While this assumption is well founded, yet, as time went on, the unsatisfactory nature of much of the inland river navigation in this country became more apparent.
Some of the greatest troubles arose from, on the one hand, excess of water in the rivers owing to floods, and, on the other, from inadequate3 supplies of water due either to droughts or to shallows.
The liability to floods will be at once apparent if the reader considers the extent of the areas from which rain water and the yield of countless4 springs, brooks5, and rivulets6 may flow into the principal rivers. In the Report of the select Committee of the House of Lords on Conservancy Boards, 1877, there was published a list which showed that the 210 rivers in England and Wales had catchment basins as follows:—
1000 miles and upwards7 11
500 " to 1000 miles 14
100 "" 500 " 59
50 "" 100 " 24
10 "" 50 " 102
——
Total 210
The rivers having catchment basins of 1000 miles or upwards are given thus:—
{151}
Name. County. Length.
Miles. Area of
Basin.
sq. miles. Tributaries8.
United length.
No. miles.
Humber York 37 1229 2 55
Mersey Lancaster 68 1707 6 188
Nen Northampton 99 1055 1 11
Ouse York 59? 4207 11 629
Ouse Cambridge 156? 2894 8 212
Severn Gloucester 178 4437 17 450
Thames — 201? 5162 15 463
Trent Lincoln 167? 3543 10 293
Tyne Northumberland 35 1053 6 154
Witham Lincoln 89 1052 4 75
Wye Hereford 148 1655 9 223
In times of heavy storms or of continuous rainy weather, rivers which drain up to 5000 square miles of country may well experience floods involving a serious impediment to navigation.
The Severn, which brings down to the Bristol Channel so much of the water that falls on Plinlimmon and other Welsh hills, and is joined by various streams, draining, altogether, as shown above, an area of 4437 square miles, is especially liable to floods. In a paper read before the Institution of Civil Engineers in 1860, Mr. E. L. Williams stated that floods had been known to raise the height of the Severn 18 ft. in five hours, and they had not infrequently caused it to attain10 a height of 25 ft. above the level of low water. The Thames and the Trent, also, are particularly liable to floods, and so, down to recent years, when considerable sums were spent on its improvement, was the Weaver11.
It has been asserted in various quarters that less water runs in English rivers now than was probably the case centuries ago, when the abundant forests caused a greater rainfall. This may be so, but, on the other hand, a number of witnesses examined before the select Committee of 1877 expressed the belief that the water flowing into the rivers had increased of recent years, owing to the improved land drainage, which drained off rapidly and sent down to the sea much rain water that previously12 would have passed into the air again by evaporation13.
In the matter of high tides, "Rees' Cyclop?dia" (1819) says that the tide "often" rises at the mouth of the Wye {152}to a height of 40 ft.; while "Chambers14' Encyclop?dia" gives 47 ft. above low-water mark as the height to which the tide has been known to rise in the same river at Chepstow.
Of the floods in the Yorkshire Ouse Rodolph De Salis says in "Bradshaw's Canals and Navigable Rivers of England" (1904): "The non-tidal portion of the river above Naburn Locks is liable to floods, which at York often reach a height of 12 ft., and have been known to attain a height of 16 ft. 6 in. above summer level."
The liability of English rivers to a shortage of water would seem to be as great as their liability to excess of it. In Archdeacon Plymley's "General View of the Agriculture of Shropshire" (1803) there is published a table, compiled by Telford, giving the heights reached by the Severn between 1789 and 1800. It shows that, as against some very serious floods and inundations, the river often, during the dates mentioned, ran for considerable periods with a stream of no more than sixteen inches of water; that it frequently had less than a foot of water; and that in times of extreme drought the depth of water had been reduced to nine inches. In 1796, the period during which barges15 could be navigated18 even down-stream with a paying load did not exceed two months, and "this interruption," it is stated, "was severely19 felt by the coal-masters, the manufacturers of iron, and the county in general."
The navigation of the Trent is declared in "Rees' Cyclop?dia" to be "of vast importance to the country"; yet the authority of John Smeaton, who had examined the river in 1761, is given for the statement that in several places the ordinary depth of water did not exceed eight inches. In the upper part of the river there were, in 1765, more than twenty shallows over which boats could not pass in dry weather without flushes of water.
The inadequate depth of water may be due, not alone to drought, but to the formation of shoals or shallows owing to the rapid fall of the river, its excessive width, or the amount of sediment20 brought down from the hill-sides or washed from the bed over which it flows. Alternatively, much silting-up may be caused by the sand brought into the river by incoming tides, and not always washed out again by out-going tides.
