Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 April 1885 — The Liverpool Docks. [ARTICLE]

The Liverpool Docks.

The docks at Liverpool are on both sides of the River Mersey, extending on the side next the city miles, with a water area of 333 i acres, and a lineal quayage of 22 miles. This great system of floating docks was commenced by the corporation in IVO9. It was for a century under the control of the City Council, but since 1856 has been managed by a board, which controls the structures on both sides of the river. The amount of capital invested in the docks is £10,000,000, of which £7,000,000 is in Liverpool proper. The docks are all supported on floating bridges, or pontoons, so as to rise and fall with the tide, and when it is remembered that the difference between high and low water tide at Liverpool is fifteen feet, the value of the floating dock to commerce will be understood. Indeed, it may be said that Liverpool owes her great commercial prosperity to her great system of docks, as without them the Mersey would never have given anything more than a harbor for fishing smacks. The great landing stage at Liverpool is the finest structure of the kind in the woi Id. It was originally built in 1857, and was greatly enlarged in 1874, but almost immediately upon its completion, July 28,1874, it accidentally caught fire, and as the timber was impregnated with creosote, it was entirely burned. It was again built in the most substantial manner. Its length is 2,063 feet, and its breadth 80 feet. It is supported on floating pontoons rising and falling •with the tide, connected with the quay by seven bridges, besides a floating bridge for .heavy traffic 550 feet in length. The southern half is devoted to the traffic of the river ferries, and the northern half is used for sea-going steamers and for the tenders of the great ships of the line. The revenue of these docks is over one and onefourth millions pounds sterling annually, derived mainly from tonnage and ■dock rates. Vessels in the docks at Liverpool are protected by a seawall, which is over five miles in length, eleven feet in average thickness, and forty feet in average height from its foundations.— lnter Ocean.