CANAL (ante). Since the great extension of railroads in the United States, the building of canals has been suspended, except for mining or manufacturing purposes.
For purposes of transportation none have been commenced and very few enlarged or improved within the past half-century. The whole length of canals in the union is about 4,200 m., of which New York has over 1300 m., Pennsylvania 920, Ohio 800, Indiana 374, Virginia 225, etc. The most important is the Erie in New York, 363 m. long, connecting lake Erie with the Hudson river, finished in 1825 and enlargement finished in 1862, at a cost of more than $50,000,000. The other large canals are the Delaware and Hudson, the great coal route to New York from the Pennsylvania mines, 108 in. long, completed in 1829, cost $6,300,000; the Chesapeake and Ohio, 185 m., cost $11,375,000; the Schuylkill Coal and Navigation company's canal, 108 m., cost ;13,207, 000; and the Wabash and Erie, in Indiana, 374 m., cost $6,000,000. There are 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. The Chesapeake and Ohio canal originated in a project formed by Washington as early as 1774, to make the Potomac navigable from tide-water to Cumberland, and to connect it by common roads and portages with the affluents of the Ohio w. of the Alleghanics. The war of the revolu
tion 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 inves tigate the subject. The result was the incorporation of a company to make the Potomac navigable from tide-water 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 impractica ble; 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 mountain by a tunnel 3,118 ft. long. The whole length of the canal is 184 m., its depth 6 ft., its width to Harper's Ferry 60 ft. at the surface and 42 ft. at the bottom. By means of 74 locks, 100 ft. long and 15 ft. wide, an elevation of 609 ft. is gained. All the water is supplied by the Potomac. The cost of the work was over $11,000,000.