{153}
In an undated pamphlet, entitled "Reflections on the General Utility of Inland Navigation to the Commercial and Landed Interests of England, with Observations on the Intended Canal from Birmingham to Worcester," by the proprietors22 of the Staffordshire Canal, stress is laid on the trouble caused by the shoals in the Severn, and some facts are given as to the way in which traders had to meet the uncertainties23 offered by river transport. The pamphlet says:—
"A principal defect of the present conveyance24 arises from the shoals in the river Severn above Worcester, an evil incurable25. The fall from Stourport to Diglis, near Worcester, is nineteen feet; and the river is, what this fact alone would prove, full of shoals. These shoals impede26 the current of the stream, and retain the water longer in the bed of the river. Let these shoals be removed, the water will pass off, and the whole of the river become too shallow for navigation. Locks on the river could alone correct this defect; but these would overflow27 the meadows, impede the drainage of the land, and do an injury to the landowners, which parliament can never sanction.
"This defect gives rise to others—to uncertainty28 as to the time of the conveyance—for it is only at particular periods that there is water sufficient for the navigation—to delays from a want of men[24] and expence from the increased number which the strong current requires. It gives rise, also, to a double transhipping of commodities sent from Birmingham down the Severn, first from the canal at Stourport, and secondly29 at or near Worcester, as the barges which this shoal water will admit are too small to navigate17 much below.
"The delays and damage incidental to such a navigation have induced the manufacturers of Birmingham to employ land carriage at a great expence—many waggons31 are constantly employed at the heavy charge of 4l. per ton from Birmingham to Bristol alone to convey goods or manufactures which cannot await the delay or damage to which in the present navigation they are necessarily exposed;—large {154}quantities of manufactures and the materials of manufactures are likewise sent to Diglis to be conveyed by the Severn in vessels33 that cannot navigate higher up the river."
In the Trent frequent shallowness of water was due, partly to the excessive breadth of the stream, in places, and partly to the large quantity of "warp34," or silt21, brought into the river from the Humber estuary35 by the tides, and left there until scoured37 out again when the river was in flood.
The Wash group of rivers was specially9 liable to the silting-up process. Nathaniel Kinderly, writing of the position at Lynn in 1751, said: "The Haven38 is at present so choaked up with sand that at Low-water it is become almost a Wash, so as to have been frequently fordable." Of the Nen he says it "cannot possibly be preserved long, but is in danger of being absolutely lost," owing to the silting-up of its bed. As for the Witham, the welfare of the port of Boston was threatened so far back as the year 1671, judging from an Act (22 & 23 Chas. II. c. 25) passed in that year, the preamble39 of which stated:—
"Whereas there hath been for some hundreds of yeares a good navigacion betwixt the burrough of Boston and the river of Trent by and through the citty of Lincolne, and thereby40 a great trade managed to the benefit of those parts of Lincolnshire, and some parts of Nottinghamshire, and Yorkshire, which afforded an honest employment and livelyhood to great numbers of people. But at present the said navigacion is much obstructed41 and in great decay by reason that the rivers or auntient channells of Witham and Fossdyke, which runn betwixt Boston and Trent are much silted42 and landed up and thereby not passable with boats and lyters as formerly43, to the great decay of the trade and intercourse44 of the said citty and all market and other towns neare any of the said rivers, which hath producet in them much poverty and depopulation. For remedy thereof and for improvement of the said navigacion, may it please your most excellent Majestie that it may be enacted," etc.
Among various other conditions of river navigation may be mentioned—the extremely serpentine45 courses of some of the rivers, two miles often having to be made for each mile of real advance; the ever-varying channels in some of the streams; the arduous46 labour of towing against strong {155}currents, especially when, in the absence of towing-paths for horses, this work had to be done by men; and the destruction, by floods, of the river banks or of works constructed on them.
I have here sought to catalogue, with passing illustrations, the principal troubles attendant on inland river navigation. That the physical disadvantages in question have continued, in spite of all River Improvement Acts, and notwithstanding a considerable outlay47, may be seen from the report issued, in 1909, by the Royal Commission on Canals and Waterways.
In regard to the Thames the report says that the commercial traffic above Staines has become a very insignificant48 quantity, and "if the Thames is to be converted into an artery49 of commercial navigation, there is need for much improvement above Windsor, but still more so above Reading."
