Reprint of the original, first published in 1857.

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1857 edition. Excerpt: ... freely over its bed on a declivity of one foot per mile; and requiring S64,000,000 cubic feet per day, nearly eight times the quantity we have assumed to be abundant for the Ohio slackvvater! To controvert successfully, the opinion that there will always be an ample supply of water on the Ohio slackwater, should it ever be constructed, something more than a bare assertion to the contrary, with a mere reference to an inapplicable example, is looked for. In the present state of the discussion, the writer thinks he will be sustained by the judgment of every candid examiner, in the opinion that thisJirst objection, namely, want of water for the lock and dam system, has no reliable foundation. The question of water supply is a very important one, and we have endeavored in this case to put it to a severe test. 2. The second objection is, that the dams though only 8 feet high from pool to pool, will cause a vast increase in the elevation of the great floods, and consequently seriously damage property along the river, and destroy cities, mills, &c, &c Much stress has been laid upon this objection: so much, indeed, that Mr. Morris has ventured to announce an opinion that it is fatal to the plan. Granting nothing in this stage of the question on this point, the great practical question to be decided is, will such dams create any material additional rise in times of high freshets ? Mr. Morris has, to some extent, investigated it, but he confines his observations mainly to the, results of a particular case, on the Potomac River, and to one particular flood. He presents a profile of that river, showing the flood line of an 18 feet flood, and its effect with an 18 feet dam; from which it appears, that (he increased rise at the upper end of the pool...