during the spring season.

_Internal Improvements._--These consist of canals, rail-roads, turnpike
roads, and the National road, now under the supervision of, and owned
by, the State. The canalling is managed by a Board of Commissioners. The
State canals were projected about 1823, and, considering the youthful
character of the State, its want of funds and other circumstances, they
are, undoubtedly, the greatest works ever executed in America.

The _Ohio and Erie Canal_ connects lake Erie with the Ohio river. It
commences at Cleaveland, at the mouth of the Cuyahoga, passes along that
river and its tributaries, to the summit level, from thence to the
waters of the Muskingum, and to the border of Muskingum county; from
thence it strikes across the country past Newark, in Licking county, and
strikes the Scioto, down the valley of which it proceeds to its mouth,
at Portsmouth. The principal places on the canal are Akron, New Portage,
Massillon, Bolivar, New Philadelphia, Coshocton, Newark, Bloomfield,
Circleville, Chillicothe, Piketon, and Portsmouth. It was commenced on
the 4th of July, 1825, and completed in 1832; and, together with the
Miami canal to Dayton, cost about $5,500,000, and has greatly enriched
the State and the people. Private property along its line has risen from
five to ten fold.

LENGTH OF OHIO AND ERIE CANAL.

Miles.
Main trunk from Cleaveland to Portsmouth, 310
Navigable feeder from main trunk to Columbus, 11
Navigable feeder from main trunk to Granville, 6
Muskingum side cut, from the Muskingum river at Dresden, 3
Navigable feeder from the Tuscarawas river, 3
Navigable feeder from the Walhonding river, 1
---
Total length of Ohio canal and branches, 334

The _Miami Canal_ commences at Cincinnati, and, passing through the
towns of Reading, Hamilton, Middletown, Franklin, and Miamisburg,
terminates at Dayton, 65 miles. It has been navigated from Dayton to the
head of Main street, Cincinnati, since the spring of 1829. An extension
of the work is now in progress, to be carried along the vallies of St.
Mary's and Au Glaise rivers, and unite with the Wabash and Erie canal,
at Defiance; distance from Cincinnati about 190 miles.

An act passed the Ohio legislature in 1834, for