Alexandria Gazette

LOCAL MATTERS.

THE CANAL.--The following additional items of canal have been received:

Yesterday morning the millers of Georgetown held a meeting at the rooms of the Merchants' Exchange for the purpose of considering the proposition of Col. James G. Berret that the millers advance one year's water rent for the purpose of having the damage done the Georgetown level by the late freshet repaired; the canal company pledging themselves to have the necessary repairs completed in ten working days, provided the millers accede to their proposition. After a full and free interchange of opinion in reference to the proposition, it was unanimously agreed to accept the offer made by Col. Berret, after which the meeting adjourned.

Information has been received at the office of the canal company of seventeen breaks altogether on the canal from Cumberland to Georgetown, several of them being a great deal more extensive than those on the Georgetown level.

President Gorman returned to Georgetown yesterday. He estimates that the damages can be repaired so as to allow working the canal to Cumberland for about $200,000, though it will take a much greater amount to place the canal in anything like the condition it was before the flood. Work of repair will commence at once.

It is hoped that the canal may be opened some time next spring, but that will depend upon the weather this winter, whether the season is favorable or adverse to the work.

The losses in canal boats cannot be exactly stated, but so far as known there are about one hundred stranded or carried away and lost or injured. The boats, old and new together, will average about $1,000 in value each.

Mr. Gorman, the president, reports heavy breaks in the canal banks at several points between Georgetown and Seneca. At "Log Wall," ten or twelve miles west of Georgetown, one of the most serious breaks occurred, a large portion of the wall having been swept away.

The tow-path is damaged all along the 185 miles of the canal, and much sand and debris washed into it, but light boats have been able to pass from Seneca to Monocacy lock, near Weverton, and along that section the damage is not so serious as in other parts. From Monocacy lock to above Harper's Ferry there is scarcely a vestige of the tow path, and large sections of the bank are washed bodily out into the river. Locks 32 and 33, at and near Harper's Ferry, are almost totally destroyed, the stone work being torn up and washed out, except their iron fixtures. Above these locks the heavy embankments are washed out for about a hundred yards almost down to the bottom of the canal.

From Harper's Ferry to Antietam iron works the damage is very great. The guard bank at Harper's Ferry feeder, two miles west of Harper's Ferry, is washed entirely away for a distance of a half a mile. The damage at this point cannot be given with exactness. Between the feeder and dam No. 4, east of Williamsport, there are several breaks. At dam No. 4 it is known that about 125 feet of the masonry and bank of the dam have been washed away, and it is feared that other parts of the dam are materially injured, but the water is still too high to allow of a full examination. This dam cost nearly $500,000. So far as is known no aqueduct or culvert on the canal has been seriously injured.

The damage between Williamsport and Cumberland has not been definitely ascertained and the division superintendent is now on the line for inspection. The portion of the line between Weverton and Antietam creek will be very difficult to repair, as it will be a hard matter to get materials in place.

A dispatch from Baltimore says: The authentic dispatch from Cumberland states that the damage to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, though serious, was not so destructive as at first supposed. Navigation is ended for the year, but the canal will be repaired during the winter.