Page:Rivers, Canals, Railways of Great Britain.djvu/581



A second act of parliament was obtained in 1762, for amending the former, entitled, 'An Act to amend and render more effectual, an Act made in the Twenty-eighth Year of the Reign of his late Majesty King George the Second, for making navigable Sankey Brook, in the county of Lancaster, and for the extending and improving the said Navigation;' which empowered the undertakers to continue the navigation to Fidler's Ferry on the River Mersey, and to take an additional toll of two-pence per ton, making the present

TONNAGE RATE.
This act allowed the undertakers till the 29th September, 1768, to complete their works. The length of the canal is about twelve miles, and it has eight single locks of about 6 feet fall each, and two double locks of about 15 feet each, making together about 78 feet fall; the depth is 5 feet 7 inches, and the width sixteen yards, and there are eighteen swivel bridges over it.

An experiment of propelling vessels by steam was tried upon this canal as early as 1797, when a loaded barge was worked up and down by a steam engine on board for a distance of twenty miles; but, singular as it may appear, to this time vessels have continued to be towed upon it by manual labour.

The principal articles carried on this canal are copper-ore, corn and coals; of the latter, one hundred thousand tons annually are conveyed to Liverpool; large quantities to the salt works in Cheshire; to the Anglesea Copper Works, and to the Plate Glass Manufactory near Warrington.

This navigation has three branches running to collieries in its neighbourhood; viz, the South Branch to Boardman's Stone Bridge, near St. Helen's; the Middle Branch to Gerrard's Bridge; and the North Branch to Penny Bridge.

The last act relating to this navigation was obtained chiefly for the purpose of enabling the proprietors to extend their navigation, from above the basin and lock at Fidler's Ferry, where it now enters the tideway of the River Mersey, across Cuerdley and Widness Salt Marshes to Widness Wharf, West Bank, near