USA > Pennsylvania > The Register of Pennsylvania : devoted to the preservation of facts and documents and every other kind of useful information respecting the state of Pennsylvania, Vol. III > Part 23
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116
The cost of the work so far has considerably exceeded the,estimate. A variety of causes have tended to this result, some of which have been mentioned; and in ad- dition to these, we have found much more rock, large stone and hard gravelly excavation, than was anticipa- ted. The towing paths have been more expensive than was estimated, owing to the necessity of making more slope wall than was contemplated; for many parts of the line, where the banks of the river appeared suffi- ciently hard to resist the action of the wind and water, have been found to require walling, and so far as it has progressed, the work is done in a very substantial man- ner, and put beyond any probable necessity of repairs. The result of experience on other similar works, led to the conclusion that a more substantial work was neces- sary, than we had in contemplation when the estimate was made, to prevent any probable interruption to the navigation, by having the tow-paths injured by the ope- ration of floods. They are now faced with a slope wall, extending from the top of the bank to bottom water line. The banks for the tow-paths, are made in some places four, and in others, five feet above top-water line, which gives a face from 16 to 18 feet for the wall. It has been found necessary in many places to extend the embankment into the river, and frequently into deep water, to avoid the expense and difficulty of blast- ing projecting rocks under water, and along high, steep ledges; and also in some places to extend the embank- ment below bottom water line, to prevent the banks from sliding down; and to protect them against the ac- tion of the river before the ponds could be filled: the walls have been commenced on the bed of the river, which makes them from 16 to 25 feet on the face.
The excavation for many of the lock pits, the principal part of the culvert pits, and for the foundations for the aqueducts, in rock and hard cemented gravel, some of them below the bed of the river, also the rock and gra- vel below the outlet locks in the bed of the river, and the short period during low water, in which a part of the work could be done, connected with the perplexing appendages of coffer dams, pumping, bailing, &c. have been a fruitful source of extra expenses.
The lumber and cement has cost more than was esti- mated, owing to the great quantity to be procured and delivered in a short time at the places where required for the work. The list of extras and difficulties might be swelled much larger; but probably enough has been said, to give an idea of the causes which have increased
the expenses beyond the estimate, and also of the diffi- culty of making an estimate to cover the expense of so many unforeseen obstacles, without appearing unneces- sarily large.
About one-eighth part of the work remains to be done, although from the amount of the estimates returned to the office for payment, there appears a larger propor- tion of unfinished work. This is owing to the number of contracts which are nearly completed; on which, when the work is accepted, there will be considerable balances due the contractors: a portion of the amount is retained in making the estimates to insure the comple- tion of the contracts, the whole of which will probably be finished in June next, and ready for the passage of the boats.
On that part of the Lehigh navigation, extending from lock No. 5, at Mauch Chunk, to the Del. river, there are 40 lift locks, 2 lift and guard locks, 5 guard locks, and 7 dams. The locks are 22 feet wide, and 100 feet between the gates; the canal has 60 feet surface, and 5 feet depth of water.
Contracts completed and accepted, amount
to, $152,038 47
Monthly estimates on unfinished work, do. 425,487 75 Lumber, cement, and iron work, furnished
by the Company, 174.194 56
Work remaining to be done, materials to be
furnished, and amount due on contracts, 178,775 38
Add for contingencies, 30,000 00
$960,496 16
All which is respectfully submitted,
CANVASS WHITE, Engineer.
December 11th, 1828.
In conformity to the requisition of the 4th article of the act of incorportion of the Company, the Treasurer submits the following statement :-
The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company in account with Otis Ammidon, Treasurer, for the yeur 1828.
DR.
To this sum paid on sundry accounts in
Do.
January, 1828
71,987 35
Do.
February
30,327 48
Do.
March
73,311 62
66
Do.
April
24,413 86
Do.
May
23,099 18
66
Do.
June
92,265 44
Do.
July
220,703 88
Do.
August
90,068 90
Do.
September
91,469 20
66
Do.
October
63,959 64
Do.
November
107,659 79
66
Do.
