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tion, together with the petition aforesaid, the committee submit as a part of this report.

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their interests upon its attention, and that it would bea dereliction of their duty to omit it.

Your memorialists perceive the general measures adopted by Congress in favor of roads and canals; upon which subject they cannot but feel a hope that, after the subject has been recommended by the Exe

In these memorials the most ample information was given of the importance of the canal, its practicability, and the measures taken to carry it into effect, Referring to them, your memorialists feel it unnecessary to swell this application with a repetition of facts often set forth, and universally acknowledged; they confine themselves, therefore, at present, to lay before Congress such prominent features in their case as the oc

casion demands.

It is well known that after the importance of opening the communication between the Chesapeake and Delaware had excited the attention of the most intelligent men of the country for more than half a century, it was begun with enthusiasm, and successfully prosecuted for more than two years; during which all the preliminary operations were completed, and considerable progress made in cutting the canal itself; but at the expiration of this time it became absolutely necessary to suspend it, from no other cause than the failure of funds, arising from the neglect of the stockholders to pay up their subscriptions.

The causes of this neglect were fully explained to Congress; they were, in fact, no other than that in a country where moneyed capital was in great request for a thousand uses, which yielded an immediate and ample return, the patience of the public was not adequate to support an undertaking where reimbursement could not be expected for some years, though certain in the end; and your memorialists expressed their conviction, founded on experience, that neither this nor any similar work would succeed in the United States, unless the Government could patronize and assist the efforts of individuals until at least one work was carried into successful operation.

It will be seen that all reasonable means were used to compel the payment of the subscription; but legal remedies would not produce funds with the celerity necessary to pay workmen and continue their operations; the directors had no alternative, therefore, but to suspend them, or to involve numerous individuals in distress. Some debts were unavoidably left unpaid, but they are of no important amount. The most economical disposal was made of the tools and perishable property of the company, and the works left in such a state that they may be repaired at little expense when the operations are resumed.

Your memorialists, having frequently represented these circumstances, and received no public aid, have been compelled to wait until some happier auspices might enable them to revive a work promising the utmost public advantage; and these they now hope to experience from the present disposition of the National Legislature. After the termination of war, the glory of the arts naturally excites the enterprise of a free people, and your memorialists think they perceive in the acts of the last session of Congress a spirit to foster them: they feel, therefore, emboldened to press

in every session for many years, some magnanimous instance will be adopted actually to bestow its benefits upon the country, especially as there is no way in essentially to its advantage-a fact which is proved by which the money of the public can be expended more the example of all nations with whom we are acquainted, who, in this respect, have engaged in a rivalship with each other, to which the United States alone cannot fail to be a party.

While the utility of all undertakings of the kind in question must be universally admitted, the specific adoption of some precise objects seems essential to ren improvements which the vast area of our country preder their advantages effectual. Amid the numerous › taken at once; many are not matured; some are in sents to view, it is obvious that all cannot be underdistricts which do not possess a population to support them; and others can as yet obtain no individual aid to that which the Government may give them, so that all, since one brief and useful work, carried into comsome precedence must be admitted for the benefit of plete and successful operation, will surely lead on the rest, while numerous undertakings, pressed on together, will only render each other abortive.

In this situation, your memorialists solicit the particular attention of Congress to the following brief state of the features and merit of the work they represent, which they conceive has an important claim on the patronage of the public:

1st. The utility of opening the communication between the Chesapeake and Delaware has been admitted by all intelligent men, ever since the settlement of the country; and if ever this utility wanted confirmation, it received it during the late war, when, by its means, a most important line of communication and defence might have been formed and maintained.

2d. The more extensive inland navigation from New England to Georgia has been often contemplated, and it is obvious that, if executed, (as no doubt it may be,) it must be done in the outset by opening the two great links between the Chesapeake, Delaware, and Raritan.

