Narratives of two excursions to the ports of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1816, 1817, and 1818 : together with a description of the Breakwater at Plymouth, and also of the Caledonian Canal / translated from the French of Charles Dupin ... and illustrated by notes, critical and explanatory, by the translator.
- Dupin, Charles, baron, 1784-1873.
- Date:
- Between 1800 and 1899
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Narratives of two excursions to the ports of England, Scotland, and Ireland, in 1816, 1817, and 1818 : together with a description of the Breakwater at Plymouth, and also of the Caledonian Canal / translated from the French of Charles Dupin ... and illustrated by notes, critical and explanatory, by the translator. Source: Wellcome Collection.
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![rope, serves as the place for putting to one or two horses. The lab()urci'S, at the bottom of tlie canal, bring two loaded wheel¬ barrows on the platform of the little cart which is below. Those who, on the upper part, disperse along the canal the earth tliat lias been rcnioved, bring buck two empty barrows on the platform of the cart that is above. Immediately the driver of the horse sets otf with him, and thus performs, with as much ease as dispatch, a labour which four men, according to the common method, would not accomplish but very slowly, and with a great deal of fatigue. The ditfercnce of level between Loch Oich and Loch Lochy is at present about twenty feet ; but where the latter has been raised twelve feet, the dilTcrcnce will eventually be only eight feet. This re(|uires that one lock should be placed between the two Lochs, which will also act as a regulating-lock to L<ich Oich. In like manner that it was requisite to raise the level of Loch Doughfour towards the eastern extremity of the Caledo¬ nian Canal, so also, towards the western district, it became ne¬ cessary to raise the surface of Loch Lochy. But this latter operation is much more dilficult than the former, cis the level must be raised twelve feet ])crpendicular instead of two. It has been thought more expedient to shut uj) the present course, and excavate a new channel for the river Lochy, the only stream that flows from the Loch, raising the level of its new bed, and thereby rendering the works of the summit level more easy than by works of excavation. By this means, the new course of the river Lochy, about half a mile in length, cut through a piece of flat ground, called Mucomer, forn)s its confluence with the river Spean. The joint waters of the Lochy and the Spean run with great rapidity, and soon afterwards skirt the south-eastern bank of tlie canal, where it becomes necessary to make a strong defence against their joint elTorts, by arming and fortifying it with rubble-stone. They afterwards form a large river, which is discharged into Loch Eil. From Loch Lochy to Loch Eil, the distance is about eight miles ; throughout which the canal is finished. Nevertheless, as there remains some lock-gates to be fixed up, that part of the'canal is not yet open to navigation. The track of the canal, from Loch Lochy to Loch Eil, runs at the bottom of the slope of a chain of mountains, whence descend impetuous torrents, to which it was necessai’^’ to give an outlet. This has been done by a number of aqueduct bridges; one, in particular, over the river Loy, consists of a centre arch of twenty feet span, and two side arches of ten feet each, and owing to the w’idth of embankment here, the](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b31977200_0101.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
