddenly dipping and not appearing again until about 12 miles. At 13 miles 70 chains the first of the deep cuttings begin, the bottom of the canal being 67 feet below the surface of the ground, and the strata is much less complex than along the estuary. It is near to this place that the canal leaves the waters of the Mersey, and takes an independent and almost direct course to its terminus. From 15 miles, 50 chains to 16 miles there is again a very considerable alteration in the strata, the rock dipping sharply, and softer deposits coming in. At 15 miles 68 chains, where a bore was put down, no rock was encountered to a depth of 88 feet. Following along from 16 miles, where the bedrock rises, a fairly even contour of its surface is maintained, together with overlying strata of soil, sand, and gravel, to near 18 miles 20 chains, where the London and North-Western main line, and the Birkenhead, Lancashire, and Cheshire Junction railways are crossed. From this point the surface rises gradually to 19 miles, opposite the Warrington Dock entrance, where the cutting is 50 feet deep. Near Warrington the existing river bed will be shortened by a cut-off and diverted from the course of the canal. At 21 miles 20 chains Latchford Lock is reached; the section through it is very similar to that in the preceding 5 miles. At 21 miles 70 chains the bedrock again disappears, giving place to a deep bed of quicksand and marl. The Mersey is twice crossed between 22 miles 10 chains and 22 miles 35 chains. There is another cut-off and diversion of the river near 22 miles 50 chains, where the bottom becomes soft brown sandy clay, and sludge, being in a bed 24 feet thick, which reaches 18 inches or 20 inches below the bottom of the canal; this runs into gravel and clay at 23 miles 10 chains, which again dies into a large bed of quicksand from about 23 miles 25 chains to 75 chains. At 24 miles 2 chains the rock is again struck by a bore at a depth of 12 feet below the bottom of the canal. The Mersey is again twice crossed at 23 miles 40 chains, and 70 chains, and the river is to be diverted through the existing channel, called the “Butchersfield Cut.” At 24 miles 20 chains the Mersey joins with the Bollin; from there the canal will become practically the river to Manchester, and the old river bed will be filled up. A sand and gravel formation continues to about 25 miles, where a bed of marl is reached, overlaid by hard and soft shale, but from the point where this runs out, about 25 miles 40 chains to Manchester, the canal follows more or less the bed of the river, wherein a much more complicated strata is met with than along the line of route which is away from the influence of the river, at between 14 and 25½ miles. Loam and streaks of sand, overlying hard red sand are met with from 25 miles 60 chains, to 26 miles 20 chains, where gravel and red rock come in, to 25 miles 15 chains, between which points the bottom of the canal by a strange coincidence follows almost parallel with the upper surface of the bedrock. At 27 miles 15 chains the rock dips and is not met with again for nearly half a mile. The Irlam locks are at 28 miles 50 chains; just at the entrance, rock again crops up and forms the bottom of the canal. At 29 miles a wedge-shaped layer of brown clay comes in which runs about half a mile, reaching a depth of 20 feet at the Manchester end; this suddenly ends in a deep bed of loam which it partially overlies—evidently it is a deposit from the river which flows above—then loam, sand, and gravel make the strata to about 29½ miles, when rock again appears, and runs almost to the surface at 29 miles 68 chains. At 30 miles 30 chains the rock runs out again from the bottom, and a heavy bed of loam, 36 feet deep, covers it, the cutting at this point being entirely in loam. A little further on, the rock bottom again rises, and from there sand and rock are chiefly met with to 31 miles 10 chains, where the rock dies out again, and blue loam comes in, forming a deep bed overlying sand, sludge, gravel and marl; near the Barton Locks this runs into heavy beds of loam near 33½ miles. At 34 miles soil, clay, and rock are the formations met with, each in nearly equal beds of 10 feet deep, until about 34 miles 50 chains, when much sand shows; at 34 miles 55 chains the bedrock dips, and sand over clay and loam form the strata to the terminal dock entrances at Throstle Nest. This completes the course of the canal proper. The canal is to be constructed with a minimum width of 120 feet on the bottom. From Barton to the terminus, a distance of 3½ miles, the width on the bottom is to be increased to 170 feet; on the Salford side of this increased width of waterway, one mile of wharfage is to be built, giving a total length of 4½ miles of quay or wharfage frontage at the Manchester end, and leaving 2½ miles of frontage available for mooring lighters or vessels along this portion of the canal. [Illustration: SECTIONS OF SHIP CANALS. PANAMA CANAL SUEZ CANAL MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL ORDINARY SECTION SECTION THRU ROCK] [Illustration: SECTIONS OF SHIP CANALS. BRUSSELS CANAL NORTH HOLLAND CANAL WELLAND CANAL AMSTERDAM SHIP CANAL] The sections of the canal are compared with those of other large ship canals in the diagrams at pp. 340-41. The total rise from the level of the mean tide at Eastham to the Docks at Manchester is nearly 60 feet. This is overcome by the average rise of 15 feet at each of the locks. The water level in the Manchester Docks is to be the same as the present river level at this point. The depth of the canal throughout is to be 26 feet, but the sills of the docks are to be put in at a depth of 28 feet, so as to allow for a deepening throughout should the traffic demand it. As compared with existing large canals, the Manchester Ship Canal will be capable of carrying much the greatest traffic. The widths on the bottom, and the depths are: Ghent Canal 55 feet 6 inches, depth 21 feet 2 inches; Suez Canal, 72 feet, depth 26 feet; and Amsterdam Canal, 88 feet 7 inches, depth 23 feet. On the Suez Canal it has been necessary to provide passing places, otherwise the traffic could only be worked in one direction at a time, but on the Manchester Canal there will be ample room for two large size vessels to pass at any point The estimates for the canal works include large docks in Manchester, Salford, and Warrington, as sanctioned by the Company’s Act, with a water area of 114½ acres, containing more than five miles of quays, the area of quay space being 152 acres. There will also be a mile of quay space near Manchester on the Ship Canal, in addition to wharves at many places alongside its course. The docks will be of the most approved construction, and special provision will be made to secure the rapid loading and discharging of vessels. Extensive shed accommodation will be provided at the docks, and the cost of some fifty hydraulic cranes is included in the estimates. The level of the docks at Manchester, which is 60 feet 6 inches above the ordinary level of the tidal portion of the canal, will be reached by four sets of locks. The locks will be of a size sufficient to admit the largest merchant steamers afloat. Each set comprises (_a_) a large lock, 550 feet by 60 feet; (_b_) a smaller lock 300 feet by 40 feet for ordinary vessels; and (_c_) one lock 100 feet by 20 feet, for small coasters and barges. All will be capable of being worked together. Each set of locks will be worked by hydraulic power, enabling vessels to be passed in 15 minutes. It has been ascertained by careful gaugings that the rivers Irwell and Mersey (which will be diverted into the upper reaches of the canal) will supply more than sufficient water for the locks, even in the driest season. There will be tidal gates at the entrance to the canal, which will be worked as locks at low water, so that large vessels can enter and leave at almost any state of the tide, instead of only during a period of 40 minutes of each tide as at Liverpool. Small vessels will be able to enter and leave at any time. It is claimed that vessels will be able to navigate the canal with safety at a speed of five miles an hour, and it is estimated that the journey from the entrance at Eastham to Manchester will be accomplished in eight hours, which is less time than is now taken to cart goods from ship to rail in Liverpool, and to carry them thence by rail to Manchester. One of the most interesting operations to be carried out in connection with the canal works, will be the removal and rebuilding of the aqueduct which Brindley constructed for the Bridgwater Navigation in