were made for a canal 60 feet wide at the bottom and 6 feet deep, costing $8,654,000. Work was commenced in June, 1836, and continued until March, 1841, when it was discontinued for want of available funds. In 1845 an additional $1,800,000 was raised by the sale of lands owned by the canal. In consequence of a change of plans the entire cost fell within the estimates which had been made, so that at the opening of the canal in April, 1848, the entire expenditure had been $6,170,226. When completed, the eastern terminus joined the south branch of the Chicago River, 5 miles from the mouth of the main stream. A direct line is pursued to the valley of the Des Plaines, the main eastern branch of the Illinois River, a distance of about 8 miles. The canal then traverses the valley to the mouth of the Kankakee River, a distance of 43 miles, passing through the towns of Lockport and Joliet and receiving water from four feeders -the Calumet, Des Plaines, Du Page, and Kankakee rivers. The canal now follows the valley of the Illinois River to its terminus, La Salle, passing through the towns of Morris and Ottawa, receiving water from Fox River; the whole length being 96 miles. From La Salle traffic can pass through the Illinois River to Grafton on the Mississippi, which has been improved by locks and dams by the national government and by the State of Illinois. The water at La Salle is 145 feet lower than Lake Michigan, and the descent is accomplished by means of 17 locks, varying in lift from 32 to 10 feet. The locks are 110 feet long and 18 feet wide, giving passage to boats of 150 tons. The canal, on account of its small dimensions, is inadequate for traffic conditions, and its volume of business is small.

The

Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal. Lake Michigan is also connected with the Mississippi by the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal, completed in 1900. (See CHICAGO DRAINAGE CANAL.) This canal, 28 miles in length, was originally designed to carry the drainage of Chicago to the Mississippi instead of to Lake Michigan. It has a minimum depth of 22 feet, a width at the bottom of 160 feet, and a width at the top varying from 162 to 290 feet. canal extends from the Chicago River in Chicago to Lockport, where it joins the Des Plaines River. It has been proposed to deepen the Chicago Drainage Canal and also the Illinois and Mississippi rivers, and construct locks so that barges and light-draft vessels can pass direct from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico; but the use of the water from the Great Lakes whereby their level may be lowered has been opposed by the national government. In 1913 there was put under construction a smaller canal extending from South Chicago to Sag Bridge, where it joined the Chicago Drainage Canal. This canal was designed to reverse the flow of the Calumet River and take care of the drainage of a rapidly growing district.

Besides the Erie and the Illinois and Michigan, the other large canals of the United States are the Delaware and Hudson (now abandoned), at one time the great coal route to New York from the Pennsylvania mines, 102 miles long, completed in 1820, cost $6,946,455; the Chesapeake and Ohio, 185 miles, cost $11,375,000; the Schuylkill Coal and Navigation Company's Canal, 108 miles, cost $13,207,000; and the Wabash and Erie in Indiana, 274 miles, cost $6,000,000. There were 13 canals in New York, 14 in Pennsylvania, 5 in Ohio, 4 in Virginia, 2 in

New Jersey, and 1 each in Delaware, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan, but now most of these are in disuse.

Chesapeake and Ohio Canal. This waterway originated in a project formed by Washington as early as 1774, to make the Potomac navigable from tidewater to Cumberland, and to connect it by common roads and portages with the affluents of the Ohio west of the Alleghanies. The War of the Revolution postponed the scheme, but in 1784 it was again broached by Washington, and Maryland and Virginia appointed a joint commission, with him at the head, to investigate the subject. The result was the incorporation of a company to make the Potomac navigable from the tidewater to the highest possible point by the construction of such locks as might be necessary for that purpose. Of this company Washington was the president until his election as President of the United States compelled his resignation. The project encountered many obstacles, until at last, in 1820, it was abandoned as impracticable, when the Board of Public Works of the State of Virginia took steps which led to the organization of a new company, which constructed the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal from Georgetown to Cumberland, completing it in 1850. It passes through the Potomac valley to Paw Paw Bend, from which point it passes through the mountains by a tunnel 3118 feet long. The whole length of the canal is 184 miles, its depth 6 feet, its width to Harper's Ferry 60 feet at the surface and 42 feet at the bottom. By means of 74 locks 100 feet long and 15 feet wide, an elevation of 609 feet is gained. All the water is supplied from the Potomac. At Georgetown the canal was led over the Potomac by means of a great wooden aqueduct bridge. The cost of the work was over $11,000,000.

The Morris Canal connected the Delaware at Phillipsburg, N. J., with the Hudson at Jersey City. It was 102 miles long and accommodated vessels of 80 tons. An interesting feature of this canal was the use of inclines for connecting the different levels; there were 23 of these inclines, with an average rise of 58 feet.

These canals in many cases, however, played a prominent, if often a brief, rôle in the development of the commerce of the United States, and their history is well worthy of consideration.