On the Severn there is now practically no navigation above Stourport. Much money has been spent on the river since the Severn Navigation Act of 1842; the channel has been deepened and dredged, and, "up to Worcester, at any rate, the river is now one of the best of English waterways." But, in spite of the considerable sums expended50 on improvements, the traffic fell from 323,329 tons in 1888 to 288,198 tons in 1905, a decline in seventeen years of over 35,000 tons. High water in the river renders it impossible for the larger estuary-going vessels to pass under certain of the bridges, so that, as one witness said, "A vessel32 may go up when the water is low, and a freshet may come, and the vessel may not be able to get back again for perhaps many days."
The Warwickshire Avon, once navigable from Stratford to the Severn, is now navigable only from Evesham, and even from that point "there is hardly any commercial traffic."
The Trent is navigable to-day to the junction51 with the Trent and Mersey Canal, at Derwent mouth, "when there is plenty of water." The report says:—
"The great difficulty on the Trent, in its present condition, is the want of sufficient depth of water in dry seasons; in wet seasons traffic is impeded52 by floods. The river Trent is a fine river and a most important part of the main route connecting the Midland waterway system and the town and colliery district of Nottingham with each other and with the estuary of the Humber. It appears, for want of necessary {156}works of improvement, to be in an inefficient53 state for these purposes. There is, at present, no certainty that a barge16 carrying seventy or eighty tons of cargo54 from the port of Hull55 to Newark or Nottingham will arrive at its destination without being lightened on its way. A witness said, 'Very often the traffic in dry seasons is left waiting for two or three weeks on the road between Hull and Newark, which, of course, is a very poor way of getting on with business.'"
On the Ouse (York), below Naburn Lock, the conservators find it difficult to keep the channel at its proper depth by reason of the great deposits of floating sand, or "warp," distributed by the tides, the scour36 of the river being insufficient56 to carry the warp out to sea. Vessels are at times unable to navigate for several days, obstructive shoals are formed, and the line of the channel is frequently altered.
On the Bedford Ouse the traffic on the upper parts of the river has come to an end, and, though there is still a small amount between Lynn and St. Ives, "the river is in many places very shallow and choked with weeds and mud, so that barges are often stopped for days, and the use of steam traction57, up to St. Ives, is impossible."
The Nen from Northampton to Wisbech is "navigable with difficulty"—where the water is sufficient at all—by barges of the smallest size; but sometimes navigation even by these barges is impracticable for weeks together in certain parts of the river. Between Northampton and Peterborough the course of the Nen is extremely tortuous59. "It would," says the report, "take a barge nearly three days to travel the sixty-one miles by water, while the railway can carry goods from Northampton to Peterborough in two hours."
It is thus evident that rivers, whether navigable naturally or rendered so by art, must be regarded as water highways possessed60 of considerable disadvantages and drawbacks in respect to inland traffic when they are on the scale and of the type found in England. Dependent on the forces of Nature—ever active and ever changing—rivers must needs be the exact opposite of the fixed61 and constant railway line unless those forces can be effectually controlled under conditions physically62 practicable and not too costly63. "Rivers," says L. F. Vernon-Harcourt, in his book on "Rivers and Canals," "are not always suitable for navigation, in their {157}natural condition, even in the lower portions of their course; and, owing to the continual changes taking place in their channels and at their outlets64, they are liable to deteriorate65 if left to themselves." Left to themselves the English rivers, like the Roman and the British roads, were for a thousand years after the departure of the Romans, and the liability to deteriorate may well have shown itself during this period, before even the earliest of the River Improvement Acts was passed; though the deterioration66 due to the ceaseless operations of Nature may obviously continue in spite of all Acts of Parliament, and notwithstanding a great expenditure67 of money.
The fate that has overtaken so many English rivers which once counted as highways of commerce may be compared with the fate that, also through the operation mainly of natural causes, has overtaken many of our once flourishing sea ports.
When, in the thirteenth century, Liverpool was raised to the rank of a free borough58, there were between thirty and forty places which, whether situated68 on the coast or some distance inland (as in the case of York), were counted as seaports69. Their order of importance at that time is shown by the following table (taken from Baines's "History of Liverpool"), which gives the taxation70 then levied71 on each; though the amounts stated should be multiplied by fifteen to ascertain72 their equivalent in the money of to-day:—
￡s.d. ￡s.d.
