The concept of bringing ocean-going vessels to the landlocked industrial city of Manchester, over 30 miles inland from the sea, had been discussed from the earliest days of canals in England, ie the mid 1700s. The Duke of Bridgewater's canal, taking coal from his mines to Manchester, paved the way. The Civil War in America, and its impact on Manchester's trade, leading to an economic recession in the city, precipitated the need to bypass the Port of Liverpool. Liverpool, at that time, had the monopoly on deep sea trade and Manchester, paying heavy tarriffs for goods imported and exported, suffered badly. Enter Daniel Adamson.

Daniel Adamson was an engineer, a man who, from humble origins in Durham, had become an engineer and made his home in Manchester. In the city, he had prospered as a factory owner and was a man of influence and respect. So it was that, in 1882, he called a meeting of Manchester's business men, civic leaders, bankers and men of influence, the subject of which was to be the creation of a waterway for deep sea vessels into Manchester. Two engineers, Fulton and Edward Leader Williams had drawn up proposals and a decision was made to go ahead and seek the necessary statutory powers, from Parliament, to create The Manchester Ship Canal Company. There was strong opposition to the proposal, particularly from the Port of Liverpool and the railway company, both of which stood to lose revenue if trans-world ships could dock in Manchester to load or unload goods. The first bill, presented in 1882, failed, as did the 2nd bill, however, at the 3rd attempt, in August 1885 it received the Queen's Assent and the company was formed. The directors of the new company arrived back in Manchester to jubilant crowds and celebrations. It was, rightly, perceived as the dawn of a new era of prosperity for Manchester. Now the serious work had to begin; money had to be raised; the assets of the Bridgewater Canal company had to be bought out (the route of the ship canal would encompass a section of the Mersey and Irwell River Navigation, the company of which had been bought by the Bridgewater Canal Company); and construction had to begin within 2 years!

Daniel Adamson's plan had been for a canal which would both benefit the people of Manchester and be owned by those same people; a canal to be owned by private individuals rather than city authorities or bankers. Consequently, schemes enabling ordinary people to purchase shares for £10 were put in place. Although 39,000 enthusiastic individuals bought shares in the company the amount of money generated was far from adequate. The decision was made to raise further money from banks and a disappointed Daniel Adamson stepped down as chairman of the board. At that time the company had the largest number of shareholders, for any company, in the UK. Daniel Adamson died, whilst the canal was still under construction, and never saw his dream come to fruition.

The necessary funds were raised and, eventually, in 1887 construction began. As with any great enterprise unseen problems and setbacks occurred. The engineer and civil contractor appointed to the project, Thomas Walker, died suddenly. The company didn't appoint another civil contractor but, instead, appointed Edward Leader Williams as chief engineer supervising construction but answerable to the board of directors. Then, in 1890 and again, the following year in 1891, there were unprecedented storms and disastrous flooding which, on each occasion, did tremendous damage to the diggings and machinery etc., putting completion of the project back by many months and financially almost crippling the infant company. The company turned to the civic authorities, this time, for loans. In return for a large loan, Manchester demanded the right to appoint the deputy chairman and a number of directors, giving it an overall majority, of its appointees, on the board. This situation remained until the 1980s when the Manchester Ship Canal Company was taken over by Peel Holdings. This action created a conflict of interest as their intent was to acquire land for development, not to re-invigorate the Port of Manchester. The civic representatives on the board would be unable to fulfill their obligations to both the civic authority of Manchester and also to the parent company, Peel Holdings, whose plans were to create the Trafford Centre retail park.A solution was found and Manchester City Council was re-imbursed, for the original loan, by Peel Holdings. The Port of Manchester with its docks was entering a new era and would soon become more well known as Salford Quays, with the Imperial War Museum of the North, The Lowry Centre, the many futuristic office buildings and new houses and apartments all to be found there.

