The Life of Thomas Telford by Smiles

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Its appearance is highly picturesque. The scattered pines and beech
trees on the side of the impending mountain, the meadows along the
valley of the Spey, and the western approach road to the bridge cut
deeply into the face of the rock, combine, with the slender
appearance of the iron arch, in rendering this spot one of the most
remarkable in Scotland.*[13] An iron bridge of a similar span to that
at Craig-Ellachie had previously been constructed across the head
of the Dornoch Frith at Bonar, near the point where the waters of
the Shin join the sea. The very severe trial which this structure
sustained from the tremendous blow of an irregular mass of fir-tree
logs, consolidated by ice, as well as, shortly after, from the blow
of a schooner which drifted against it on the opposite side, and
had her two masts knocked off by the collision, gave him every
confidence in the strength of this form of construction, and he
accordingly repeated it in several of his subsequent bridges,
though none of them are comparable in beauty with that of
Craig-Ellachie.

Thus, in the course of eighteen years, 920 miles of capital roads,
connected together by no fewer than 1200 bridges, were added to the
road communications of the Highlands, at an expense defrayed partly
by the localities immediately benefited, and partly by the nation.
The effects of these twenty years' operations were such as follow
the making of roads everywhere--development of industry and
increase of civilization. In no districts were the benefits
derived from them more marked than in the remote northern counties
of Sutherland and Caithness. The first stage-coaches that ran
northward from Perth to Inverness were tried in 1806, and became
regularly established in 1811; and by the year 1820 no fewer than
forty arrived at the latter town in the course of every week, and
the same number departed from it. Others were established in
various directions through the highlands, which were rendered as
accessible as any English county.

Agriculture made rapid progress. The use of carts became
practicable, and manure was no longer carried to the field on
women's backs. Sloth and idleness gradually disappeared before the
energy, activity, and industry which were called into life by the
improved communications. Better built cottages took the place of
the old mud biggins with holes in their roofs to let out the smoke.
The pigs and cattle were treated to a separate table. The dunghill
was turned to the outside of the house. Tartan tatters gave place
to the produce of Manchester and Glasgow looms; and very soon few
young persons were to be found who could not both read and write
English.

But not less remarkable were the effects of the road-making upon
the industrial habits of the people. Before Telford went into the
Highlands, they did not know how to work, having never been
accustomed to labour continuously and systematically. Let our
engineer himself describe the moral influences of his Highland
contracts:--"In these works," says he, "and in the Caledonian
Canal, about three thousand two hundred men have been annually
employed. At first, they could scarcely work at all: they were
totally unacquainted with labour; they could not use the tools.
They have since become excellent labourers, and of the above number
we consider about one-fourth left us annually, taught to work.
These undertakings may, indeed, be regarded in the light of a
working academy; from which eight hundred men have annually gone
forth improved workmen. They have either returned to their native
districts with the advantage of having used the most perfect sort
of tools and utensils (which alone cannot be estimated at less than
ten per cent. on any sort of labour), or they have been usefully
distributed through the other parts of the country. Since these
roads were made accessible, wheelwrights and cartwrights have been
established, the plough has been introduced, and improved tools and
utensils are generally used. The plough was not previously
employed; in the interior and mountainous parts they used crooked
sticks, with iron on them, drawn or pushed along. The moral habits
of the great masses of the working classes are changed; they see
that they may depend on their own exertions for support: this goes
on silently, and is scarcely perceived until apparent by the
results. I consider these improvements among the greatest
blessings ever conferred on any country. About two hundred thousand
pounds has been granted in fifteen years. It has been the means of
advancing the country at least a century."

The progress made in the Lowland districts of Scotland since the
same period has been no less remarkable. If the state of the
country, as we have above described it from authentic documents,
be compared with what it is now, it will be found that there are few
countries which have accomplished so much within so short a period.
It is usual to cite the United States as furnishing the most
extraordinary instance of social progress in modem times. But
America has had the advantage of importing its civilization for the
most part ready made, whereas that of Scotland has been entirely
her own creation. By nature America is rich, and of boundless
extent; whereas Scotland is by nature poor, the greater part of her
limited area consisting of sterile heath and mountain. Little more
than a century ago Scotland was considerably in the rear of Ireland.
It was a country almost without agriculture, without mines, without
fisheries, without shipping, without money, without roads.
The people were ill-fed, half barbarous, and habitually indolent.
The colliers and salters were veritable slaves, and were subject to
be sold together with the estates to which they belonged.

