Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/411

 at Newburgh and tracing the canal to Liverpool, it has been executed according to the original plan and act. There it has a stretch of twenty-eight miles and a half upon the same level, passing Brier's Mill, Burscough, Scaresbrick, Halsall, Downholland, Lidiate, Mayhull, over the Alt River, Litherland, Bootle, Bankhall, Vauxhall, the Gaol, and to the basin of this canal at the North Lady's Walk in Liverpool, being a distance from Leeds Bridge of one hundred and twenty-seven miles and thirteen chains, and containing a lockage of 844 feet 7½ inches; that is from Leeds to the summit, a rise of 411 feet 4½ inches; and from the summit to the basin at Liverpool a fall of 433 feet 3 inches.

Hence it appears that the basin at Liverpool is 21 feet 10½ inches below the level of the River Aire at Leeds; and the canal basin at Liverpool is 56 feet above low-water-mark in the River Mersey.

At three miles from Newburgh, is the junction of the line of the Lower Douglas Navigation with the Leeds and Liverpool Canal; the Douglas Navigation locks into the tideway at the tail of Tarleton Cut, from whence to the Ribble is two miles and a half, and from the union with the Ribble is six miles and a half to the custom house at Preston.

As the act for making the Douglas Navigation stands in priority of date to that for making the canal from Leeds to Liverpool, we shall here recite it. It was obtained in the 6th George I. and is entitled, 'An Act for making the River Douglas, alias Asland, navigable, from the River Ribble to Wigan, in the county palatine of Lancaster;' wherein it is stated, that the making of this river navigable from the River Ribble to a place called Mirey Lane End, in the township of Wigan, will be very beneficial to trade, advantageous to the poor, and convenient for the carriage of coals, cannel, stone, slate, and other goods and merchandize. The only proprietors were William Squire, Esq. and Thomas Steeres, Gentleman, both of Liverpool, who were by the act nominated and appointed undertakers to make the said River Douglas, alias Asland, navigable; and they and their heirs and assigns have power to charge for goods conveyed thereon, the following tonnage rates.