Flachat, Stephane Histoire des Travaux et de l'Aménagement des
Eaux du Canal Calédonien.
Paris: Firmin Didot, 1828.
Flachat was involved with a ship canal in France between
Rouen and Paris, and he wrote this report on the Caledonian Canal in part
to prove the advantages of such a canal. He visited the Caledonian Canal
to gather information firsthand, and made surveys on the spot with
assistance from the resident engineers. Many of the cross sections of
embankments and sluices appear in no other published accounts of the
canal. In addition, Flachat included this evocative lithographic view of a
canal scene. What could be more perfect, it seems to suggest, than a canal
for ships built in harmony with the surrounding countryside?