London 8361210 Seaford 12122
Boston 788153 Shoreham 2049
Southampton 71237 Chichester 2360
Lincoln 656122 Exmouth 1466
Lynn 6511111 Dartmouth 306
Hull 344147 Esse 748
York 175810 Fowey 481511
Dunwich 10490 Pevensey 161710
Grimsby 91151 Coton 1111
Yarmouth 54166 Whitby 40
Ipswich 6084 Scarborough 22140
Colchester 1680 Selby 17118
Sandwich 1600 Barton 33112
Dover 3261 Hedon 18159
Rye 10135 Norwich 61910
Winchelsea 6224 Orford 1170
{158}
Of these ports the majority have ceased to be available for the purposes of foreign commerce. Dunwich, once a considerable town, the seat of a bishopric, and the metropolis74 of East Anglia, had its harbour and its royal and episcopal palaces swept away by encroachments of the sea. Hedon, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, returned two members of Parliament in the reign73 of Edward I., and was a more important centre of trade and commerce than Hull; but its harbour, getting choked up by sand, was converted into a luxuriant meadow, and the ports of Hull and Grimsby now reign in its stead. Sandwich, Romney, Hythe, all the Cinque ports except Dover, and various other ports, got choked up with sand, while others that have been able to retain a certain amount of traffic are to-day only the ghosts of their former selves.
It is certain that in the case of English navigable rivers of any type, much might require to be done, and spent, in order to keep navigation open. With most of them it was a matter of carrying on an unceasing warfare75 with elemental conditions. Patriotic76 men like Sandys, Mathew and Yarranton might bring forward their schemes, companies might raise and spend much money on river navigation, and municipal corporations might do what they could, within the range of their means and powers; but the inherent defects and limitations of the navigation itself were not always to be overcome by any practical combination of patriotism77, enterprise and generous expenditure even when—and this was far from being always the case—the requisite78 funds were actually available.
Vernon-Harcourt is of opinion that "the regulation, improvement and control of rivers constitute one of the most important, and, at the same time, one of the most difficult, branches of civil engineering"; and this difficulty must have been found still greater in the last half of the seventeenth and the first half of the eighteenth centuries, when river improvement was engaging so much attention, but when civil engineering was far less advanced than is the case to-day.
Whatever, too, the degree of success attained79 in the efforts made to overcome the results of floods and droughts, of shoals and shallows, of river mouths choked by sand washed in from the estuaries80, of streams unduly81 broad from lack of {159}adequate embankments, and of ever-varying channels, whatever the energy and the outlay in meeting or trying to meet conditions such as these, there still remained the consideration that, even assuming all the difficulties in regulating, improving and controlling could be surmounted82, river transport itself was an inadequate alternative to bad roads, (1) because of the length of the land journey that might have to be made before the river was reached; and (2) because even the best of the rivers only served certain parts of the country, and left undeveloped other districts which were unable to derive83 due benefit from their great natural resources by reason of defective communications.
Each of these points calls for some consideration, in order that the position of the traders at the period in question may be clearly understood.
In regard to the distance at which manufacturers might be situated from a navigable river, I would point to the position of the pottery84 trade in North Staffordshire.
The pottery industry had been introduced into Burslem in 1690, though it made comparatively little progress until the time of Josiah Wedgwood, who began to manufacture there in 1759. One of the reasons for the slow growth, down to his day, was the trouble and expense the pottery-makers experienced in getting their raw materials and in sending away their manufactured goods.
Following on the improvement of the Weaver, under the Act of 1720, there were three rivers of which the pottery-makers in North Staffordshire made more or less use—the Weaver itself, the Trent and the Severn. On the Weaver the nearest available point to the Potteries85 was Winsford Bridge, a distance of twenty miles by road. On the Trent the principal river-port for the Potteries was Willington, about four miles east of Burton-on-Trent, and over thirty miles by road from the Potteries. To the Severn inland ports the distances by road from the Potteries, via Eccleshall and Newport, were:—
From To Miles.
Newcastle (Staff.) Bridgnorth 39
Burslem " 42?
Newcastle (Staff.) Bewdley 54
Burslem " 57?
{160}
From Winsford the pottery-makers received, by pack-horse or waggon30, supplies of clay which had been sent from Devonshire or other western counties by sea to Liverpool, and there transhipped in barges, in which it was sent twenty miles down the Weaver, thence to be carried twenty miles by road. From Willington they received flints which had been brought by sea, first to Hull, then forwarded by barge along the Humber to the Trent, and so on to Willington, to be carried thirty miles by road.