December
113,766 89
Balance on hand Dec. 31,
11,472 09
$1,014,485 32
Note .- In addition to the balance stated, there will be receivable from various sources upwards of $256,000.
CR.
By balance on hand Decem- ber 31, 1827,
5,676 79
Rec'd, on sundry acc'ts in January, 1828,
80,357 72
Do.
February
22,121 78
60
-Do.
March
70,208 81
1)o.
April
23,903 25
66
Do.
May
23,261 65
66
Do.
June
100,392 25
66
Do.
July
222,356 27
66
Do.
August
109,488 69
Do.
September
66,664 75
Do.
October
68,708 11
1)0.
November
99,932 59
Do.
December
121,412 66
$1,014,485 32
76
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.
[JANUARY
By balance brought down,
11,472 06
Balance of Cash at Mauch Chunk,
18,580 24
Total amount of cash on hand, $30,052 33
OTIS AMMIDON, Treasurer. Philadelphia, Jannary 1, 1829.
At the election held on January 12, 1829, the follow- ing named gentlemen were chosen officers for the en- suing year, viz.
President, Joseph Watson, Esq. Managers,
Jonathan Fell, John Moss,
John Cox,
Thomas Earp,
Josiah White, Timothy Abbot,
Erskine Hazard, Ephraim Haines,
James Schott, John Cook.
Treasurer,
Otis Ammidon.
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.
The Governor, on Thursday, made the following communication to the legislature.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania,
Gentlemen-I have the honor of transmitting to you a copy of a memorial of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company to the General Assembly of Maryland and the memorial of the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company to the Senate and House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, together with documents accompanying the same.
J. ANDREW SHULZE.
Harrisburgh, Jan. 14, 1829. Washington Jan. 9th, 1829.
Sir-The accompanying memorial from the president and directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, with its documents, I beg leave to present to that honourable body, through your Excellency, and to urge this occasion to recom- mend it to your favourable regard.
A detailed statement of the capital stock subscribed and paid in, and of the disbursements of the company, attested in the mode required by the act of Pennsylvania, confirming the charter of the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca- nal Company, will be forwarded as soon as the receipt of the last instalment called for from the subscribers shall have been reported by the several Banks authoris- ed to collect the same.
I have the honor to be, with great respect, your most obedient and humble servant, C. F. MERCER, President of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
To the Senate and House of Representatives of the Com- monwealth of Pennsylvania in General Assembly,
The memorial of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, by the president and director, thereof, res- pectfully represents:
The undersigned were, by a general meeting of the tockholders of the company convened in the City Hall Of Washington, pursuant to notice, on the 20th day of June last, duly elected president and directors of the
aid Company, and accordingly proceeded to the exe- cution of the trust thereby reposed in them. In doing so, they have availed themselves of all the lights to be derived from the experience of the several states of the Union most distinguished in the career of Internal Im- provement, and have derived from none more aid than from the example of Pennsylvania, whom they recog- nise as a founder, also, of the great enterprise confided to their care and superintendance by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
The annexed copy of the proceedings which led to the incorporation of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company; of the various acts of Congress and of the
states, which now form their charter; of the rules and regulations which have been, since, adopted by the Company and their president and directors, accompa- nied by a tabular illustration of the contracts recently made for the construction of forty-eight miles of the Canal; and a copy of a recent memorial from thé presi- dent and directors, to the General Assembly of Mary- land, will show to what extent that experience has been usefully applied by your memorialists.
The expose of the state of the Company's funds is at- tested by the oath of the president, as required by the act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, authoris- ing the extention of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal through her territory to its original destination, at Pitts- burg.
The authority sought to be obtained of the State of Maryland for letting water rights along the margin of the Canal, has been already conceded, in principle, by your honorable body; and the other object embraced in the memorial to the General Assembly of Maryland, is analogous to the authority, vested in the Company by the same act, to substitute fords for bridges across the canal, through its enlarged dimensions, rendered the former impracticable, it has become important to the general policy of the improvement of the canal, which has been proposed to the legislature of Maryland and Virginia, that a correspondent modification of the act of Pennsylvania be also obtained,
The liberty of letting sites for other improvements than water works, on the moles or piers, adjacent to the basins to be formed on the canal, is designed for ap- plication, chiefly in the district of Columbia: but needs the sanction of Pennsylvania; as it would impart a fa- cility to the company which being created by the con- current acts of the legislature of the Union and of the States, requires, it is presumed, their co-operation, to enlarge or modify its existing power.
