the South. Rail-roads have also been projected from Richmond to Lynchburg; from Lynchburg to New River; from Suffolk, in Nansemond county, to the Roanoke river, opposite to the town of Weldon, in North Carolina; and in several other directions.

The Fayetteville rail-road company was incorporated by the legislature of North Carolina, in 1830, with a capital stock of twenty thousand dollars, for the purpose of constructing a rail-road from Fayetteville to Campbelltown, on Cape Fear river. Rail-roads from Cape Fear to the Yadkin; from the Yadkin to the Catawba ; and from Wilmington to the iron mining districts, near Statesville, have been projected, and are in progress.

The Charleston and Hamburg rail-road, extending one hundred and thirty-six miles, from Charleston, South Carolina, to Hamburg, opposite Augusta, in Georgia, was opened in October, 1833, for its entire length. The passenger train leaves each place every morning, and arrives on the evening of the day of departure. This enterprise was undertaken by the South Carolina Canal and Rail-road company, which has received pecuniary assistance from the state. A second rail-road of about the same length, to extend from Charleston to Columbia, is also embraced within the objects of this company.

Companies have been incorporated by the legislature of Alabama, to construct a rail-road from Montgomery to Chattahoochie, opposite Columbus, in Georgia; and from Selma, on the Alabama, through Elyta and Montevallo, to Decatur, on the Tennessee. Rail-roads have also been projected between Augusta and Heshman's lake, a distance of fifty miles; and between Augusta and Columbus, on the Chattahoochie.

The Lexington and Ohio rail-road was commenced in 1831; it is to extend from Lexington to Frankfort, and thence to the Ohio river, just below the falls, near Shippingport, which is two miles distant from Louisville. Its length is about eighty miles. The company by which it was undertaken was incorporated by the legislature of Kentucky in 1830, with a capital stock of one million dollars. Mad River and Lake Erie railroad is to commence at Dayton, at the head of the Miami canal, and extend to Sandusky, on lake Erie, thus, by means of the canal and rail-road, opening a communication between Čincinnati and the lake. The distance is about one hundred and seventy-five miles.

The Illinois and Afichigan rail-road is to commence at Chicago, on lake Michigan, and conti ne in a southwesterly direction eleven and a half miles to the summit level: in this distance the ascent is only twenty-five feet. After passing the summit level, it is to cross and continue along the river Des Plaines, to the foot of the Illinois rapids, the distance of eightyfive miles, with a descent of exactly two feet a mile; thus giving, in a distance of ninety-six and a half miles, only one hundred and ninety-five feet of rise and fall. A company has been formed for the construction of a rail-road between Detroit and Pontiac, a distance of twenty-five miles. The Tuscumbia rail-road extends from Tuscumbia to Decatur. The Lake Pontchartrain rail-road extends from lake Pontchartrain to New Orleans four and a half miles. It consists of a single track, is perfectly straight and nearly level. A port of entry has been established on the lake, and an artificial harbor and breakwater have been constructed at the termination of the rail-road. The West Feliciana rail-road company was incorporated by the legislature of Louisiana, for the purpose of constructing a

rail-road from the river Mississippi, near St. Francisville, to the boundary line of Louisiana and Mississippi, in the direction of Woodville, Missis sippi.

The materials for the history of rail-roads in the United States are now so scattered and uncertain, and the roads themselves are so rapidly chang ing their aspect, that it is in vain to hope for any thing like an authentic account, till all the great systems and chains are completed throughout the country. We have not attempted to give a description of all the rail-roads now in existence; besides those described, there are many completed and in progress in various parts of the Union, so that most of the principal cities are intimately connected, and internal communication is greatly facilitated. Nor is the spirit of rail-road enterprise at all abated; new routes are continually projected, and we trust that the time is not far distant when all parts of the Union will be thus connected, and the distance between the remote parts be as it were annihilated.

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CHAPTER VII.-CANALS.

