CALEDONIAN CANAL. The importance of this great national undertaking, whether considered as a work of magnitude and expence, as tending to open •up and improve some of the most barren and ragged districts in Scotland, of to facilitate the) intercourse between 'eastern and western 'Kidd of Great Britain, by rendering unnecessary the navi gation of a circuitous and dangerous coast, induces us to treat of it separately, and to furnish our read ers with a correct map. er of its line, reduced from the maps laid before PArliament.
So early as the year 177S, Mr James Wall of Soho; to whom mankind and the arts are st much indebted for his improvements in the steam engine,. was appointed 'by the • Trustees or Cord missioners for certain. Forfeited Estates in Scot. land, to make a survey of the central Highland. Mr Watt, ih his Report to that public body, record mended, amongst other improvements for the High lands, the formation of the Crinen Canal, which has long since been executed, and also of' the Caledo nian Canal, ftom Inverness to Fort-William, now in progress, and which we are immediately to describe, The late rapid introduction of the sheep-farming system having necessarily deprived' multitudes of the inhabitants of their former means of subsistence, the formation of roads and canals, and the multiplication of fishing stations, came to be looked to, as affording the most likely means of mitigating the evils come. quent upon this great and sudden change of system; and in pursuance of this view of things, the Lords of the Treasury, in 1802, directed Mr Telford, Civil Engineer, to make a survey of the coasts and cen• tral Highlands of Scotland. The Report which he in consequence drew up, involves a variety of consi derations connected with the improvement of the Highlands, and the employment of the population of these districts ; but the part of it which we'are more particularly to consider, is that which refers to the pro position of an inland navigation from Loch Rawly and the German Ocean on the eastern coast, to Loch 'Ell and the Atlantic Ocean, on the western coast. Mr Watt proposed that the depth of this canal should be ten feet,. or two feet more than the Forth and Clyde Canal ; but Mr Telford, considering the great com mand of water from the chain of lochs or lakes in its line, and aware no doubt of the advancing state of ma ritime adventure, and of the inconveniences which are felt from the small scale on which that navigation hat been executed, though originally termed the rat canal, was induced to propose a depth of twenty feet for the Caledonian Canal ; that it might thus be capa ble of floating twenty-eight gun • and the largest class of Baltic traders.
The Parliamentary Committee, which had been appointed in reference to the situation of' the High lands, had corresponded with the Highland Society of Scotland as to the means of improvement ; and, before finally reporting upon this great and bold plan, they called before them the most eminent Engineers, nautical Surveyors, Mariners, and Merchants m the kingdom. In particular, Mr Jeasop and Mr Ren nie, Civil Engineers, were . severally examined with regard to the practicability and expence of the plan proposed by' Mr Telford ; and Captain George Duff, of the Royal Navy, Captain Huddart of the Trinity House, London, Lieutenant Gwynn, Con' mender of the Fort-Augustus galley on Loch Ness, and several'others, were examined'upon points touch ing the navigation and anchorage for large vessels.
Returns were also procured from the port, of Liverpool, Greenock, Leith, and Aberdeen, regard ing the probable advantages of the proposed.inland navigation, and to what extent it would be useful. This Committee, after much investigation, reported as follows : • " Your Committee, from a full consideration of all the evidence laid before them, and annexed to this Report, by svay of Appendix, submit to the Renee their opinion : That the execution of the in land navigation, proposed in Mr Telford's plan, under all due regulations, for the economical expenditure of such monies as may be employed in this great work, shill be a measure highly conducive to the prospe rity and happiness of that part of Scotland in which it is situated, and of great importance to the gene ral interests of the whole United Kingdom." A Bill was, accordingly, brought into Parliament, on the Report of this Committee, in the Session of 1803, entitled, " An Act for granting to his Ma jesty the sum of L. 20,000, towards defraying the expence of making an inland navigation from the Eastern to the Western Sea, by Inverness and Fort-William ; and for taking the necessary steps towards executing the same ;" which Act received the Royal Assent on the 27th day of July 1808.