Manufactured pottery for London or for the Continent was sent by road to Willington, and then along the Trent and the Humber to Hull, where it was re-shipped to destination. Exports were, also, despatched either to the Severn, along which they were taken in barges to Bristol, or via the Weaver to Liverpool. Concerning the Severn route it is stated in "The Advantages of Inland Navigation" (1766), by Richard Whitworth, afterwards M.P. for Stafford: "There are three pot-waggons go from Newcastle and Burslem weekly, through Eccleshall and Newport to Bridgnorth, and carry about eight tons of pot-ware86 every week, at 3l. per ton. The same waggons load back with ten tons of close goods, consisting of white clay, grocery and iron, at the same price, delivered on their road to Newcastle. Large quantities of pot-ware are conveyed on horses' backs from Burslem and Newcastle to Bridgnorth and Bewdley for exportation—about one hundred tons yearly, at 2l. 10s. per ton."
The cost of land transport, along roads of the worst possible description, was considerable in itself. In a pamphlet published in 1765, under the title of "A View of the Advantages of Inland Navigations, with a Plan of a Navigable Canal intended for a Communication between the Ports of Liverpool and Hull" (said to have been written by Josiah Wedgwood and his partner, Bentley), it is stated that between Birmingham and London the cost of road transport amounted to about eight shillings per ton for every ten miles, but along the route of the proposed canal, and in many other places, the cost was nine shillings per ton for every ten miles. The pamphlet adds, on this particular point:—
"The burthen of so expensive a land carriage to Winsford and Willington, and the uncertainty of the navigations from those places to Frodsham, in Cheshire, and Wilden, in {161}Derbyshire, occasioned by the floods in winter and the numerous shallows in summer, are more than these low-priced manufactures can bear; and without some such relief as this under consideration, must concur87, with their new established competitors in France, and our American colonies, to bring these potteries to a speedy decay and ruin."
It was, again, as we further learn from Whitworth's little work, by the navigable Severn and Bristol that even Manchester manufacturers sent their goods to foreign countries in the days when Liverpool had still to attain pre-eminence over the south-western port. Every week, we are told, 150 packhorses went from Manchester through Stafford to Bewdley and Bridgnorth, these being in addition to two broad-wheel waggons which carried about 312 tons of cloth and Manchester wares88 in the year by the same route, at a cost of ￡3 10s. per ton. The distance, via Stafford, from Manchester to Bridgnorth is 84 miles; that from Manchester to Bewdley is 99 miles, and what the roads at this time were like we have already seen.
The quantity of salt sent from Cheshire to Willington, to proceed thence along the Trent to Hull for re-shipment to London and elsewhere, is put in Josiah Wedgwood's pamphlet at "many hundred tons" a year. The navigable Trent was thus taken advantage of for the purposes of distribution; but to get to Willington from the Northwich or other salt works in Cheshire involved a road journey of about forty miles.
Whitworth also gives much information as to what he calls the "amazing" development the iron industry had undergone along the Severn valley at the time he wrote (1766); and he more especially mentions that the total annual output of twenty-two furnaces and forges situate within a distance of four miles of the route of a canal he proposed should be constructed between Bristol, Liverpool, and Hull was ￡624,000—a figure which in those days appears to have been regarded as something prodigious89. But the iron-works in question, though having the advantage of the navigable Severn in one direction, suffered from transport disadvantages in another, since their Cumberland ore (of which, says Whitworth, a very small furnace used at least 1100 tons a year) was brought down the Weaver to Winsford, in Cheshire, whence it had to be transported by road to the works on the Severn "at six {162}shillings per ton for a very small distance." On the basis of 52,780 tons only (though, we are told, "they frequently send iron to ... Chester and many other places at a great distance"), Whitworth calculates that the 32 forges in question were then paying a net sum of ￡32,500 a year for land transport, only, of the ore and pig-iron they received, and of the manufactured iron they sent away. "I have dwelt thus long," he says, in concluding his somewhat copious90 details, "upon the iron trade to show that no branch of manufacture can reap more immediate91 benefit from the making of these canals for navigation, or more sensibly feel the want of them when other ports of the Kingdom have them."