Hennepin Canal. The only boat canal, strictly speaking, constructed in the United States since 1850 is the Illinois and Mississippi, or Hennepin, Canal in Illinois. This canal was begun in July, 1892, and it was completed in 1908, costing about $75,000,000. It was designed as a short route from the upper Mississippi River to Lake Michigan in connection with the existing water routes of Illinois. It extends from the Illinois River at Great Bend, 14 miles from Hennepin, Ill., to Rock Island, Ill., 77 miles, of which 50 miles are canal and 27 miles are slack-water navigation down the Rock River. The canal proper and the summit-level feeder are 7 feet deep and 80 feet wide at water level. The feeder is 34.75 miles long. There are 37 concrete locks, 35 X 70 feet, with lifts of from 3 to 10 feet.

Proposed Canals in the United States. The advocates of an extensive system of canals in the United States, and especially a system of coast waterways consisting of canals connecting the various sounds and bays along the Atlantic seaboard, have not been discouraged with the lack

of success attending such canals. Various schemes have been proposed in Congress, and numerous examinations and surveys have been authorized by the Corps of Engineers of the United States army. The River and Harbors Act of March 3, 1905, provided an appropriation for a survey "for the construction of a continuous waterway, inland where practicable, from Boston, Massachusetts . . . to Beaufort, N. C., for the purpose of ascertaining the cost of a channel with a maximum depth of 25 feet, or such lesser depths along any section as may be found to be sufficient for commercial, naval, or military purposes"; and General Bixby, the Chief of Engineers, in 1913 presented a detailed report with estimates showing how a canal 12 feet in depth could be constructed that would give communication from Boston to Beaufort in connection with existing An appropriation was made by waterways. Congress in 1912 for the purchase of the Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal and for its improvement, and General Bixby recommended that $30,000,000 be appropriated for carrying out the scheme. In addition to the commercial importance claimed for such a system of canals, the military value was also urged, as such waterways would be beyond the range of a hostile fleet attacking the coast.

After this brief account of canal construction in the United States, it is necessary to note that, all things considered, transportation by internal artificial waterways has been far from successful. Of some 4500 miles of canal constructed in the United States at an approximate cost of well over $200,000,000, over half, or some 2500 miles, costing in all about $80,000,000, have been abandoned. These abandoned canals failed entirely to compete with the railways or to serve any useful purpose. This was due, in many cases, to the improvident original location of the canals, to which often were added mismanagement and a lack of provision and control of strategic connections and terminals. This was emphasized all the more with the introduction of the railroad and the failure of the towpath canals, as constructed, to lend themselves to modern conditions of mechanical transportation, such as steam, or electrical haulage of the boats, or barges. In the report of the Commissioner of Corporations on Transportation by Water in the United States (Washington, 1909) it is stated that there was in operation a total mileage of 1360 miles, including branches and feeders of State canals in New York, Ohio, Illinois, and Louisiana. With the exception of the improvement of the canals in the State of New York, the majority of these are antiquated and inadequate, and the original cost of $156,983,538 is giving but little return to the citizens of the States concerned. This report refers to but 16 private canals aggregating 632 miles in length, as possessing more than local importance and representing a capital stock of $43,326,539. The construction of practically all the canals in the United States has rendered impossible the use of mechanical transportation, and their limited dimensions have restricted the size of boats or barges that can be used. Consequently there is practically no data on which to base opinions as to the success of steam or electric towed barges of 1000 or 1500 tons capacity, such as is required by the modern transportation conditions and such as is proposed for the New York State Barge Canal.

Ship Canals. Examples.-In the last half of the nineteenth century, with the development of steam navigation and maritime trade, a demand arose for the construction of canals of large dimensions across isthmuses to shorten the route by sea between certain countries, to connect important internal manufacturing and commercial cities with the ocean, or to afford communication between bodies of water in the interior of a continent. Among the more notable examples of such ship canals are the Panama, Suez, Corinth, Manchester, St. Mary's, St. Petersburg and Kronstadt, Kiel, Amsterdam, and Cape Cod.

The Panama Canal (q.v.), completed in 1914, traverses the Isthmus of Panama from Colon on the Caribbean Sea to the Bay of Panama on the Pacific Ocean, and is about 49 miles in length. A portion of the waterway is formed by Gatun Lake, 85 feet above mean tidewater and reached by a flight of locks at Gatun 7 miles from Colon and at Pedro Miguel and Miraflores on the Pacific side. These locks have a usable width of 110 feet and a length of 1000 feet with a depth of 40 feet. The Suez Canal (q.v.) cuts through the Isthmus of Suez and connects the Mediterranean with the Red Sea. It is about 100 miles long, has a bottom width of 72 feet and a depth of 26 feet, and was built 1860-69. The Manchester Canal runs from the Mersey at Eastham, just above Liverpool, to Manchester, is 35.5 miles long, 26 feet deep, and has a minimum bottom width of 120 feet. It is built in four reaches connected by three sets of locks at Latchford, Islam, and Barton, the sizes of the locks of each set being 550 X 60 feet, 300 X 40 feet, and 100 X 20 feet. One of the notable structures of this canal, and the only one of its kind, is a swing aqueduct by which the Bridgewater Canal is carried over the Manchester Canal. This aqueduct opens exactly like a swing-span drawbridge to permit vessels with masts to pass through. The Corinth Canal is another of the transisthmian type, crossing the Isthmus of Corinth with a cut 4 miles long, 72 feet wide, and 26.5 feet deep. This canal was completed in 1893. It is stated that this canal was projected by Alexander the Great, determined upon by Julius Cæsar, and actually begun by Nero, though his work never progressed beyond a few hundred yards.