What do we find now? Praedial slavery completely abolished;
heritable jurisdictions at an end; the face of the country entirely
changed; its agriculture acknowledged to be the first in the world;
its mines and fisheries productive in the highest degree; its
banking a model of efficiency and public usefulness; its roads
equal to the best roads in England or in Europe. The people are
active and energetic, alike in education, in trade, in manufactures,
in construction, in invention. Watt's invention of the steam
engine, and Symington's invention of the steam-boat, proved a
source of wealth and power, not only to their own country, but to
the world at large; while Telford, by his roads, bound England and
Scotland, before separated, firmly into one, and rendered the union
a source of wealth and strength to both.

At the same time, active and powerful minds were occupied in
extending the domain of knowledge,--Adam Smith in Political
Economy, Reid and Dugald Stewart in Moral Philosophy, and Black and
Robison in Physical Science. And thus Scotland, instead of being
one of the idlest and most backward countries in Europe, has,
within the compass of little more than a lifetime, issued in one of
the most active, contented, and prosperous,--exercising an amount
of influence upon the literature, science, political economy, and
industry of modern times, out of all proportion to the natural
resources of its soil or the amount of its population.

If we look for the causes of this extraordinary social progress,
we shall probably find the principal to consist in the fact that
Scotland, though originally poor as a country, was rich in Parish
schools, founded under the provisions of an Act passed by the
Scottish Parliament in the year 1696. It was there ordained
"that there be a school settled and established, and a schoolmaster
appointed, in every parish not already provided, by advice of the
heritors and minister of the parish." Common day-schools were
accordingly provided and maintained throughout the country for the
education of children of all ranks and conditions. The consequence
was, that in the course of a few generations, these schools,
working steadily upon the minds of the young, all of whom passed
under the hands of the teachers, educated the population into a
state of intelligence and aptitude greatly in advance of their
material well-being; and it is in this circumstance, we apprehend,
that the explanation is to be found of the rapid start forward
which the whole country took, dating more particularly from the
year 1745. Agriculture was naturally the first branch of industry
to exhibit signs of decided improvement; to be speedily followed by
like advances in trade, commerce, and manufactures. Indeed, from
that time the country never looked back, but her progress went on
at a constantly accelerated rate, issuing in results as marvellous
as they have probably been unprecedented.

Footnotes for Chapter VIII.

*[1] Romilly's Autobiography,' ii. 22.

*[2] Statistical Account of Scotland,' iii. 185.

*[3] The cas-chrom was a rude combination of a lever for the
removal of rocks, a spade to cut the earth, and a foot-plough to
turn it. We annex an illustration of this curious and now obsolete
instrument. It weighed about eighteen pounds. In working it, the"
upper part of the handle, to which the left hand was applied,
reached the workman's shoulder, and being slightly elevated, the
point, shod with iron, was pushed into the ground horizontally; the
soil being turned over by inclining the handle to the furrow side,
at the same time making the heel act as a fulcrum to raise the
point of the instrument. In turning up unbroken ground, it was
first employed with the heel uppermost, with pushing strokes to cut
the breadth of the sward to be turned over; after which, it was
used horizontally as above described. We are indebted to a
Parliamentary Blue Book for the following representation of this
interesting relic of ancient agriculture. It is given in the
appendix to the 'Ninth Report of the Commissioners for Highland
Roads and Bridges,' ordered by the House of Commons to be printed,
19th April, 1821.

*[4] Anderson's 'Guide to the Highlands and Islands of Scotland,'
3rd ed. p.48.

*[5] He was accompanied on this tour by Colonel Dirom, with whom he
returned to his house at Mount Annan, in Dumfries. Telford says of
him: "The Colonel seems to have roused the county of Dumfries from
the lethargy in which it has slumbered for centuries. The map of
the county, the mineralogical survey, the new roads, the opening of
lime works, the competition of ploughing, the improving harbours,
the building of bridges, are works which bespeak the exertions of
no common man."--Letter to Mr. Andrew. Little, dated Shrewsbury,
30th November, 1801.