Of coal, he further shows, some 12,000 tons a year were going from the Shropshire collieries to Nantwich, on the Weaver, at a cost of ten shillings per ton for land carriage only, apart from the supplementary92 cost of river transport. In the opposite direction the farmers of Cheshire and Staffordshire brought about 1000 tons of cheese annually93, by road, to Bridgnorth fair—presumably for redistribution thence via the Severn among the various centres of population in the western counties, and also in Wales. The cheese was carried in waggons, and, on the basis of the journey taking, altogether, three or four days, Whitworth calculates that the cost to the farmers in getting the cheese to Bridgnorth must have been about thirty shillings for every two tons.
One of the subsidiary disadvantages attendant on river transport of which mention should be made was the pilfering94 of goods that went on, more especially when the barges were stopped in the open country, perhaps for days together, by reason of shallow water. In "A View of the Advantages of Inland Navigations" it is said, on this point:—
"It is, also, another circumstance not unworthy of notice in favour of canals, when compared with river navigation, that as the conveyance upon the former is more speedy and without interruptions and delays, to which the latter are very liable, opportunities of pilfering earthen wares, and other small goods, and stealing and adulterating wine and spirituous liquors, are thereby in a great measure prevented. The losses, disappointments and discredit95 of the manufacturers, arising from this cause are so great that they frequently choose to send their goods by land at three times {163}the expense of water carriage, and sometimes even refuse to supply their orders at all, rather than run the risque of forfeiting96 their credit and submitting to the deductions97 that are made on this account.
"We may also add, with respect to the potteries in Staffordshire, that this evil discourages merchants abroad from dealing98 with those manufacturers, and creates innumerable misunderstandings between them and the manufacturers."
These complaints seem to have been made not without good cause. In 1751 it had been found expedient99 to pass an Act "for the more effectual prevention of robberies and thefts upon any navigable river, ports of entry or discharge, wharves100 or quays101 adjacent." Any person stealing goods of the value of forty shillings from any ship, barge, boat, or any vessel on any navigable river or quay102 adjacent thereto, was, on conviction, to suffer death! The penalty seems to have been modified into one of transportation; and in 1752 thirteen persons were convicted under the new Act, and sent across the seas.
Many traders could not derive any advantage from river transport. This was the case with the cheese-makers of Warwickshire when they sought to compete with those of Cheshire, or, alternatively, with those of Gloucester, who could take their cheese by road to Lechdale or Crickdale, on the Thames, and send it down that river to London. "The Warwickshire Men," says Defoe, "have no Water Carriage at all, or at least not 'till they have carry'd it a long way by Land to Oxford103, but as their Quantity is exceedingly great, and they supply not only the City of London but also the Counties of Essex, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridge, Huntingdon, Hertford, Bedford, and Northampton, the Gross of their Carriage is by mere104 dead Draught105, and they carry it either to London by Land, which is full an hundred miles, and so the London cheese-mongers supply the said counties of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk, besides Kent and Sussex and Surrey by Sea and River Navigation; or the Warwickshire Men carry it by Land once a Year to Sturbridge Fair, whence the Shopkeepers of all the Inland Country above named come to buy it; in all which Cases Land-carriage being long, when the Ways were generally bad it made it very dear to the Poor, who are the chief Consumers."
{164}
While, also, Bedfordshire was producing "great quantities of the best wheat in England," the wheat itself had to be taken, from some parts of the county, a distance of twenty miles by road to the markets of Hertford or Hitchin, whence, after being bought and ground into flour, it was taken on, still by road, a further distance of twenty-five or thirty miles to London. The farmers and millers106 of Bedfordshire were thus unable to enjoy the same advantages of river transport as were open to those on the Wey or the Upper Thames.
In addition to all this, representations came from many different quarters of the neglect of natural advantages and other opportunities where means of transport apart from bad roads were wholly lacking. Numerous pamphlets issued in favour of one canal scheme or another pointed107 to the opportunities that were being lost or allowed to remain dormant108. In, for example, "A Cursory109 View of the Advantages of an Intended Canal from Chesterfield to Gainsborough," published in 1769, it was said: "The country contiguous to Chesterfield abounds110 chiefly with bulky and ponderous111 Products, such as Lead, Corn, Timber, Coals, Iron-stones and a considerable Manufacture of earthen Ware, all of which have been for Ages past conveyed by Land, at a prodigious Expense." An advocate of a navigable canal between Liverpool and Hull had much to say about the undeveloped resources of that district. Whitworth declared that there were "many large mines of valuable contents," such as stone, iron ore, and marble, together with "quarries112 of various sorts," that would be "opened and set to work," if only inland navigation were better developed, while the cheapening of the cost of raw materials would, he declared, lead manufacturers to embark113 on new enterprises. Archdeacon Plymley told how, even at the date he wrote (1803), there was, in many of the midland and southern parishes of Shropshire, "no tolerable horse-road whatever," adding, "and in some that have coal and lime these articles are nearly useless from the difficulty of bringing any carriage to them."
