~Canals.~--The first Act for the construction of the "cut" or canal in
connection with Birmingham was passed in 1761, that to Bilston being
commenced in 1767. The delivery here of the first boat-load of coals
(Nov. 6, 1769) was hailed, and rightly so, as one of the greatest
blessings that could be conferred on the town, the immediate effect
being a reduction in the price to 6d per cwt, which in the following May
came down to 4d. The cutting of the first sod towards making the Grand
Junction Canal took place July 26, 1766, and it was completed in 1790.
In 1768 Briudley, the celebrated engineer, planned out the Birmingham
and Wolverhampton Canal, proposing to make it 22 miles long; but he did
not live to see it finished. The work was taken up by Smeaton and
Telford; the latter of whom calling it "a crooked ditch" struck out a
straight cut, reducing the length to 14 miles, increasing the width to
40 feet, the bridges having each a span of 52 feet. The "Summit" bridge
was finished in 1879. The Fazeley Canal was completed in 1783, and so
successfully was it worked that in nine years the shares were at a
premium of £1170. In 1785 the Birmingham, the Fazeley, and the Grand
Junction Companies took up and completed an extension to Coventry. The
Birmingham and Worcester Canal was commenced in 1,791, the cost being a
little over £600,000, and it was opened for through traffic July 21,
1815. By an agreement of September 18, 1873, this canal was sold to the
Gloucester and Berkeley Canal Co. (otherwise the Sharpness Dock Co.),
and has thus lost its distinctive local name. The Birmingham and Warwick
commenced in 1793; was finished in 1800. Communication with Liverpool by
water was complete in 1826, the carriage of goods thereto which had
previously cost £5 per ton, being reduced to 30s. For a through cut to
London, a company was started in May, 1836, with a nominal capital of
£3,000,000, in £100 shares, and the first cargoes were despatched in
August, 1840. In April, 1840, an Act was passed to unite the Wyrley and