text:  On all the points proposed and more especially in reference to the long lines the difficulty of rendering rivers navigable which in the winter are swelled into impetuous torrents; the want of population along the greater part of the distances to be cut; the differences of elevation; and above all the shallowness of the water on all the extremities of the cuts projected thus only affording admission to small vessels are among the impediments which for the time being at least appear almost insuperable