Page:The Canal System of England.djvu/24

 III.— In the year 1877, Mr. Hamilton Fulton brought before the Manchester Chamber of Commerce a proposal to construct a large tidal ship-canal, connecting Manchester with the sea. The plan, however, was rejected, because a canal on such principles would have necessitated the docks at Manchester being at such a depth, that only the tops of a ship's masts would be level with the ground.

In 1881 the subject was again brought forward, when owing to the exertions of the late Mr. Daniel Adamson, it at last assumed more practical form, and in 1885 with a capital of £10,000,000, and with Mr. Adamson as Chairman, the Manchester Ship Canal Company was established.

The contract was undertaken by Mr. Thos. A. Walker, a man of great experience, and the work was to have been completed early in 1892, at an estimated cost of £6,000,000. However, owing to the death in 1889 of Mr. Walker, and other causes, the total cost increased to £15,000,000, and the waterway was not finished until December, 1893.

The dimensions of the canal are remarkable:—It is 35 miles in length, has nowhere a depth of less than 26 ft., is 170 ft. wide at surface, and 120 ft. wide at the bottom, as compared with the 72 ft. base of the Suez Canal.

The attitude of ship-owners towards the proposed canal was shown by a statement issued by 182 of their number, possessing more than 1000 steamers, and representing an