Daniel Adamson died in Jan. 1890 while the canal was being made. Though he was wrong in assuming that so large a sum as £8,000,000 could come from the pounds and shillings of Lanca shire workers, he was right in his conviction that the feeling be hind the scheme, and the hope of the scheme were democratic. The Co-operative Wholesale Society took £20,000 worth of shares, and a list published on Dec. 1, 1887 showed that of the 39,000 shareholders 36,30o were middle-class or working people. But the bulk of the capital came from the other 2,70o.
On July 4, 1887 the Bridgewater Navi gation Company were paid by one cheque £1,710,000 for their property. On Nov. 4 Lord Egerton cut the first sod at Eastham and the work at once began. Like the fight for the parliamentary bill, like the fight for the capital, the making of the canal was attended with every sort of disaster and delay. The engineer was Edward Leader Williams, who was knighted on the completion of the work, and the contractor was T. A. Walker, who had carried through the Severn tunnel contract. Walker died on Nov. 25, 1889, and there followed an unfortunate period of controversy between his executors and the canal directors, complicated by labour troubles and disputes, which cheered the enemies of the canal and made it clear that the work would not be finished within the contracted time. Late in 1890 the directors determined to settle with Walker's executors and to take the completion of the contract into their own hands. No sooner had they done this than floods of exceptional violence fell upon the work. Already in Jan. 1890 the work of months had been destroyed in a single night ; and in November of the same year even worse befell. Storms were added to floods; six miles of the excavated bed were in parts 40f t. below water. Steam navvies, locomotives, work men's tools and plant and material of all sorts were submerged. In places the tops of cranes could be seen a few inches above water. Bridges and temporary erections were overthrown and the slopes of the canal were washed away in long stretches. Towards the end of the month the weather repeated its blow. In Jan. 1891 ice and snow followed the floods. The Bridgewater canal—the only profit-making asset the directors possessed—was frozen and out of action ; and it was realised that the work could not proceed unless more capital was raised. Once more the demo
cratic urge behind the movement was apparent. There were ward meetings all over Manchester and district and the cry "Finish the canal" was everywhere. It was finished. The corporation of Manchester, which had already in one year applied the proceeds of a 2d. rate to the parliamentary fight, came in with £5,000,000; and from that moment the success of the canal was in no doubt. That is why the corporation of Manchester is represented on the ship canal directors' board. It has eleven directors, and the shareholders have ten.
The canal is 354 miles long. From Eastham to Runcorn it is near or through the Mersey estuary for 13-1m. Thence to Latchford, near Warrington, it is for 84m. inland. Both these sections have the same water level, which is raised by high tides. At Latchford the tidal action is stopped by locks, and from here to Manchester, 141m., the canal is fed by the Mersey and Irwell. At Eastham there are three entrance locks which maintain the water level in the canal nearly to mean high water level (i4ft. 2in. above the Liverpool datum). When the tide rises above that height the lock gates are opened and the tide flows up to Latchford, giving on high spring tides about 7f t. more of water. On the ebb this water is returned through sluices. The canal throughout has a minimum depth of 28ft. In 1927 the stretch from Eastham locks as far as the river Gowy was deep ened to 30f t., and the approach channel to Eastham was also deepened. The minimum width at bottom is i 2oft., so that large vessels may pass each other at any point. At various places under the canal it was necessary to lay cast iron siphon pipes to carry off land drainage which was at a lower level than the canal. The largest of these, 400f t. long and i2ft. in diameter, allow the tidal and fresh water of the Gowy to pass under the canal at Stanlow point, between Eastham and Ellesmere port. The whole length of the canal passes through the new red sandstone formation with overlying beds of gravel, clay, sand and silt, which in many places made it necessary to build retaining walls of stone and brick.