THE November meeting of the Chester and District Branch of the Inland Waterways Association saw a lively slide show and talk by Tony Hirst, first director of the Ellesmere Port Boat Museum.
Mr Hirst spoke about his visit, in 2000, to the World Canals Conference in Rochester, which used to be on the first Erie Canal.
He also visited the eastern end of the Welland Canal and Waterlooville on the now-closed Morris Canal.
The audience was amazed at the extent of the US and Canadian canal networks, which had been started as early as 1637.
The peace treaty between the USA and the UK gave the impetus for the building of new waterways in 1873.
Tony told them about the three canals he visited - the Morris Canal which traversed the uplands, bringing coal from the valley of the Delaware River to New Jersey, the Eerie Canal linking Albany to Buffalo on Lake Erie and the Welland Canal, a true ship canal linking the two lakes and bypassing Niagara Falls.
After the break, Tony gave a presentation on the progress of the tug Daniel Adamson, recently towed from the boat museum to Liverpool for restoration. Tony showed some excellent slides.
The next meeting is on December 14 at 7.45pm in the Rolt Centre, the boat museum and Ellesmere Port. David Walker of the International Guild of Knot Tiers will present.
For further details, call Margaret Pitney on 0151 608 6497.
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