A like specific, but more important object, solicits the attention and liberality of your honorable body.
By the fifth section of the act of Pennsylvania, already referred to, it is provided, "that should the United States of America subscribe to the stock of the saidChesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, the said company shall, with- in six months after receiving the sum subscribed, com- mence the western section of said canal, at such point or points as may be deemed most advantageous to the interests of the said company, and it shall be their duty to apportion at least one half of the subscription of the United States to the western section of the said canal. And whatever amount of stock may be subscribed by the citizens of Pennsylvania, shall be expended wholly on the western section, unless authority is given to the said compauy by the l'ennsylvania subscrbers, to ex- pend their subscriptions differently, and in case of fail- ure of said company, to comply with the provisions therein set forth, this act shall cease to have any force or effect whatever."
The inconvenience of the last of these provisions is remediable by a direct application to the subscribers to the stock of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, residing within the state of Pennsylvania, and it is notdesired to alter, by any modification of the act abovementioned, the condition, which it supplied to their subscription. But your memorialists appeal, in behalf of the United States, the states of Maryland and Virginia, the cities of the district of Columbia, and the individual subscribers of those commonwealths and of that district, to the jus- tice, as well as liberality of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, to relieve the great enterprise in which so many interests have with great labour and zeal been made to unite, from a condition, which, if presevered in, must produce either an abandonment of the original plan of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal convention, which is that of the Company to which the convention has given rise, or a suspension, for several years at least, of the profit on the expenditure of a large part of the " valuable capital stock of the Company.
1829.]
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.
77
Your momorialists believe, that the prosperous con- duct and issue of the work commenced on the eastern section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, are essen- tial to the speedy completion of the entire enterprise.
It is not difficult to demonstrate, that after crossing with the Canal, along the Potomac, the fertile lime stone valleys of the Shenandoah and the Conogochleague, in Virginia and Maryland, the profits of its Eastern sec- tion will depend on the speedy extention of it to the town of Cumberland, and the coal banks at the base of the Allegheny. But, to reach those points will require the entire sum subscribed by the United States, and the states, cities, and individuals who are co-partners in this enterprise.
Should Virginia as is confidently expected, add half a million of dollars to the three millions six hundred thousand, which now constitute the available capital of the Company, the entire amount will still fall short more than $300,000 of the sum at which the eastern section of the canal has been estimated, supposing it to retain its present dimensions, by the revised calculations of the civil engineers, Messrs. Geddes and Roberts, which are moreover four millions short of the estimate of the United States Board ofInternal Improvement, for a canal of smaller dimensions.
It is not, therefore, wise or prudent to compute the cost of the eastern section of the canal at less than the sum which the company will possess, when it shall have received the anticipated aid from Virginia. For this sum your memorialists believe, that, by vigorous economy, the eastern section of the canal may be completed. One measure of that economy will be to complete this part of the work with such rapidity, as, without reference to the earlier profit from the tolls, would diminish the ex- penditures incurred in the salaries of officers; which, when this work shall have been finished, may be dis- pensed with to a great extent; or, as your memorialists confidently expect, be turned over to its western sec- tion, the term of their labours.
Such were the views which prompted the late sub- scription, by Congress, who were distinctly and repeat- edly assured, while that measure was depending, that no further aid than that afforded by a subscription of one million of dollars, would be asked of the United States, for the eastern section of the Chesapeake and Ohio Ca- nal. This assurance was necessary to the success of that measure, and can be fulfilled only by a release of the condition annexed by Pennsylvania to her sanction of the Company's charter.
That neither your memorialists nor those whose una- nimous petition they express, have the remotest idea of delaying, longer than may be indispensably necessary, the commencement and completion of the western sec- tion of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, is manifested by the uniform tenor of other declarations and the high character of those whom they represent.