During its construction there would be as many as 17,000 men employed, ranging from labourers to craftmen to engineers and surveyors. The workings were known, affectionately, as the 'Big Ditch' Before his death Thomas Walker, the civil contractor, had been concerned for the welfare of the men and families who would be employed. Small 'tvillages' grew up with properly spaced cottages for the families; single men in lodgings were assured of a hot meal before leaving for work and the same on their return. A full time medical officer, Robert Jones, was employed and first aid stations were set up along the line of the workings. Over the course of its construction at least 100 men died as a result of accidents. Today, this seems an unacceptably high number but, put agains the many thousands that died in the building of the Panama canal, the total was acceptable at the time. Health and Safety in the workplace were not considered important issues and, inevitably, there were accidents in which men lost limbs,. Walker and those that followed, after his death, tried to ensure that these men were still found employment, within their more restricted abilities, on the workings. They acquired the rather insensitive knickname of, 'Walker's Fragments'!

Many of the workers were recruited locally but some, with specialist skills, were brought in from the continent. Amongst these were workers from Holland, who plaited willow nets to stabilise the banks of the canal. The same nets are still performing that function over 100 years later. The lock gates, made from hardwood imported from South America, have also stood the tough test of time, many of them still in place and functioning properly. By a strange twist of circumstances, the railway company, which had opposed the canal's existence, had to shoulder the financial burden of lifting the 5 railway bridges that carried the railway line across the canal. The minimum distance for 'air draught' (ie the distance between the highest point of the ship and the underside of the bridge) had to be a minimum of 73 feet. As a result, embankments had to be built and bridges made higher. The railway company's responsibility dated back to a clause, inserted by the Bridgewater Canal Company, in an agreement allowing the railways to build bridges over the Bridgewater canal. It stated that if, for any reason, the bridges had to be made higher, the railways must meet the cost! Over 150 years later that clause was 'worth its weitght in gold' to the canal company!

Back to the 1890s and the first commercial traffic proceeded in convoy along the 36 miles of canal from Eastham (just beyond Ellesmere Port) to the Port of Manchester (although technically it's in Salford!). Enormous crowds came to witness the opening which was conducted by Queen Victoria. She arrived by train, at London Road Station (later re-named Piccadilly station), and from there she progressed through the city, which was decked out with bunting and ornamental arches, through Stretford and then to the port where she boarded the Royal Yacht and did a ceremonial sail around the docks. Apprently she was heard to remark on the very noticeable 'smell'! The Manchester Ship Canal ranks with the greatest; it has the same specifications as the Suez canal (which is over a100 miles in length) and is only 5 miles shorter than the Panama Canal.

Did the canal achieve the high hopes of its original instigators? Many would argue that it did. Merchants of Manchester had been used to paying 19s 6d (19 shillings and 6 pence) a ton for exporting finished cotton goods from Manchester via Liverpool. Charges to the Port Authority and the railways accounted for 12s 6d (12 shillings and 6 pence) using the canal they found that their charges were reduced to 3/- (3 shillings). The Trafford industrial estate grew up aound the docks and, in terms of volume of goods handled, the Port of Manchester was the third largest in England, behind only London and Southampton. At its busiest it was larger than Liverpool. In 1905 a new dock, 'Number 9', was constructed to handle the vast amounts of grain imported from Canada. The dock was opened in 1905 by King Edward Vll.

The Port prospered throught the first half of the 20th century but the decline started, amongst other factors, with the introduction of containerised cargoes. The rapid turnaround, of container-carrying ships, in port, meant that the 8 hours passage, in each direction, up the Manchester Ship Canal, assumed a new financial significance. The Port of Manchester, along with others, went into serious decline although the lower reaches of the Ship Canal continued to handle relatively large volumes of traffic, around 7million tons at Ellesmere Port and Runcorn. Today the Port of Manchester has been re-born as 'Salford Quays', an achievement largely due to the vision and enterprise of the Salford City authority, and new life has been breathed into what had become, quite recently, derelict and desolate spaces.