Collier's New Encyclopedia (1921)/Manchester Ship Canal

MANCHESTER SHIP CANAL, connecting Manchester, England, with the open sea by means of ship traffic. The project was first sanctioned by Parliament in 1885. Work began in 1887. The ceremony of opening it to traffic was performed in 1894. The canal is 35 miles long, and the expenditure was over $60,000,000. One of its interesting features is a swing aqueduct, which, including the water contained in it, weighs 1,600 tons, this being the first of its kind ever constructed.