3d. The present canal forms the first of these links, and it is already begun. The preliminary operations to organize a company to make the necessary surveys, and to commence a work of this kind, are always attended with difficulty, delay, and expense; these have all been accomplished in the present work, as none ever received a more rigid investigation by the ablest engineers in the United States.

4th. There never was, perhaps, a canal in which the two great requisites for its perfection were so well united as in the present one, viz: a most abundant supply of water and the easiest soil for execution, as, in the whole area of its route, it presents scarcely a single rock or stone or other natural obstacle; in fact, from the shortness of the distance and the ease of its execution, it would almost immediately present to us that object which is so desirable, of an actual successful experiment.

5th. From the immense coasting trade of the Chesapeake and Delaware, the revenue upon it would be so immediate and important as in the highest degree

to confirm the confidence of the country in such undertakings.

6th. A part of it is already well executed, and that part is at once the most difficult in the whole route, and the most essential in the prosecution of the rest. If briefly revived, what has been done will be restored at little expense; but it is obvious, if long neglected, must be altogether lost.

7th. Very considerable funds are already in such a state as to depend on the measures of Congress to bring them into full operation. If, by patronage, confidence in the prosecution of the work is revived, the subscriptions already existing, to the amount of $400,000, will be obtained, as shares in which partial payments have been made will become valuable pledges for sums due; besides which, the State of Maryland has passed a conditional law to subscribe two hundred and fifty shares, ($50,000 ;) the State of Pennsylvania to subscribe three hundred and seventy-five shares, ($75,000,) upon the condition that the United States shall subscribe seven hundred and fifty shares, ($150,000,) and the State of Delaware one hundred shares, ($20,000.) This subscription of Congress, therefore, will organize the rest, and bring into effect funds amply sufficient for executing the whole work.

Under these circumstances, your memorialists cannot but hope for the aid of the National Legislature. If this canal had never been begun, it would now challenge attention among the first national objects of the kind; but, commenced as it has been, and provided with the means of procedure, depending upon one contingency alone, it challenges attention by every consideration which can arise from the propriety of restoring confidence, animating the fortitude of individuals, and giving the lead and direction to those public works which, in all ages and countries, do the

utmost honor to the Government, because they are of the greatest advantage to the people. KENSEY JOHNS, President, &c.

JOS. GILPIN, JAMES C. FISHER.

CITY OF WASHINGTON, Nov. 5, 1816. SIR: In obedience to so much of the order of the honorable the Secretery of War, dated May 31, 1816, as relates to the connexion of the navigation of Elizabeth river, in Virginia, with that of the waters of North Carolina, I have the honor to submit the following report:

The routes ordered to be examined are those two, for the opening of which charters have been granted by the Legislatures of Virginia and North Carolina; one, beginning at or near Whitehouse's landing, on the eastern branch of Elizabeth river, is proposed to be cut by the way of Kempsville, forming at that place an angle, and running thence nearly on a right line to the upper landing on North river, and will occupy a distance of between eight and nine miles.

North river cannot correctly be called a stream; it is rather a creek or arm of Currituck sound, whose small ramifications are found in a low swampy country, which adds to them scarcely any further supply than is derived from the downfall water. A slight swell of the ground separates North river from the small branches of Northwest river, and the southern branch of Elizabeth river. The lowest ground between North landing and the eastern branch of Elizabeth river is along the Beachen swamp, and the branch of

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North river which interlocks with it; this route, to some persons, has appeared to be the most eligible for the "coastwise canal;" but the projector has, for many cogent reasons, rejected it, and proposes to run the canal along higher ground to the eastward of it. It is not, therefore, to be supposed that a supply of water can be had for a canal so situated from the west; nor is the country to the east of the proposed route much better calculated to afford a supply, the Pungo Branch of North river being the nearest body of water to it,! (except mere catchwater drains,) and that flows over a tract of land parallel with, but lower than it