Part of the ground to be occupied by the western section of the canal they have already purchased; ap- plications have been received by them to let the tunnel through the Allegheny, and one of the. first operations of their Board of Engineers, after preparing the eastern section to be let, as is expected, before the ensuing summer, will be to explore, a third time, and to revise the estimates of the cost of the western section of the canal, preparatory to opening books in Europe, as well. as America, for a subscription of the stock required for its construction. .
Your memorialists believe, that a large proportion of the sum required for this section, will be more readily obtained from the U. States, should the public antici- pation of the favourable progress of the eastern section, founded on the assurances of the undersigned, be realiz- to the extent which the president and directors are in- duced, by every day's experience, to reiterate, with in- creased confidence.
The appeal which your memorialists presume to ad- dress to the justice of a great state, might be extended
to many other views of the relation in which Pennsyl- vania stands to an enterprise, which has, as yet, receiv- ed her approbation, without that aid which she has so widely and liberally extended to so many other objects of internal improvement within her territory, in some of which her immediate interest is not greater than in that which now seeks her forbearance, as well as her favor.
The time may come, the undersigned beg leave to add; they trust it will shortly arrive, when your memo- rialists may, again, invite the pecuniary assistance of your honorable body towards a work, which, as a bond of connexion between the centre and the extremes of the Union, cannot appeal in vain, to a state second in population and wealth to but one in this country. That time will arrive when the actual results of the first con- tracts for the construction of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal shall exclude all remaining doubt of its probable cost; and when a further subscription to its stock, by the United States, shall assure other subscribers that the work, when prosecuted west of the Allegheny, will be carried to its ultimate consummation; an union, in its bosom, of the Eastern and Western waters, by one uninterrupted canal, of dimensions corresponding with its national character and consequence.
(Signed)
C. F. MERCER, President of the C. & O. Canal Co. W. SMITHI, ANDW. STEWART, PETER LENOX, FREDK. MAY, PHINEAS JANNEY, JOSEPH KENT,
Directors.
The Stockholders of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, in general meeting, June 21, 1828:
Resolved, That as soon as the sum of six millions of dollars shall have been subscribed to the stock of the Chesapeake & Ohio Canal, according to the provisions ·of the charter of the company, the president and di- rectors of the company may, and they are hereby in- structed to cause books to be opened, at such times and places as they may deem expedient, for the reception of such further and additional subscriptions. not exceeding forty thousand shares, to the stock of the Canal, as they shall find necessary to complete the same as far as Pittsburgh, in the state of Pennsylvania.
And be it further resolved, That the president and directors be, and they are hereby instructed to present to the Legislature of the State of Pennsylvania, io be- half of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Comp. a memo- rial requesting such a modification of the act of that state incorporating the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company as may be alike conducive to the advantage of the company and of the state of Pennsylvania.
To the General Assembly of Maryland.
The memorial of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Com- pany, by the undersigned president and directors thereof, respectfully represents:
That on the 20th day of June last, the undersigned were elected President and Directors of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company, by a general meeting of the Stockholders of the company, convened pursuant to no- tice, in the city-hall of Washington; and immediately afterwards proceeded to execute the trust reposed in them, under the charter of the company; a copy of which, with the by-laws of the company, certain rules addressed by the president and directors for their own government and that of their corps of engineers, and tabular statements of the contracts made for the con- struction of forty-eight miles of the canal, are annexed to this memorial, together with an exposition of the condition of the company's funds down to the last re- turn of the treasurer.
Among the duties which the undersigned have per,
CHESAPEAKE AND OHIO CANAL.
[JANUARY
formed in the past year, has been included, that of fix- ing definitively the eastern termination of the canal.
In the performance of this difficult and delicate trust it was deemed essential to the permanent validity of any decision which the president and directors might form, that the subject should be submitted to a general meeting of the stockholders.
