engineering in the end as the path in life he elected to follow. In
1793, he was appointed engineer to the projected Ellesmere Canal.

In the days before railways, such a canal as this was an engineering
work of the very first importance. It was to connect the Mersey, the
Dee, and the Severn, and it passed over ground which rendered necessary
some immense aqueducts on a scale never before attempted by British
engineers. Even in our own time, every traveller by the Great Western
line between Chester and Shrewsbury must have observed on his right two
magnificent ranges as high arches, which are as noticeable now as ever
for their boldness, their magnitude, and their exquisite construction.
The first of these mighty archways is the Pont Cysylltau aqueduct which
carries the Ellesmere Canal across the wide valley of the Dee, known as
the Vale of Llangollen; the second is the Chirk aqueduct, which takes it
over the lesser glen of a minor tributary, the Ceriog. Both these
beautiful works were designed and carried out entirely by Telford. They
differ from many other great modern engineering achievements in the fact
that, instead of spoiling the lovely mountain scenery into whose midst
they have been thrown, they actually harmonize with it and heighten its
natural beauty. Both works, however, are splendid feats, regarded merely
as efforts of practical skill; and the larger one is particularly
memorable for the peculiarity that the trough for the water and the
elegant parapet at the side are both entirely composed of iron.
Nowadays, of course, there would be nothing remarkable in the use of
such a material for such a purpose; but Telford was the first engineer
to see the value of iron in this respect, and the Pont Cysylltau
aqueduct was one of the earliest works in which he applied the new
material to these unwonted uses. Such a step is all the more remarkable,
because Telford's own education had lain entirely in what may fairly be
called the "stone age" of English engineering; while his natural