. The earth and its inhabitants ... direction. There is not, probably, a river in the world which sets in motion the wheelsof so many mills, and carries on its back so many vessels, as does the Mersey ;and yet this river drains only a small basin, and its volume does not exceed1,400 cubic feet a second. But within this basin lies Manchester, the great seat of Fig. 132.—Manchester and 1 : 375, G. e- 30 5 Miles. the cotton trade, and its mouth is guarded by Liverpool, the commercial port of themost important manufacturing region in the world. Manchestef and Salford are b
. The earth and its inhabitants ... direction. There is not, probably, a river in the world which sets in motion the wheelsof so many mills, and carries on its back so many vessels, as does the Mersey ;and yet this river drains only a small basin, and its volume does not exceed1,400 cubic feet a second. But within this basin lies Manchester, the great seat of Fig. 132.—Manchester and 1 : 375, G. e- 30 5 Miles. the cotton trade, and its mouth is guarded by Liverpool, the commercial port of themost important manufacturing region in the world. Manchestef and Salford are built upon the black and dye-stained waters of theIrwell, Irk, and Medlock, into which numerous factories discharge their refuse,but which the corporations of these two towns have at last determined to cleanseand convert into limpid streams. The volume of water brought down from themoorlands by these rivulets is not very great, but it sufiSces to fill a dock crowdedwith barges. It has been proposed by engineers to make Manchester a maritimeport by converting the Mersey and its tributary Irwell into a ship canal, upwhich the tide would ascend as far as the present dock. The construction ofsuch a canal, which would have a length of 33 miles, a width of 220 and a depthof 20 feet, it is assumed, would require an expenditure of close upon four this scheme should ever be realised, Manchester will ha
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, booksubjectgeography, bookyear18
