(_For the Mirror._)
At page 310 of the present volume of your miscellany, your correspondent
_Vyvyan_ states that the tide rises at Chepstow more than 60 feet, and
that a mark in the rocks below the bridge there denotes its having risen
to the height of 70 feet, which is, perhaps (_Vyvyan_ states), the
greatest altitude of the tides in the world. At Windsor, seated on the
east bank of the _Avon_ river, which falls into the Basin of Mines, at
the head of the Bay of Fundy, the spring tides regularly rise 70 feet
and upwards; and at Truro, at the eastern extremity of the Bay of Fundy,
the spring tides rise to an altitude of 100 feet. There are some parts
of the west coast of North America also where the tides rise to a very
high altitude; but I do not at this moment remember the particulars. My
attention having thus been directed to the Bay of Fundy, it induces me
to inform you, that an inland water communication, at a minimum depth of
eight feet, and proportionate expanse, is now forming from Halifax,
_Nova Scotia_, by the Shubenacadie river, falling into the Bay of Fundy,
near the abovementioned town of Truro.
The total length of this canal is 53 miles, 1,024 yards, the artificial
portion of which is only 2,739 yards, the remainder being formed by a
chain of deep lakes and the Shubenacadie river. The summit level is 95
feet 10 inches above the _high-water_ surface of _medium tides_ in
Halifax harbour; and is attained by seven locks, each 87 feet long, and
22 feet six inches wide; and the tide locks nine feet in depth of water.
The descent into the Bay of Fundy, at highwater surface medium tides, is
by eight locks.
The estimated expense of this interesting work is £54,000.