However substantial, therefore, the results to which the navigable rivers had led, it was found by the middle of the eighteenth century that there was real need for entirely114 new efforts, and these were now to be made in the direction of supplementing alike rivers and roads by artificial waterways.
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defective
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| adj.有毛病的，有问题的，有瑕疵的 | |
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isolated
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inadequate
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| adj.(for,to)不充足的，不适当的 | |
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countless
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| adj.无数的，多得不计其数的 | |
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brooks
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rivulets
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| n.小河，小溪( rivulet的名词复数 ) | |
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upwards
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| adv.向上，在更高处...以上 | |
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tributaries
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specially
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| adv.特定地；特殊地；明确地 | |
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attain
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weaver
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| n.织布工；编织者 | |
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previously
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| adv.以前，先前（地） | |
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evaporation
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| n.蒸发，消失 | |
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chambers
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| n.房间( chamber的名词复数 )；（议会的）议院；卧室；会议厅 | |
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barges
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| 驳船( barge的名词复数 ) | |
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barge
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| n.平底载货船，驳船 | |
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navigate
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| v.航行，飞行；导航，领航 | |
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navigated
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| v.给（船舶、飞机等）引航，导航( navigate的过去式和过去分词 )；（从海上、空中等）横越；横渡；飞跃 | |
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severely
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| adv.严格地；严厉地；非常恶劣地 | |
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sediment
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| n.沉淀，沉渣，沉积(物) | |
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silt
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| n.淤泥，淤沙，粉砂层，泥沙层；vt.使淤塞；vi.被淤塞 | |
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22
proprietors
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| n.所有人，业主( proprietor的名词复数 ) | |
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uncertainties
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| 无把握( uncertainty的名词复数 )； 不确定； 变化不定； 无把握、不确定的事物 | |
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conveyance
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| n.(不动产等的)转让，让与；转让证书；传送；运送；表达；（正）运输工具 | |
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25
incurable
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| adj.不能医治的，不能矫正的，无救的；n.不治的病人，无救的人 | |
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impede
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| v.妨碍，阻碍，阻止 | |
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27
overflow
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| v.(使)外溢，(使)溢出；溢出，流出，漫出 | |
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28
uncertainty
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| n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物 | |
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29
secondly
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| adv.第二，其次 | |
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30
waggon
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| n.运货马车，运货车；敞篷车箱 | |
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31
waggons
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| 四轮的运货马车( waggon的名词复数 )； 铁路货车； 小手推车 | |
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32
vessel
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| n.船舶；容器，器皿；管，导管，血管 | |
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vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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34
warp
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| vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见 | |
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35
estuary
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| n.河口，江口 | |
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36
scour
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| v.搜索；擦，洗，腹泻，冲刷 | |
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scoured
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| 走遍（某地）搜寻（人或物）( scour的过去式和过去分词 )； （用力）刷； 擦净； 擦亮 | |
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38
haven
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| n.安全的地方，避难所，庇护所 | |
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39
preamble
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| n.前言；序文 | |
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40
thereby
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| adv.因此，从而 | |
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41
obstructed
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| 阻塞( obstruct的过去式和过去分词 )； 堵塞； 阻碍； 阻止 | |
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silted
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| v.（河流等）为淤泥淤塞( silt的过去式和过去分词 )；（使）淤塞 | |
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43
formerly
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| adv.从前，以前 | |
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intercourse
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| n.性交；交流，交往，交际 | |
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45
serpentine
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| adj.蜿蜒的，弯曲的 | |
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46
arduous
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| adj.艰苦的，费力的，陡峭的 | |
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outlay
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| n.费用，经费，支出；v.花费 | |
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insignificant
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| adj.无关紧要的，可忽略的，无意义的 | |
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49
artery
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| n.干线，要道；动脉 | |
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expended
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| v.花费( expend的过去式和过去分词 )；使用（钱等）做某事；用光；耗尽 | |
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51
junction
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| n.连接，接合；交叉点，接合处，枢纽站 | |
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impeded
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| 阻碍，妨碍，阻止( impede的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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inefficient
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| adj.效率低的，无效的 | |
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54
cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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55
hull
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| n.船身；(果、实等的)外壳；vt.去(谷物等)壳 | |
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insufficient
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| adj.(for，of)不足的，不够的 | |
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57
traction