GREAT improvements have been introduced in the inland navigation of the United States within the last twenty years, both by removing impediments that have obstructed river navigation, and by the construction of canals. More than two thousand five hundred miles of canal have been constructed in the country, and numerous works of this description are now in progress, though the rail-road has perhaps, in most instances, been preferred, where the circumstances admitted of a choice. Our description of the principal canals in the country must be limited to a mere enumeration of the most important particulars.

CANALS IN NEW ENGLAND. The Cumberland and Oxford canal extends from Portland to Sebago pond, and was completed in 1829. Its length is twenty and a half miles; its width at the surface is thirty-four feet, at the bottom, eighteen; its depth is four feet. The number of its locks it twenty-six. A lock is also constructed in Songo river, by which navigation is continued into Brandy and Long ponds, making the whole natural and artificial water communication fifty miles.

Middlesex canal was completed in 1808, and opens a water communication between Boston and the central part of New Hampshire, by its junction with the Merrimack river. It has but one summit level, one hundred and four feet above Boston harbor, and thirty-two above the level of the Merrimack, at the place where it unites with that river in Chelmsford, above Pawtucket falls, on which are situated the great manufacturing establishments of Lowell. Its length is twenty-seven miles, breadth at the surface thirty feet, at the bottom twenty; its depth of water is three feet, and locks are twenty. It has seven aqueducts over streams and rivers, and fifty bridges, with stone abutments twenty feet apart. Around the numerous falls of the river, within the limits of New Hampshire, the following canals have been constructed :-Bow canal, completed in 1812, is one third of a mile long, and passes a fall of twenty-five feet with four locks; Hooksett canal, fifty rods in length, passes Hooksett falls by three locks, with a lockage of sixteen feet; Amoskeag canal, eight miles below the above, passes a fall of the same name, by a lockage of forty-five feet, with nine locks; Union canal, immediately below Amoskeag, overcomes seven falls in the river, and has seven locks in nine miles.

Pawtucket canal, in the town of Lowell, is used not only for passing a fall of the same name, but also for supplying very extensive hydraulic works. It is a mile and a half in length, ninety feet wide, and four feet deep, overcoming a difference of level of thirty-two feet.

In 1811, a charter, that has been subsequently renewed, was granted to a company for the purpose of constructing a canal from Winnipisiogee lake to Cocheco river, below the landing at Dover. The distance is twentyseven miles. The waters of the lake are four hundred and fifty-two feet above the level of the river, and the fall would require fifty-three locks. expense has been estimated at about three hundred thousand dollars.

The

The Blackstone canal extends from Worcester, Massachusetts, to Providence, Rhode Island. It is forty-five miles long, and follows in the greater part of its course the valley of the Blackstone or Pawtucket river, from which it is supplied with water. Its fall from the summit at Worcester to tide water at Providence, is four hundred and fifty-one and six tenths feet It has forty-eight locks, eighty feet long by ten wide; the breadth at its surface is thirty-four feet, at the bottom eighteen; depth of water, four feet. It was built by an incorporated company, under charter from the legislatures of the states in which it lies, at a cost of about six hundred thousand dollars. It was finished in the autumn of 1828. This canal facilitates and greatly increases the trade from the northern part of Rhode Island, and the central parts of Massachusetts, to the markets of Provi dence, New York, and the middle and southern states.

