Canal
an artificial water-course or channel, especially used for the passage of boats. The Egyptians very early made a canal connecting the Nile and the Red Sea. It was reopened by Pharaoh Necho about 605 в. C., and at intervals by others after him. Most of the ancient nations had canals. The great canal of China was constructed partly in the 7th and partly in the 9th century A. D.; it is 825 miles long. The first known English canal was cut by the Romans at Caerdike. The Trent and the Witham were joined in 1134, and the Bridgewater canal was commenced in 1759. The Caledonian canal was projected in 1803, but not opened till 1822. The Erie canal was begun in 1817 and completed in 1825. The Amsterdam, or Great North Holland canal, was completed in 1825. It is 125 feet wide at the water surface, 88 feet and 7 inches wide at the bottom, and has a depth of 20 feet; it extends from Amsterdam to the Helder, 51 miles. The Languedoc, or Canal du Midi, connecting the Atlantic with the Mediterranean, was completed in 1861; its length is 148 miles; it has more than 100 locks and about 50 aqueducts, and its highest part is 600 feet above the sea; it is navigable for vessels of upward of 600 tons. The Suez canal, connecting the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, was opened on Nov. 17, 1869.
Its length is 99 miles, with a width of 327 feet for 77 miles, and 196 for the remaining 22 miles. Its depth is 26 feet.
Its success suggested the project of cutting through the isthmus joining North and South America. This undertaking, begun by the renowned engineer of the Suez canal, M. de Lesseps, was, after a prosecution to a stage near completion, abandoned in 1892, as a result of a terrific scandal, in which nearly every functionary connected with the enterprise was involved. A number of them (including the venerable M. de Lesseps) were tried in France and convicted of bribery and misappropriation of funds, the result of the agitation being to shake CANAL public confidence in the enterprise to a degree that rendered it impossible to raise money for its further continuance -for the time being at least. The great Manchester ship canal, extending from Eastham (the head of navigation of the Mersey river near Liverpool) to Manchester, England, was opened Jan. 1, 1894. The Corinth ship canal, across the Isthmus of Corinth, was opened by King George of Greece, Aug. 6, 1893. It is nearly four miles long, 80 feet 8½ inches wide, 24 feet 3 inches deep, and cost $15,000,000. On June 20, 1895, the great Baltic and North Sea canal was o opened by the German Emperor in the presence of a navy representing all nations. Work began on the great Chicago drainage canal Sept. 3, 1892, and by Jan. 1, 1900, it was completed. The main channel is 29 miles long, of which about nine miles was cut through solid rock 22 feet deep.
The Cape Cod canal is an artificial canal excavated across Cape Cod, connecting Buzzard Bay with Barnstable Bay. It was practically completed in 1914. The canal cuts off about 70 miles in the distance traveled by steamers between New York and Boston. The canal was taken over by the United States Government on July 23, 1918, following an attack made by a German submarine on several coal barges passing through the canal. Considerable siderable dredging dred was carried on in enlarging the canal during 1918. As a result vessels of 7,000 tons were able to pass through. Other important canals, either in process of construction or in contemplation in 1919, included a deep water-way to connect the Chicago Drainage canal with the Illinois river. The bill providing for this was passed by the Illinois Legislature. The fourth lock of the Sault Ste. Marie canal in Michigan was opened to traffic on Sept. 18, 1919. The construction of this lock greatly increased the facilities of this canal. The Sault Ste. Marie canal, although only one and one-third miles in length, was constructed at a cost of over $4,000,000. Other notable canals in the United States are the Chesapeake and Ohio canal, 185 miles long, costing over $11,000,000, and extending extending from Cumberland, Md., to Washington, D. C.; the Florida Coast Line canal, 370 miles long, costing $3,500,000 and extending from Mayport, Fla., to Miami, Fla.; the Illinois and Michigan canal, 96 miles long, costing over $6,000,000, and extending from Chicago to La Salle, Ill.; the Hennepin canal, 75 miles long, costing over $7,000,000 and extending from the Illinois river to the Mississippi river near Rock Island, Ill.; the New Jersey Coastal Inland Waterway, 114 miles long, costing $415,000, extending from Cape May CANAL CANAL PACIFIC PANAMA OCEAN CHAGRES RIVER COLON GATUN RIVER طورا CULEBRA IS.
LOCKS LOCKS CULEBRACUT PEDRO MIGUEL LOCK CULEBRA 27 EMPIRE GORGONA ۱۳ PANAMA RAILROAD CANAL LIMON BAY GATUNANG GATUN LOCKS GATUN LOCKS GATUN SPILL WAY LAKE CHAGRES RIVERI ATLANTIC OCEAN PANAMA CANAL CHAGRES CANANDAIGUA CANARY BIRD to Bay Head, N. J.; the Pennsylvania an extreme length of 15 miles, and a canal, 193 miles long, costing nearly $8,- width of one mile. Its outlet is Seneca 000,000, and extending from Columbia river.
VESSEL ENTERS LOCKI GATEA ATLANTIC LEVEL LOCK I CULVERT GATE B LOCK 2 CULVERT LEVEL OF GATUN LAKE GATE D GATEC" LOCK 3 CULVERT GATUN LOCKS, PANAMA CANAL to Northumberland and Wilkes-Barre, Pa.; and the Miami and Erie canal, 274 miles long, extending from Cincinnati to Toledo, O., and costing over $8,000,000.