Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 14).djvu/195

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CANAL FUND AND ENLARGEMENTS
191

200 tons, and require a lock 115 feet long by 17 feet wide; the sectional area of boat below load water line 108 feet. The gross load of a schooner, with its own weight, would be 350 tons. Canal boats, constructed with reference to freight merely, will generally weigh in the ratio of their cargo as 4 to 9."[1] Engineer N. S. Roberts in a report dated January 17, 1835, said: "The present canal admits boats 13½ feet wide, 3 feet draught, 80 feet long, displaces 80 tons water, weight of boat 30 to 35 tons, cargo 45 tons. Size of canal, 28 [26?] feet bottom, 40 feet surface, 4 feet depth cross sec[tion] 136 [132?] sq. feet. Enlarged canal to reduce cost of transportation, 43¾ per cent must be 33 feet bottom, 48 feet top, and 5 feet deep, cross sec[tion]: 202.5; width and size of locks: 15 x 110 between gates, admitting a boat 102 feet long, 13½ feet wide, and 4 feet draught."[2]

After examination, the canal board determined to make the canal seventy feet wide on the surface, seven feet deep; the

  1. Sweet's Documentary History, pp. 198–199.
  2. Id., p. 201.