Page:The Granite Monthly Volume 8.djvu/63

 The Middlesex Canal.

��49

��expenses for annual repairs and man- agement.

It is difficult to ascertain the whole number of boats employed at any one time. Many were owned and run by the proprietors of the canal ; and many were constructed and run by private parties who paid the regular tolls for whatever merchandise they transported. Boats belonging to the same parties were conspicuously numbered, like railway cars to-day. From " Regulations relative to the Navigation of the Middlesex Canal," a pamphlet published in 1830, it appears that boats were required to be not less than 40 ft. nor more than 75 ft. in length and not less than 9 ft. nor more than 95^ ft. in width. Two men, a driver and steersman, usually made up the working force ; the boats, however, that went up the Merrimac required three men, one to steer, and two to pole. The Lowell boats car- ried 20 tons of coal ; 15 tons were suf- ficient freight for Concoi^d ; when the water in the Merrimac was low, not more than 6 or 7 tons could be taken up the river. About 1S30 the boat- men received $15 per month.

Lumber was transported in rafts of about 75 ft. long and 9 ft. wide ; and these rafts, not exceeding ten in number, were often united in "bands." A band of seven to ten rafts required the services of five men, including the driver. Boats were drawn by horses, and lumber by oxen ; and " luggage boats" were required to make two and a half miles an hour, while "passage boats" at- tained a speed of four miles. Boats of the same class, and going the same way, were not allowed to pass each other, thus making " racing" impos- sible on the staid waters of the old

��canal. Whenever a boat approached a lock, the conductor sounded his horn to secure the prompt attention of the lock-tender ; but due regard was paid to the religious sentiment of New England. Travelling in the canal being permitted on Sundays, " in consideration of the distance from home at which those persons using it generally are, it may be rea- sonably expected that they should not disturb those places of public worship near which they pass, nor occasion any noise to interrupt the tranquillity of the day. Therefore, it is estab- lished that no Signal-Horn shall be used or blown on Sundays."

The tariff varied greatly from year to year. In 1827 the rate from Lowell to Boston was $2.00 the gross ton ; but many articles were carried on much lower terms.

On account of liability of damage to the banks of the canal, all naviga- tion ceased at dark ; hence, at every lock, or series of locks, a tavern was established. These were all owned by the corporation, and were often let to the lock-tender, who eked out his income by the accommodation of boatmen and horses. The Bunker Hill Tavern, in Charlestown, situated so as to accommodate both county and canal travel, was leased, in 1830, for $350; in 183S, it let for $500. The Horn Pond House, at Woburn, in 1838, was leased for $700. In 1825, a two-story dwelling-house, 36X18, built at a cost of $1,400, for the accommodation of boatmen and raftsmen, at Charlestown, rented, with stable attached, for $140. In all these cases, the real estate was supposed to pay ten per cent.

Some of these canal-taverns estab- lished a wide reputation for good

�� �