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| n.牵引；附着摩擦力 | |
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58
borough
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| n.享有自治权的市镇；(英)自治市镇 | |
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59
tortuous
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| adj.弯弯曲曲的，蜿蜒的 | |
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60
possessed
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| adj.疯狂的；拥有的，占有的 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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63
costly
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| adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的 | |
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outlets
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| n.出口( outlet的名词复数 )；经销店；插座；廉价经销店 | |
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65
deteriorate
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| v.变坏；恶化；退化 | |
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66
deterioration
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| n.退化；恶化；变坏 | |
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67
expenditure
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| n.(时间、劳力、金钱等)支出；使用，消耗 | |
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situated
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| adj.坐落在...的，处于某种境地的 | |
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seaports
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| n.海港( seaport的名词复数 ) | |
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taxation
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| n.征税，税收，税金 | |
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levied
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| 征（兵）( levy的过去式和过去分词 )； 索取； 发动（战争）； 征税 | |
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72
ascertain
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| vt.发现，确定，查明，弄清 | |
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reign
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| n.统治时期，统治，支配，盛行；v.占优势 | |
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74
metropolis
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| n.首府；大城市 | |
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75
warfare
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| n.战争(状态)；斗争；冲突 | |
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76
patriotic
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| adj.爱国的，有爱国心的 | |
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77
patriotism
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| n.爱国精神，爱国心，爱国主义 | |
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78
requisite
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| adj.需要的，必不可少的；n.必需品 | |
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79
attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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80
estuaries
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| （江河入海的）河口，河口湾( estuary的名词复数 ) | |
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unduly
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| adv.过度地，不适当地 | |
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82
surmounted
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| 战胜( surmount的过去式和过去分词 )； 克服（困难）； 居于…之上； 在…顶上 | |
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83
derive
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| v.取得；导出；引申；来自；源自；出自 | |
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84
pottery
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| n.陶器，陶器场 | |
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85
potteries
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| n.陶器( pottery的名词复数 )；陶器厂；陶土；陶器制造（术） | |
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86
ware
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| n.(常用复数)商品，货物 | |
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87
concur
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| v.同意，意见一致，互助，同时发生 | |
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88
wares
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| n. 货物, 商品 | |
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89
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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copious
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| adj.丰富的，大量的 | |
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91
immediate
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| adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的 | |
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92
supplementary
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| adj.补充的，附加的 | |
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93
annually
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| adv.一年一次，每年 | |
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94
pilfering
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| v.偷窃（小东西），小偷( pilfer的现在分词 )；偷窃（一般指小偷小摸） | |
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95
discredit
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| vt.使不可置信；n.丧失信义；不信，怀疑 | |
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96
forfeiting
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| （因违反协议、犯规、受罚等）丧失，失去( forfeit的现在分词 ) | |
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97
deductions
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| 扣除( deduction的名词复数 )； 结论； 扣除的量； 推演 | |
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98
dealing
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| n.经商方法，待人态度 | |
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99
expedient
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| adj.有用的，有利的；n.紧急的办法，权宜之计 | |
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100
wharves
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| n.码头，停泊处( wharf的名词复数 ) | |
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101
quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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102
quay
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| n.码头，靠岸处 | |
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103
Oxford
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| n.牛津（英国城市） | |
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104
mere
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| adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过 | |
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105
draught
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| n.拉，牵引，拖；一网（饮，吸，阵)；顿服药量，通风；v.起草，设计 | |
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106
millers
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| n.（尤指面粉厂的）厂主( miller的名词复数 )；磨房主；碾磨工；铣工 | |
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107
pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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108
dormant
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| adj.暂停活动的；休眠的；潜伏的 | |
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cursory
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| adj.粗略的；草率的；匆促的 | |
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110
abounds
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| v.大量存在，充满，富于( abound的第三人称单数 ) | |
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111
ponderous
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| adj.沉重的，笨重的，(文章)冗长的 | |
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112
quarries
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| n.（采）石场( quarry的名词复数 )；猎物（指鸟，兽等）；方形石；（格窗等的）方形玻璃v.从采石场采得( quarry的第三人称单数 )；从（书本等中）努力发掘（资料等）；在采石场采石 | |
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113
embark
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| vi.乘船，着手，从事，上飞机 | |
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114
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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