*[6] Ordered to be printed 5th of April, 1803.

*[7] 'Memorials of his Time," by Henry Cockburn, pp. 341-3.

*[8] 'Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Sir John Sinclair, Barb,'
vol. i., p. 339.

*[9] Extract of a letter from a gentleman residing in Sunderland,
quoted in 'Life of Telford,' p. 465.

*[10] Letter to Mr. Andrew Little, Langholm, dated Salop, 18th
February, 1803.

*[11] The names of Celtic places are highly descriptive.
Thus Craig-Ellachie literally means, the rock of separation; Badenoch,
bushy or woody; Cairngorm, the blue cairn; Lochinet, the lake of nests;
Balknockan, the town of knolls; Dalnasealg, the hunting dale;
Alt'n dater, the burn of the horn-blower; and so on.

*[12] Sir Thomas Dick Lauder has vividly described the destructive
character of the Spey-side inundations in his capital book on the
'Morayshire Floods.'

*[13] 'Report of the Commissioners on Highland Roads and Bridges.'
Appendix to 'Life of Telford,' p. 400.

CHAPTER IX.

TELFORD'S SCOTCH HARBOURS.

No sooner were the Highland roads and bridges in full progress,
than attention was directed to the improvement of the harbours
round the coast. Very little had as yet been done for them beyond
what nature had effected. Happily, there was a public fund at
disposal--the accumulation of rents and profits derived from the
estates forfeited at the rebellion of 1745--which was available for
the purpose. The suppression of the rebellion did good in many ways.
It broke the feudal spirit, which lingered in the Highlands long
after it had ceased in every other part of Britain; it led to the
effectual opening up of the country by a system of good roads;
and now the accumulated rents of the defeated Jacobite chiefs were
about to be applied to the improvement of the Highland harbours for
the benefit of the general population.

The harbour of Wick was one of the first to which Mr. Telford's
attention was directed. Mr. Rennie had reported on the subject of
its improvement as early as the year 1793, but his plans were not
adopted because their execution was beyond the means of the
locality at that time. The place had now, however, become of
considerable importance. It was largely frequented by Dutch
fishermen during the herring season; and it was hoped that, if they
could be induced to form a settlement at the place, their example
might exercise a beneficial influence upon the population.

Mr. Telford reported that, by the expenditure of about 5890L., a
capacious and well-protected tidal basin might be formed, capable
of containing about two hundred herring-busses. The Commission
adopted his plan, and voted the requisite funds for carrying out
the works, which were begun in 1808. The new station was named
Pulteney Town, in compliment to Sir William Pulteney, the Governor
of the Fishery Society; and the harbour was built at a cost of
about 12,000L., of which 8500L. was granted from the Forfeited
Estates Fund. A handsome stone bridge, erected over the River Wick
in 1805, after the design of our engineer, connect's these
improvements with the older town: it is formed of three arches,
having a clear waterway of 156 feet.

The money was well expended, as the result proved; and Wick is now,
we believe, the greatest fishing station in the world. The place
has increased from a little poverty-stricken village to a large and
thriving town, which swarms during the fishing season with lowland
Scotchmen, fair Northmen, broad-built Dutchmen, and kilted
Highlanders. The bay is at that time frequented by upwards of a
thousand fishing-boats and the take of herrings in some years
amounts to more than a hundred thousand barrels. The harbour has
of late years been considerably improved to meet the growing
requirements of the herring trade, the principal additions having
been carried out, in 1823, by Mr. Bremner,*[1] a native engineer
of great ability.

[Image] Folkestone Harbour.

Improvements of a similar kind were carried out by the Fishery
Board at other parts of the coast, and many snug and convenient
harbours were provided at the principal fishing stations in the
Highlands and Western Islands. Where the local proprietors were
themselves found expending money in carrying out piers and harbours,
the Board assisted them with grants to enable the works to be
constructed in the most substantial manner and after the most
approved plans. Thus, along that part of the bold northern coast of
the mainland of Scotland which projects into the German Ocean, many
old harbours were improved or new ones constructed--as at Peterhead,
Frazerburgh, Banff, Cullen, Burgh Head, and Nairn. At Fortrose,
in the Murray Frith; at Dingwall, in the Cromarty Frith;
at Portmaholmac, within Tarbet Ness, the remarkable headland of the
Frith of Dornoch; at Kirkwall, the principal town and place of
resort in the Orkney Islands, so well known from Sir Walter Scott's
description of it in the 'Pirate;' at Tobermory, in the island of
Mull; and at other points of the coast, piers were erected and
other improvements carried out to suit the convenience of the
growing traffic and trade of the country.

