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A General History of Inland Navigation, Foreign and Domestic (1803)
A General History of Inland Navigation Foreign and Domestic - 1803 Author:John Phillips Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: SECTION III. Particular account of the Canals in Russia ; the first begun by Colonel Breckell, a German, who failed in the attempt, and fled the country in di... more »sguise ; Captain Perry, an Englishman, ivas next employed by the Czar, Peter the Great—Three different surveys of Captain Perry—Great extent of this Navigation, and amazing trade carried on it between China and Russia. PETER the Great, Czar of Muscovy, having observed, whilst in Holland, that the industrious inhabitants of that country had, by diligent perseverance, and principally by means of canals, raised a small tract of marshy land into a populous and powerful state; this great prince, among his other grand designs, formed the plan of having an inland navigation for conveying the rich commodities of Persia to his new city of Petersburgh. They were first to be transported by the Caspian Sea to Astracan, and thence through the mouth of the river Wolga, and by a conjunction of canals into the river Mesta, and the lake Novogorod; and thence into lake Ladoga, and by the river Neva to Petersburgh, being a course of 460 miles. He likewise projected a communication, between the rivers Don and Wolga, which were to join the river Occa by another canal, and thus effect a navigation to Moscow by the river Mosca, and afterwards, by several other canals of communication, through the river Dwina to the city of Archangel, on the White Sea ; and lastly, the productions and commodities from Archangel and the adjacent countries were to be conveyed through the river Onega into lake Onega, by a canal, and also through lake Ladoga, which lies at the foot of the Gulph of Finland, and by the river Neva to Petersburgh. But the death of this great monarch prevented the completion of this noble undertaking, which would have rendered Peter...« less