The Farmington canal was commenced in 1825, upon the plan of connecting, by a line of seventy-eight miles of artificial navigation, Connecticut river, at Northampton, in Massachusetts, with New Haven harbor. It is thirty-six feet broad at the surface, twenty at the bottom, and four feet in depth. The locks are eighty feet in the clear, and twelve feet wide. It extends fifty-eight miles, from New Haven to Southwick ponds, on the boundary of Massachusetts, and cost about six hundred thousand dollars. In continuation of this work, the Hampshire and Hampden canal has been constructed in Massachusetts, as far as Westfield; it is to be continued twenty miles, to Northampton, and perhaps even to Barnet, in Vermont. The difference of level in this canal is two hundred and ninety-eight feet. Enfield, South Hadley, Montague, and Bellows Falls canals are short cuts at the different falls on the Connecticut river. The first was built by a company incorporated in 1824. It extends around the falls of the same name, in the state of Connecticut, and is five and a half miles in length. It has two stone locks of ten feet lift, each ninety feet by twenty, and is used for extensive hydraulic works, as well as for navigation. Before the construction of this work, these rapids were passed in boats, but offered great obstructions to the navigation of the river. South Hadley canal was constructed for passing a fall of forty feet in the town of the same name, in Massachusetts, and is two miles in length. There is a cut in this canal through the solid rock, three hundred feet long and forty feet deep. The company that undertook this work was incorporated in 1792. Montague canal, in the town of the same name, in the same state with the preceding, and constructed for passing Montague falls, is three miles long, twentyfive feet wide, and three deep. Bellows Falls canal, in Vermont, opposite the town of Walpole, is half a mile long, with nine locks, overcoming a fall of about fifty feet. Several other short canals have been constructed on the western bank of the Connecticut in this state, for the purpose of improving the navigation of the river.

NEW YORK CANALS. The state of New York has an extensive system of inland artificial navigation, connecting the navigation of the Hudson with that of the lakes and Delaware river. The Champlain canal in this state passes from Albany to Whitehall, on lake Champlain, and is seventytwo miles in length. It is four feet deep, twenty-eight feet wide at the bottom, and forty at the surface. It has twenty-one locks, and its rise and fall amount to one hundred and eighty-eight feet. This work was commenced in October, 1817, and was opened for navigation in November,

1819. The whole cost was nearly one million two hundred thousan dollars.

The Erie canal extends from Albany, on the Hudson, to Buffalo, on lake Erie. It was commenced on the fourth of July, 1817, and was first navigated from Utica to Rome, fifteen miles, on the third of October, 1819; tolls were first received in July, 1820, and the whole work was completed in 1825. It is three hundred and sixty-three miles in length. It is four feet deep, twenty-eight wide at the bottom, and forty at the surface. The number of locks is eighty-four, and the rise and fall are six hundred and ninety-eight feet. The cost was over nine millions of dollars. A little below the Cohoes falls, a feeder enters from the Mohawk, and connects the Erie with the Champlain canal, and the united work then proceeds to Albany, eight and a half miles, and terminates in the tide waters of the Hudson. The collections upon the Erie canal, for the month of September, in the three last years, stand thus:

This great increase in the total amount of tolls has taken place, notwithstanding a reduction in the rates of tolls in the spring of 1833, which was equal to about twenty per cent. compared with former rates. The entire amount of tolls received at this canal in 1831, was one million, ninety-one thousand, seven hundred and fourteen dollars, twentysix cents.

Oswego canal is a branch of the Erie, extending from Salina to Oswego, connecting lake Ontario with the Erie canal. It is thirty-eight miles in length, having one hundred and twenty-three feet of lockage, all descending to lake Ontario. One half the distance is a canal connected with Oswego river by locks and dams; the other half is a slack-water navigation on the river. It cost five hundred and twenty-five thousand, one hundred and fifteen dollars. The Cayuga and Seneca canal, extending. from Geneva, on Seneca lake, to Montezuma, on Erie canal, is one half canal, and one half slack-water navigation. It was constructed in 1828. Its length is twenty miles and forty-four chains; the descent from Seneca lake to Montezuma is seventy-three and a half feet. The four canals last described were constructed at the expense of the state, and still remain under the administration of the state government as public property.*

Aggregate length of the canals, including eight miles of navigable feeders, 492 miles 66 cost,

" tolls in 1830,
tolls in 1831,

$10,946,443.68 1,056,799.67 1,222,801.90

The canal tolls received in the month of July, 1833, amounted to the sum of one hun dred and forty-seven thousand, eight hundred and ninety-nine dollars; exceeding, ty Forty-two thousand, two hundred and eighty-two dollars, and two cents, the sum collected n the corresponding month the preceding year. The following is a comparison of the lls for July on all the canals of the state, for 1832 and 1833, to wit: