Canal du Midi

Toulouse, France, is a city of nearly 150,000 inhabitants, situated on the river Garonne, occupying a position of great importance as the central city of Southern France. It is not a handsome city, with its rows of low red-brick buildings. The ancient town is irregularly laid out and badly paved, but nothing can ever rob Toulouse of its historic interest or its commercial position. The Canal du Midi begins here, which, with the river Garonne, makes a water highway across France from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. This canal is 148 miles long, 33 feet wide at the bottom, 65 at the surface, and is 61 feet deep. It is bordered by a double row of cypress trees, and was built in 1666-1681, entirely at the expense of one man, Paul Riquet, and cost $680,000,000. It has always been regarded as a marvel of engineering art; one hundred locks overcome a difference of 625 feet in level. It has lately been proposed to make it a ship canal.