The principal works were those connected with the harbours situated
upon the line of coast extending from the harbour of Peterhead,
in the county of Aberdeen, round to the head of the Murray Frith.
The shores there are exposed to the full force of the seas rolling in
from the Northern Ocean; and safe harbours were especially needed
for the protection of the shipping passing from north to south.
Wrecks had become increasingly frequent, and harbours of refuge
were loudly called for. At one part of the coast, as many as
thirty wrecks had occurred within a very short time, chiefly for
want of shelter.

The situation of Peterhead peculiarly well adapted it for a haven
of refuge, and the improvement of the port was early regarded as a
matter of national importance. Not far from it, on the south, are
the famous Bullars or Boilers of Buchan--bold rugged rocks, some
200 feet high, against which the sea beats with great fury, boiling
and churning in the deep caves and recesses with which they are
perforated. Peterhead stands on the most easterly part of the
mainland of Scotland, occupying the north-east side of the bay,
and being connected with the country on the northwest by an isthmus
only 800 yards broad. In Cromwell's time, the port possessed only
twenty tons of boat tonnage, and its only harbour was a small basin
dug out of the rock. Even down to the close of the sixteenth
century the place was but an insignificant fishing village. It is
now a town bustling with trade, having long been the principal seat
of the whale fishery, 1500 men of the port being engaged in that
pursuit alone; and it sends out ships of its own building to all
parts of the world, its handsome and commodious harbours being
accessible at all winds to vessels of almost the largest burden.

[Image] Peterhead

It may be mentioned that about sixty years since, the port was
formed by the island called Keith Island, situated a small distance
eastward from the shore, between which and the mainland an arm of
the sea formerly passed. A causeway had, however, been formed
across this channel, thus dividing it into two small bays; after
which the southern one had been converted in to a harbour by means
of two rude piers erected along either side of it. The north inlet
remained without any pier, and being very inconvenient and exposed
to the north-easterly winds, it was little used.

[Image] Peterhead Harbour.

The first works carried out at Peterhead were of a comparatively
limited character, the old piers of the south harbour having been
built by Smeaton; but improvements proceeded apace with the
enterprise and wealth of the inhabitants. Mr. Rennie, and after
him Mr. Telford, fully reported as to the capabilities of the port
and the best means of improving it. Mr. Rennie recommended the
deepening of the south harbour and the extension of the jetty of
the west pier, at the same time cutting off all projections of rock
from Keith Island on the eastward, so as to render the access more
easy. The harbour, when thus finished, would, he estimated, give
about 17 feet depth at high water of spring tides. He also
proposed to open a communication across the causeway between the
north and south harbours, and form a wet dock between them, 580
feet long and 225 feet wide, the water being kept in by gates at
each end. He further proposed to provide an entirely new harbour,
by constructing two extensive piers for the effectual protection of
the northern part of the channel, running out one from a rock north
of the Green Island, about 680 feet long, and another from the Roan
Head, 450 feet long, leaving an opening between them of 70 yards.
This comprehensive plan unhappily could not be carried out at the
time for want of funds; but it may be said to have formed the
groundwork of all that has been subsequently done for the
improvement of the port of Peterhead.

It was resolved, in the first place, to commence operations by
improving the south harbour, and protecting it more effectually
from south-easterly winds. The bottom of the harbour was
accordingly deepened by cutting out 30,000 cubic yards of rocky
ground; and part of Mr. Rennie's design was carried out by
extending the jetty of the west pier, though only for a distance of
twenty yards. These works were executed under Mr. Telford's
directions; they were completed by the end of the year 1811, and
proved to be of great public convenience.