This part of the route was examined in company with gentlemen who had an interest in it, and who acknowledged the impracticability of procuring a stream sufficient for the required purpose-an opinion the result not only of personal examination, but of the clear and unanimous testimony of every resident whom I consulted.

downfall water, sufficient to feed the canal, it then It being impracticable to procure a stream, or even becomes necessary to incur the difficulties, risk, and expense of making a cut eight or nine miles on one level, at least two or three feet below the level of the neap tides, in a swampy country; or, to avoid the swamps, recourse must be had to the high ground, and have yet been exhibited in relation to the project; and, the expense increased beyond any calculations that avoided, and there yet remains the difficulty of cutting in doing so, the first difficulties of the work only are below the level of the tides in a country which the great waters approach on all sides. But it is proposed to supply the canal by means of steam machinery, and this is the only feasible mode that has been suggested; the objection offered to it is, that it would be a constant source of expense, increasing with the decrease

of timber.

From North landing the river is navigable for craft of any burden, except at one shoal, on which there is nearly five feet water at high tide. Abreast of White house, on Church's island, in Currituck sound, and six miles southeast of the court-house, there is another shoal of black soft mud, with fine sand mixed; it has four and a half feet of water over it at high tide. Near Salier's, about nine miles south-southeast of the lastmentioned shoal, the channel becomes very narrow and crooked; immediately below Salier's, and about ten miles from White's channel, a sand-bar occurs, with less than four and a half feet over it at high tide. Having passed the sand-bar, the channel deepens as it enters the narrows, which wind in every possible direction through salt marshes for about one thousand six hundred yards to the mud flat, which must be crossed, running due south; it has four feet water on it at high tide. South by east of the mud flat is the Trout hole, a narrow channel running due west about four hundred and fifty yards; it is off the south end of Rattlesnake island. Thence the channel continues south by east one mile and a half to Jew's quarter, one hundred yards below which are the cross rocks, an oyster bank, making across nearly the whole width of the sound; the channel here has five feet water in it at high tide. Thence the channel runs south to Pow ell's Point, round which it winds in a course nearly west-southwest, and then makes eastwardly to Abemarle sound. It may be proper here to state that, in speaking (in the phraseology of the country) of the tides in the Currituck, and the other sounds and inland waters with which it is connected, a regular periodical

ebb and flow of the waters is not to be understood, but that change which is produced by the action of a strong and constant wind in driving the water from one sound into another; for the inlets are so small, compared with the extent and surface of the sounds and creeks, that the causes which produce tides in the ocean and open bays cannot sensibly affect them during the short period of their operation. In Currituck sound the highest tides prevails, usually, in May; sometimes in the month of March; ordinary tides during Summer, unless it be very dry, or the wind prevail from the north or west; the lowest tides are in cold weather, and always when the wind is from the North.

To render the sound and river navigable at high tide for vessels of five feet draught, it becomes necessary to clear out at least one thousand three hundred yards of the channel at several places, and through shoals of various composition; and the distance to be cleared will be greatly increased if it be thought advisable to make the navigation tolerably direct. But to procure a channel for vessels of six feet draught, the distance to be cleared may be very safely stated at twenty miles, or more.

It has, I believe, been suggested that a canal from Currituck court-house, or its vicinity, to Indiantown, on Indian or North river, a branch of the Albemarle sound, would avoid the shoals, and obviate all objections that can be made to this part of the route. The distance on a right line from the court-house to Indiantown may be estimated at seven miles, and would make the whole distance to be cut, between Norfolk and Albemarle sound, about sixteen miles. But admitting that six feet water may be had at all seasons between the court-house and North river, (which, in truth, is very problematical,) it will be necessary to cut below the level of the surface of the water of the sound, to the depth of at least six feet, or, as in the case of the Kempsville canal, supply water by means of steam machines. The ground between the courthouse and Indiantown is higher than the ground between Kempsville and North landing; and to open the canal to six feet below the surface of the sound would require, I presume, a section of nearly thirty feet perpendicular, in some places; and the distance from Kempsville to Albemarle sound would be also considerably increased, for Indian river is very crooked.

