The State of Indiana, following the lead of Ohio, constructed, with the aid of its creditors, a canal from the junction of the Miami Canal to the city of Evansville, completing it in 1855. Only the upper portion of this work came into considerable use. The whole system was abandoned upon the construction of railroads along its line. The State of Illinois constructed a canal from Lake Michigan to Lasalle, at the head of navigation on the Illinois river, a distance of 100 miles from Chicago. It was originally intended to make the cut deep enough to feed the line from the lake. This project was abandoned from the cost of its execution, to be subsequently carried out by the city of Chicago for sanitary purposes. The canal had at the outset a considerable traffic, which, however, was lost upon the introduction of competing lines of railroads. The preceding works include all the great water-lines constructed by the States for the purpose of giving direction to the general commerce of the country. Several considerable private works were executed, the most important of which was the Delaware and Raritan Canal, to connect the Delaware River with the harbour of New York, a work of large capacity, which still retains an extensive traffic. Several works of the kind were constructed, chiefly in Pennsylvania, for the transportation of coal-works which, upon the construction of railroads, lost all the importance they once enjoyed. The Chesapeake and Ohio, and the James River and Kanawha Canals, upon which large sums were expended, and for which great expectations were raised, were never completed, and do not require particular remark. The canal system of the country has now become so completely subordinate, that few are aware of its magnitude previous to the construction of railroads which caused a great part of it to be abandoned. At one time there were 5000 miles of canal lines in operation, built at a cost of 150,000,000 dollars, or 30,000,000_l._ The growth of the traffic on the waterways of the United States was steady for a number of years. In 1837 it was nearly 1¼ million tons; in 1847 it was nearly three millions; and in 1857 it was 3,344,000 tons. In the latter year the traffic of the canals as a whole was 772,000 tons less than in the previous year. This decline, which occurred almost for the first time in the history of the system, created considerable alarm—all the more so that it fell coincidently with a large increase in the railway traffic. Up to 1851 the railways had not had a free hand. Laws were enacted imposing canal tolls upon railroad tonnage, and prohibiting any roads from carrying freight. The State authorities looked upon the canals as a trust confided to their keeping, and protected them against the railroads. But in 1851 these laws were repealed, and from that date the railroads entered upon a career of development such as they had not previously known.