The trade of the town, however, so much increased, and the port was
found of such importance as a place of refuge for vessels
frequenting the north seas, that in 1816 it was determined to
proceed with the formation of a harbour on the northern part of the
old channel; and the inhabitants having agreed among themselves to
contribute to the extent of 10,000L. towards carrying out the
necessary works, they applied for the grant of a like sum from the
Forfeited Estates Fund, which was eventually voted for the purpose.
The plan adopted was on a more limited scale than that Proposed by
Mr. Rennie; but in the same direction and contrived with the same
object,--so that, when completed, vessels of the largest burden
employed in the Greenland fishery might be able to enter one or
other of the two harbours and find safe shelter, from whatever
quarter the wind might blow.

The works were vigorously proceeded with, and had made considerable
progress, when, in October, 1819, a violent hurricane from the
north-east, which raged along the coast for several days, and
inflicted heavy damage on many of the northern harbours, destroyed
a large part of the unfinished masonry and hurled the heaviest
blocks into the sea, tossing them about as if they had been
pebbles. The finished work had, however, stood well, and the
foundations of the piers under low water were ascertained to have
remained comparatively uninjured. There was no help for it but to
repair the damaged work, though it involved a heavy additional
cost, one-half of which was borne by the Forfeited Estates Fund and
the remainder by the inhabitants. Increased strength was also
given to the more exposed parts of the pierwork, and the slope at
the sea side of the breakwater was considerably extended.*[2]
Those alterations in the design were carried out, together with a
spacious graving-dock, as shown in the preceding plan, and they
proved completely successful, enabling Peterhead to offer an amount
of accommodation for shipping of a more effectual kind than was at
that time to be met with along the whole eastern coast of Scotland.

The old harbour of Frazerburgh, situated on a projecting point of
the coast at the foot of Mount Kennaird, about twenty miles north
of Peterhead, had become so ruinous that vessels lying within it
received almost as little shelter as if they had been exposed in
the open sea. Mr. Rennie had prepared a plan for its improvement
by running out a substantial north-eastern pier; and this was
eventually carried out by Mr. Telford in a modified form, proving
of substantial service to the trade of the port. Since then a
large and commodious new harbour has been formed at the place,
partly at the public expense and partly at that of the inhabitants,
rendering Frazerburgh a safe retreat for vessels of war as well as
merchantmen.

[Image] Banff.

Among the other important harbour works on the northeast coast
carried out by Mr. Telford under the Commissioners appointed to
administer the funds of the Forfeited Estates, were those at Banff,
the execution of which extended over many years; but, though
costly, they did not prove of anything like the same convenience as
those executed at Peterhead. The old harbour at the end of the
ridge running north and south, on which what is called the
"sea town" of Banff is situated, was completed in 1775, when the
place was already considered of some importance as a fishing station.

[Image] Banff Harbour.

This harbour occupies the triangular space at the north-eastern
extremity of the projecting point of land, at the opposite side of
which, fronting the north-west, is the little town and harbour of
Macduff. In 1816, Mr. Telford furnished the plan of a new pier
and breakwater, covering the old entrance, which presented an
opening to the N.N.E., with a basin occupying the intermediate
space. The inhabitants agreed to defray one half of the necessary
cost, and the Commissioners the other; and the plans having been
approved, the works were commenced in 1818. They were in full
progress when, unhappily, the same hurricane which in 1819 did so
much injury to the works at Peterhead, also fell upon those at
Banff, and carried away a large part of the unfinished pier.
This accident had the effect of interrupting the work, as well as
increasing its cost; but the whole was successfully completed by
the year 1822. Although the new harbour did not prove very safe,
and exhibited a tendency to become silted up with sand, it proved
of use in many respects, more particularly in preventing all swell
and agitation in the old harbour, which was thereby rendered the
safest artificial haven in the Murray Firth.

It is unnecessary to specify the alterations and improvements of a
similar character, adapted to the respective localities, which were
carried out by our engineer at Burgh Head, Nairn, Kirkwall, Tarbet,
Tobermory, Portmaholmac, Dingwall (with its canal two thousand
yards long, connecting the town in a complete manner with the Frith
of Cromarty), Cullen, Fortrose, Ballintraed, Portree, Jura,
Gourdon, Invergordon, and other places. Down to the year 1823,
the Commissioners had expended 108,530L. on the improvements of
these several ports, in aid of the local contributions of the
inhabitants and adjoining proprietors to a considerably greater
extent; the result of which was a great increase in the shipping
accommodation of the coast towns, to the benefit of the local
population, and of ship-owners and navigators generally.

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