a

The other route ordered to be examined is occupied by the canal which extends from Deep creek, in Virginia, to Joyce's creek, in North Carolina: it is twenty-two miles and two hundred yards long, and is cut on two right lines, which, at two miles within the Virginia line, make with each other an angle of about one hundred and forty-seven degrees. This canal passes through the Great Dismal Swamp, three miles and quarter to the eastward of Lake Drummond, or, as it is called in that section of the country, "Drummond's pond." This canal is supplied in dry seasons by a drain from the lake, and in very wet seasons by the flow of the waters of the swamp. It is, at the feeder, sixteen feet six inches above the ordinary level of the water in Joyce's creek, and in dry seasons at least six feet below the level of the lake. Other measurements have made the height of the surface of the lake, above high water mark, in Nansemond river, twenty-four feet.

The tract of country occupied by the swamp lies, to the southward, along the head branches of Perquimans river, Little river, Pasquotank river, and North, or Indian river, which flows into Albermarle sound; to the

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eastward, along the branches of Northwest river, which flows into Currituck sound; to the northeast and north, along the heads of the southern and western branches of Elizabeth river; and to the northwest, along the eastern and southern creeks of Nansemond river. The ridge of land which separates the swamp from the head waters of Summerton and Bennet's creeks lies west of it. From the lake to the high ground west of it the distance is about three miles.

That the swamp is caused by the overflowing of Drummond lake and of the small streams to the westward of it, and not by its own springs, is an opinion generally entertained by the most intelligent and best informed persons in the neighborhood, and in support of which very cogent reasons are offered. The ridge of land which separates the heads of Bennet's and Summerton creeks from the swamp is about ten feet higher than the lake; from this ridge many small streams run to the eastward, until meeting with a sudden declivity, from whence also issue innumerable springs of water, they spread over the surface of the land, and fall chiefly into Lake Drummond, between Orapeake and Jericho; they cannot, however, be supposed to be equal to the supply of a body of water which is stated to be nearly seven miles long by five miles wide, having nine feet depth of water within thirty yards of its shores, twelve feet at three hundred yards, and fourteen feet in the centre, and which never shrinks more than eighteen or twenty inches in the very driest seasons, but continues to overflow at all times a tract of country so extensive as that which is covered by the Dismal Swamp.

When the canal was projected, twenty-five years ago, it was believed that the country through which it was to be cut was a perfect level, without an inclination of surface sufficient even to enable the waters of the lake to flow off through the canal when it should be opened. It was even feared, it would seem, that, should more water than was requisite to fill the canal be permitted to escape from the lake, the dry and cultivated lands in its vicinity might be injured; and such continued to be the opinion entertained, until, a ditch being cut and locks constructed, it was found, when in the dry seasons the water ceased to flow but through the feeder of the lake, that at the head of a lock the water was deep and smooth, while at some distance from it, and towards the feeder, there was a constant but shallow current.

This circumstance, for the first time, induced an opinion that the country between the tide waters and the lake was not perfectly level; there were then constructed intermediate locks, yet at the foot of each there has never been more than eighteen or twenty inches depth of water. In this situation the canal (if it may be so denominated) remained until the late war and other circumstances combined to force into view the absolute necessity of a more liberal and enlarged intercommunication between Elizabeth or Nansemond river and the waters of North Carolina.

During the Summer of the present year, the managers have engaged in the work of deepening and widening the canal with a correct and enterprising liberality, which is, however, unfortunately limited by the difficulty of obtaining the requisite funds. They propose that, for the present, it shall have an average surface width of twenty-eight feet, with a talus just sufficient to preserve the banks, and that it shall be capable of floating vessels drawing at least four feet water. To accomplish this purpose, it is calculated