Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 10.djvu/658

Rh (340 increase is to be ascribed to the monopoly which the in- habitants had secured in the middle of the 17th century of the sale of raw and reﬁned sugars for the most of Seot- land. Besides this they had the right of distilling spirits from molasses free of duty; they conducted a consider- able trade in cured herrings and salmon, were manufacturers of soap, and sent to the English ports hides and linen, bringing back in exchange tobacco and manufactured goods, which they distributed north of the Tweed. Bristol was then the great emporium of tobacco, and Glasgow’s com- mercial Connexions with it naturally turned the attention of its traders to that lucrative branch of commerce. When it became possible for Glasgow merchants to enter into competition with the merchants of Bristol, companies were formed to carry on the trade with the North American colonies, and a large trade was soon established. Ships were chartered, and as wealth poured in were built, and sailed regularly for Virginia, .Iaryland, and Carolina, taking out goods in barter for cargoes of tobacco. In 1760 Glasgow had completely rivalled Bristol in the tobacco trade, and in 1772 its importations were more than half of the entire quantity brought into the United Kingdom The Virginian trade being exceedingly lucrative, Glasgow flourished under it. Thetown rapidly extended westward, handsome mansion- houses for the “ tobacco lords” were erected, and the austerity of manners which had come down from the covenanting days was somewhat relaxed. The money made by tobacco found its way into other branches of commerce and stimulated new industries. The tobacco trade however received a crushing blow at the outbreak of the American War,—a blow from which it never wholly recovered, for after the war was over, and the thirteen colonies had become the United States of North America, Glasgow was engaged in other commercial enterprises. The distress in the city was keen during the ﬁrst years of the war, and Glasgow capital- ists turned their attention to the West Indies and the culti- vation of the sugar cane. The manufacture of cotton goods was introduced also about this time, and proved a new source of wealth and prosperity. Calico printing, which was soon to develop into a great industry employing thousands of persons, was started at Pollokshaws in 1742 ; the inkle loom was set up in 1732 ; glass-making was established in a feeble way in 1730 ; and the brewing of beer and ale on a large scale was attempted with success. In 1764 James Watt perfected his ﬁrst model of a steam engine in a small workshop, which had been granted to him by the senatus of the university, within the college walls. From the Treaty of Union down to the end of the 18th cen- tury, the progress of the city had been remarkable. In 1708 the population was estimated to be upwards of 12,000 ; at the end of the century it was close upon 80,000. The IIarbour.—The energies of the traders of Glasgow were naturally somewhat conﬁned by having a port so far away as Port- Glasgow, and there is little wonder that, when their commerce began to extend, they should have cast about for plans to deepen the water-way and enable them to bring their merchandise to their own warehouses in the city. The task which lay before them was one involving numerous difficulties. “ A hundred years ago,” says Mr Deas, the engineer of the Clyde trust, in his interesting sketch of The Rise and Progress of the Harbour qf Glasgow, “ the river was almost in a state of nature, and was fordable on foot at Dumbuck Ford, more than 12 miles below Glasgow.” As early as 1566 the authorities of the towns of Glasgow, Renfrcw, and Dumbarton endeavoured to remove a sandbank, a little above the latter town, and though operations were intennittingly carried on for some years, they do not appear to have been very successful. Prior to 1658 the shipping port of Glasgow was Irvine in Ayrshire, but the passage of lighters from that place was tedious and the land carriage expensive. It was determined in 1658 by the magistrates of Glasgow to purchase ground at Dumbarton, and construct a spacious harbour there. The magistrates of that:royal burgh, however, objected, on the plea that “ the great influx of mariners and others would raise the price of provisions to the inhabitants.” The Glasgow authorities, how- ever, were determined to have a harbour nearer than Irvine, and in GLASGOW’ 1662 they purchased 13 acres of ground on the south side of the river (now Port-Glasgow), where they built harbours and constructed the first graving dock in Scotland. In 1688 a qua ' was built at the Broomiclaw, although nothing had yet been done or tl1c deepening of the river. It was only after the city had experienced the vast importance of foreign traflic that the magistrates, Inost of whom were “ tobacco lords,” seriously turned their attention to the ques- tion. In 1740 the town council authorized the expenditure of £100 in making a deepening cxpcrimcnt below the Broomiclaw quay, and ﬁfteen years later they employed Smeaton the wcll—known engineer to report on the subject. He found the two shallowcst places at the Pointliouse Ford, now the western boundary of the harbour, and at llirst, now within the harbour. The depth at low water at the formcr was 15 inches and at the latter 18 inches, while at high water it was 3 feet 3 inches and 3 feet 8 inches respectively. Smcaton proposed a lock and dam, four miles l)cl0' Glasgow llI'l(l‘_‘:t‘, so as to secure 4 feet 6 inches of water at the Broomiclaw quay. Fortunately his report was not adopted. In 1768 the ﬁrst lu,-gill- nings were made on the report of Mr John Golborne, who suggested the contraction of the river by the construction of rubble jctties and the removal of the shoals by dredging. James Vatt reported in 1769 to the magistrates on the declivity of the bed of the (‘lydc from Broomielaw quay to that obduratc obstacle Dumbuck Ford. In 1773 Mr Golborne contracted with the tow11 council to make this ford 6 feet deep at low water and 300 feet wide, and carried out his contract successfully in 1775. Rennie reported 011 the river in 1799, and recommended “ the shortening of some of the jetties, the con- struction of new ones, and the building of low rubble walls from point to point of the jetties so as to render the channel uniform, and prevent the accumulation of shoals.” 1Iis suggestions were carried out, and upwards of 200 jetties were constructed bctwccn Glasgow a11d Bowling, the result bcing a considerable improvement in the navigation, and reclamation of land to the proprietors on both banks from the alveus of the river, the greater portion of which has since had to be purchased at high prices for other improvements. Tclford reported in 1806, and 1-lcnnic again in 1807, and thc dcepening process went on without pause. In 1836 the engineer of the Clyde Trust reported to the trustees that there was then from 7 to 8 feet of water at the Broomiclaw quay at low water, that thr- lift of a 11cap tide, which was only sensible in 1755, was 4 feet, and of a spring tide 7 or 8 feet, making a depth of 12 feet at high water of a neap and of 15 feet of a spring tide. The river had be-com; capable of taking craft of 400 tons to Glasgow. In 1840 parliament sanctioned a11 Act for carrying out plans for the further improve- ment of the navigation of the entire river under the jurisdiction of the trustees. Upon the lines then laid down the improvements have ever since proceeded, with only very slight modifications, but the result may probably be best expressed in the following figures. In 1839 vessels of 17 feet draught of water were safely navigated to and from the harbour, in 1854 of 19 feet draught, in 1861 of 20 feet draught, in 1862 of 21 feet draught, and in 1870 of 22 feet draught. Only a few years ago vessels of 15 feet draught were two and often three tides in the river in their passage 11p and down, but now vessels of 22 feet draught leaving Glasgow two or three hours before high water get to sea in one tide. The rapidity of the deepening process has been due almost entirely to the powerful steam dredgers employed by the trustees, to the use of the (living bell for blasting purposes, a11(l latterly to the introduction of steam drilling and dynamite. The quantity of dredged matter taken from the river every year is somewhere about a million and a quarter of tons, which is carried oil" by barges and deposited in Loch Long, an arm of the Firth running up into the Vestcrn Ilighlands. During the last thirty-one years upwards of 20 million tons have been dredged from the river,’and since the year 1770 the cost for dredging and depositing alone has been between £500,000 and £600,000. The total cxpenditurc upon the river since the year above named has been upwards of seven millions sterling ; and the revcnue, which a lumdred years ago was £1733, is now about £210,000. The first dock constructed at the Glasgow harbour was opened so late as 1867. Though Acts of Parliament had been obtained more than twenty years before, the sides of the river were utilized for quayage extension ; but within the last ten or twelve years the prcssurc for space became very great, and the new dock, which is tidal, and covers 51, acres of water space, was found to be quite inade- quate. A new Act was obtained in 1870 to construct docks at Stob- cross, and these, which are now ncarin g completion, will have an area of 30 acres, and will accommodate one million tons of shipping. The estimated cost, including the purchase of land, is £1,163,000. The traffic on the Clyde received an extraordinary im- petus by the application of steam to navigation, and from the date of the “ Comet,” which was built on the Clyde in 1811-12 for Mr Henry Bell, Glasgow has been the true home of steam navigation. The steam shipbuilding trade has become one of the largest industries of the city, and with its growth the commerce of Glasgow has kept pace.