In preparing a question, on which to take their final judgment, the President and Directors were regardful of the liberal spirit, which the state of Maryland had ever manifested towards the enterprise confided to their care, and adverting to her past policy in relation to the future extension of the Canal, sought earnestly, and they confidently believe successfully, to advance that policy. By the report of a civil engineer, a highly re- spectable native citizen of her great commercial corpo- ration, it had been affirmed, that to enable the state of Maryland to extend the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal to Baltimore, it should be brought down to Georgetown at a level of not less than 25 or 30 feet above the tide. It has accordingly been brought to the heart of George- town at a level of 37 feet above tide water, thereby sav- ing, in its future extension, on that high level, not only the purchase or condensation of much valuable ground, in Georgetown, but the heavy excavation in the rear of Washington, to which a lower elevation would have been exposed, while the expense incurred beyond the point, from whence the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal clescends towards its termination, is chiefly for locking down to the river, which must, otherwise, have been encountered at greater inconvenience, and much greater cost, immediately above Georgetown. The Basin, essential to any termination of the canal, would no where have proved of such easy construction, as at the mouth of Rock creek, and the sale of the mole or pier, designed to form it, enlarged to a breadth of 80 feet, will pay, very nearly, for the construction of the entire basin.
The President and Directors, and the Stockholders did not, while they promoted the interest of the state of Maryland, in advancing the general interest, and secur- ing the harmony of the Company, fail to examine carefully, the extent of the power under which they acted, and while not doubting their chartered authority, so as to terminate the canal, yet, for greater security, referred the validity of the act, by which they did so, to the judgment of the highest law officer of the United States, whose published opinion accompanies this ex- pose of the present condition of the common enterprize of so many governments and cities.
The undersigned trust, it will appear, that the great enterprise committed to their care is proceeding as prosperously and speedily as existing circumstances will permit, and as the public had been led to expect from the prior calculations submitted to the General Assembly of Maryland, and to the other parties to the charter of the Company by the Central Committee of 1 the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
The available funds of the Company now amount to shout three millions six hundred thousand dollars to which the president and directors hope very shortly to be able to add a subscription, by the Common- wealth of Virginia, calculated to swell this sum to more than four millions of dollars; an amount it is believed sufficient to complete the canal as far, at least, as Cum- berland,
The dimensions of the canal have been extended to sixty feet at its surface, 42 feet at its base, and a depth of 6 feet below its water line, thus affording a cross section of 306 feet. The locks under contract are 27 in number, and 100 feet in length, and 15 in breadth, in the clear; they average a lift of 8 feet and are to be constructed of solid stone masonry. Two stone aque- ducts over the Monocacy and Seneca, besides more than 80 culverts, and 12 lock-keepers' houses of the same materials, have been contracted for, as part of the 48 miles of canal already let. This portion of the
canal embraces also a capacious basin, at its eastern termination, requiring an extensive embankment or mole across the mouth of Rock Creek.
The cost of the whole of this work will be seen, by the accompanying tables to be $958,136, and when the remaining lock-houses, a few waste wiers, and the Se- neca feeder and guard lock-shall be added, the whole cost, exclusive of engineers' and officers' salaries and contingencies, will probably reach $1,050,000.
The undersigned cannot speak, with absolute confi- dence on the subject, for reasons very apparent.
In the estimate of the excavation of the first seven- teen miles let above the Little Falls and below the mouth of Seneca, the contracts were for a canal of 5 feet depth only. Some allowance must be made for the addition of one foot to this depth; and for the occa- sional discovery below the natural surface of the ground, of rock, where common earth alone had been expect- ed. A provision has also been made for lining the in- ner slopes of the Canal with stone, where it can be done at reasonable cost. All these expenses, together, may swell the cost of the first 48 miles of the canal, to very near or quite $1,100,000, or $22,916 per mile, ex- clusive of any allowance for damages, to the proprietors of the land through which the canal is conducted; of this amount, the inner pavement is computed at near $1000 a mile. It is designed to fit the canal for boats moving with more than ordinary velocity, by protecting its banks from washing. By the increased dimen- sions of the canal, combined with the last mentioned provision, the president and directors have sought to give every facility to that intercourse between the eastern and western states, which it is one of the ob- jects of this great national work to promote.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.