Engineering Wonders of the World
Volume III

TRANSPORTATION CANALS OF THE UNITED STATES. 175 TRESTLES OF NEEDLE DAM LYING FLAT ON THE WEIR’S FOUNDATION SILL SO THAT BOATS MAY PASS OVER THE SILL WHEN THE WATER RISES. The trestles are lowered by being pulled over sideways. They are hinged top and bottom. coal, and offering inducements to steamers land to the State of Albemarle and Chesapeake Canal. purchasing bunker coal. Passing eastward along the Gulf of Mexico coast, the next link will be a ship canal across the peninsula of Florida, connecting the Gulf The of Mexico with the Atlantic Florida^CanaL °Cean’ and obviating the long and tedious journey now neces- sary around the peninsula, through the dan- gerous Keys and Everglades. The next canal, the Albemarle and Chesa- peake, on the coast of North Carolina, will, when improved to meet the new demands, do away altogether with the dan- gerous passage around Cape Hatteras of all vessels. The danger here from rocks, shoals, currents, ©tc., is evidenced by th© long row of sentinel-like lightships stationed up and down the coast all the year round. The Dismal Swamp is partner to the above canal in handling the traffic to Norfolk, Virginia, the great trade centre and seaport of the south. Proceeding still fur- ther up the Atlantic sea-board, we come to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 184 miles in length, with seventy- three old-style locks. The depth averages 6 feet. Steam propulsion varies with mule-tow- age as a means of tran- sit. Then, crossing Dela- ware to New Jersey, comes the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal, small but important, and awaiting modern improvements. Now we diverge in- Pennsylvania, the great anthracite coal region. In this Stat© canal history reads like a page from a romance. The discovery of anthracite coal brought about the construction of the Delaware and Hudson Canal in 1829, and afterwards, in rapid succession, of the Morris, Schuylkill, etc. These canals once carried approximately as much as 2,000,000 tons each per season, but have been practically killed by railroad competition. I he only canal of any importance in this State at the present day is the Pennsylvania Canal, 193 miles long, with seventy-one locks, and 6 feet deep. The present actual cost of moving freight on a 100-ton canal-barge is somewhat less than half a cent per ton per mile, and proportionally less according to size of the barge. Moving westward, we come to the State of Ohio, wherein a healthy interest in canal affairs is evidenced by the efforts of the State