The Saint Mary's Canal, commonly known as

the Sault Ste. Marie Canal, connecting the waters of Lake Superior with those of the St. Mary's River and Lake Huron, around the St. Mary's Falls in Michigan, is but a few thousand feet long, and is chiefly remarkable for its enormous traffic and for having the largest lock in the world. There are now two canals, or canal systems, one on either side of the national boundary maintained by the respective governments. The Canadian Canal, built by the Dominion government in 1888 to 1895, is 1% miles in length, 150 feet wide, 22 feet deep, and has a lock 900 feet long, 60 feet wide, with a depth of 20 feet 3 inches at extreme low-water level. This depth gave it an advantage of about 8 inches over the Poe lock of the United States Canal built in 1896, and at the time of its construction the largest in the world. Accordingly, in 1907, the widening and deepening of the old American Canal above the locks was begun, and a project involving the construction of a new canal and lock, 1350 feet in length, 80 feet in width, and 24.5 feet in depth at extreme low water, was

Baltic to Brunsbüttel on the Elbe. It is 60 miles long, had a bottom width of 85 feet and a depth of water of 28 feet. The bottom width subsequently was increased to 140 feet and the surface to 330 feet, while the depth was made 36 feet, so that the largest naval warships could pass through, the locks at either end being enlarged to 1140 feet long by 148 feet wide and 46 feet deep. By this canal seagoing vessels save over 200 miles in going from the Baltic to the North Sea. The Amsterdam Canal, like the Manchester, was built to connect an inland city with the sea. The total length of this canal is 16.5 miles from Amsterdam on the Zuyder Zee to the North Sea, but as the route lay through the inlet called the Y and the Wyker Meer, only 3 miles had to be excavated. This canal is 88 feet 7 inches wide on the bottom and 23 feet deep.

Cape Cod Canal. An artificial channel excavated across Cape Cod, connecting Buzzard's Bay with Barnstable Bay at Sandwich, Mass. This ship canal, which was practically completed

undertaken. This new, or Davis, lock was nearing completion in 1914, and a fourth lock of similar dimensions with a new canal was authorized by Congress, July 25, 1912. The tonnage passing through Sault Ste. Marie Canal is apt to run some 22 times greater than that passing through the Suez Canal, and in the year 1913 amounted to 79,718,344 short tons. The importance of this canal is shown by the fact that 70 per cent of the commerce of the Great Lakes, which is estimated at nearly 100,000,000 tons, passes through the canal and river. See SAINT MARY'S CANAL.

in 1914, saves shipping en route from Long Island Sound to Boston and other New England points, the distance through Vineyard Haven Sound, Nantucket Sound, and around Cape Cod, or a distance of about 70 miles. The canal is 25 feet in depth at mean low water and 100 feet wide at the bottom, the sides having a slope of 1 in 3 where the banks were of sand. In exposed soft places the banks were riprapped. There is an approach channel of 26-feet depth at mean low water, at least 200 feet wide at the bottom at either end. From shore to shore the length of canal is eight miles, but the entire channel excavated from 30-feet depth in either bay is 13 miles. The canal is practically straight with but a single turn of 7640-feet radius and the entrance at Barnstable Bay is protected by a breakwater 3000 feet in length. In the period from 1843 to 1903, 2131 vessels were wrecked in the region of Nantucket shoals, and of these 908 proved total losses, while about 700 lives were lost. The yearly tonnage passing through Vineyard Haven Sound previous to the construction of the canal was estimated at 25,000,000 tons, of which coal in barges amounted to about 9,000,000 tons. This means of transpor

The Saint Petersburg and Kronstadt Canal was completed in 1884. Owing to the bar at the mouth of the Neva, ships were not able to reach St. Petersburg, and the canal from Kronstadt to the capital was built at a cost of $7,200,000 to overcome this barrier. It is 18.75 miles long and 22 feet deep, with a bottom width of 275 feet, except near St. Petersburg, where it is only 207 feet. The channel was subsequently dredged to 28 feet in depth.

The North Sea and Baltic Canal, more commonly known as The Kiel Canal or The Kaiser Wilhelm Canal, runs from Holtenau on the