From  an  old  work  on  the  "  Internal  Navigation  of  the  United  States,"
published  anonymously  at  Philadelphia  in  1824,  "we  find,  that  as
early  at  least  as  the  year  1767  or  1768,  the  matter  was  seriously  taken


MABYLAKD    GEOLOGICAL   8UBVBY  407

up,  and  prosecuted  by  Mr.  Thomas  Gilpin  and  other  gentlemen;  who
were  at  great  pains  in  accomplishing  a  number  of  surveys,  and  giving
estimates  to  the  public,  for  a  canal  from  Duck  Creek  to  the  head  of
Chester.  In  1769,  a  condensed  view  of  all  that  had  been  done,  was
presented  by  Mr.  Gilpin  to  a  committee  of  merchants,  formed  in
Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of  improving  the  trade  of  the  prov-
ince; as  also  to  the  American  Philosophical;  and  this  was  soon  fol-
lowed by  a  survey,  and  remarks  upon  another  route;  viz.  from
Bohemia  river  to  Appoquiminink;  after  which  the  Elk  route  was
also  examined "  (p.  80).  This  canal,  for  which  so  many  surveys
were  made,  was  actually  commenced  in  1824  and  finished  a  few  years
later.  The  work  of  Thomas  Gilpin  was  finally  brought  together  in
a  volume  by  his  son  Joshua  Gilpin,  one  of  the  directors  of  this  canal
company,  and  published  at  Wilmington  under  the  title  "A  Memoir
on  the  rise,  progress,  and  present  state  of  the  Chesapeake  and  Dela-
ware Canal  accompanied  with  original  documents  and  maps."  This
little  volume  shows  that  the  surveys  made  by  Thomas  Gilpin  were
conducted  during  the  years  1767-68,  and  the  report  is  accompanied
by  five  small  maps  as  indicated  below:

a.  The  route  from  Chester  to  Duck  Creek  by  T.  Gilpin,  1769.
b.  The  route  from  Bohemia  to  Appoquiminink.
c.  The  route  from  Elk  to  Christiania.
d.  General  surveys  of  canals,  roads,  etc.,  made  by  the  Philosophi-
cal Society  in  1770.
