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THIS river rises in the hills in the south of Lanarkshire. At first a rivulet, its waters are swelled by numerous streams, and wind to the sea through beautiful meadows and scenes of romantic beauty. It is seen at its best at the celebrated "Falls of Clyde" near Lanark. Here it rushes in rapid current between high wooded and rocky banks, its volume ever increasing until it boils and foams over Cora Linn, the principal fall, 84 feet in height. As it passes Bothwell and Uddingston the river gradually expands, and continues to broaden till the ancient Burgh of Rutherglen is reached: at one time this was a seaport town and claimed jurisdiction over Glasgow in tolls or customs. In its course of fifty miles to the sea, the Clyde, for sylvan beauty, is not surpassed by any of our rivers. Sixty years ago fish could be seen lazily swimming over its sand-covered bed; and it was not an uncommon circumstance for boys to make a sudden charge on the salmon - to their amusement and with very little damage to the fish. Sometimes, through keen frost, the Clyde used to be frozen over. On one occasion I remember seeing a horse and cart cross on the ice.
The river, at one time proverbial for the purity of its water, has long been not much better than a huge common sewer. This is caused not only by the sewage and chemical refuse of the city, but through many contributory channels and outlets that continue to drain into its upper reaches. The evil is now, however, being remedied. A practical scheme to render the sewage innocuous has been successfully inaugurated for the eastern section of the city (see page 219). The results have justified parliamentary powers being sought for the purpose of dealing with the other portions of the city.
In my early days there were few houses on the banks of the river; indeed, the larger portion of the ground on which buildings now stand was for a considerable distance on both the north and south sides waving cornfields and knowes of yellow broom, also green fields, over which wound slowly the lowing herds. Even the lower reaches were not then the scenes of busy industries. With the exception of a small silk mill at Govan, the first in Scotland, and a few other buildings, nothing worthy the name of public works could be found on either bank. Contrast "then" and "now," when both sides of the river resound with the busy clang of the hammer and the "multitudinous hum" of men, and the transformation excites our wonder.
In the suburbs were to be found the much frequented but now extinct and scarcely to be remembered "tea" gardens. These places of resort were situated in Bridgeton, on the ground where Robertson's mill now stands; at Rosehall Gardens, New City Road; and Roseneath Cottage, Paisley Road. Although called "tea" gardens, that comparatively harmless beverage was not the only one to be had. Whisky and ale could also be got. In the summer time curds and cream were dispensed to the younger visitors. These places were beautifully decorated with plants and flowers, and in them were found both birds and beasts - a menagerie on a small scale: one garden boasting a bear, while that in the east end possessed an eagle, caught, when young, on the Cathkin Braes. But gone are the gardens, and the places on which they flourished are covered with more prosaic, yet, perhaps, more useful dwelling-houses and public works.
In 1556 an attempt was made to remove a sandbank at Dumbreck, but either little good was effected, or the sand must have gathered again, for in 1656 one of Cromwell's Commissioners reported that the increase and growth of this "towne" were "chequed and kept under by the shallowness of her river, every day increasing and filling up, soe that noe vessels of any burden can come nearer up than within fourteen miles, where they must unlode and send up theyr timber and Norway Trade in rafts or floates and all other commodityes by three or four tonnes at a time in small cobles or boates, in three, four, five, and none above six tonnes a boat."
In 1740 another attempt at deepening the Clyde below the Broomielaw was made, but with so small result that in 1768 it was choked up with sandbanks, and from its numerous fords was only suitable for such craft as herring boats. About two years later, to deepen and broaden the waterway the Corporation employed an engineer, who by ingenious methods succeeded in forming channels, of from ten to twelve feet at spring tides, from Glasgow to Dumbarton. Other engineers, by the aid of powerful dredgers, removed the sand from its bed.
In 1809 the Lord Provost, Magistrates, and Council of Glasgow, as Clyde Trustees, were authorized to deepen the Clyde from Glasgow to Port-Glasgow, till such time as it was at least thirteen feet in depth.
At various times additional powers for deepening the river and for improving the harbour were obtained, and now at high tides there is a depth of water sufficient to float vessels of the largest dimensions. But it was no easy task to bring about this result without obstructing the navigation. The steam hopper barge overcame the difficulty, and the deepening and widening of the river and harbour were rapidly proceeded with, the material dredged being about three times as much as when steam tugs and trains of punts were employed.
In 1688 a quay at the Broomielaw was built at a cost of £1,666 13s. 4d. There was for a long time little quayage here, being in 1800 only 382 yards long. The quayage is now fully 11,000 yards. The extension was from Glasgow Bridge downward. The first dock, called Kingston Dock, opened in 1867, has 51 acres of water space and 830 lineal yards of quayage. The second, the Queen's Dock, was opened in 1880, and has 33¾ acres of water area and 3,334 yards of quayage.
It is amusing to read that in 1715 when the first Act was passed for a quayage at Glasgow, the money to pay for it was obtained out of a duty of two pennies Scots (the twelfth of a penny sterling) on every pint of ale and beer sold in Glasgow and "privileges" thereof.
In 1856 a private shipbuilding firm on the confines of the harbour built a graving dock 500 feet long in connection with their yard, but it was not until 1875 that the first public graving dock, 565 feet long, by 22 feet 10 inches on the sill at high water spring tides, was completed by the Clyde Trustees at a cost, exclusive of land, of £134,800. Another, 575 feet long, by 52 feet 4 inches wide at bottom, 92 feet wide at top, with the same depth on the sill as the last named, was opened in 1886 at a cost, exclusive of land, of £108,200. It was constructed without the aid of contractors, as has been the quayage of the harbour for the last ten years, by and from the designs of Mr. Deas, C.E., Engineer Clyde Navigation, to whose courtesy I am indebted for much information freely imparted.
The good work is not yet finished. Operations are presently being carried on, and it is believed, when the present harbour and dock-works are completed it is anticipated that the accommodation will then be adequate for years to come to meet the trade of the City and the enterprise of her merchants.
While this deepening was going on the river was made broader, and so changed that the aged citizen can hardly recognise the Clyde of his youthful years. As instances of the vastness of the improvements, these facts may be given. Before the year 1818 none of the vessels in the foreign trade came further up the river than Greenock or Port-Glasgow. Their cargoes were there discharged into lighters, which carried them to Glasgow. At that date the largest ships belonging to either Glasgow or Greenock did not exceed 400 tons. In 1821 vessels drawing 13½ feet came up the river. In 1889 vessels drawing 26 feet 5 inches reached the city, while steamers of 23 to 24½ feet draught pass up and down almost daily. In 1835 only one vessel of 320 tons arrived at the harbour. In 1840 the tonnage launched was infinitesimal, but in 1890 there was launched 352,124 tons. In 1840 the Trust's revenue was £46,536; in 1893 it had reached £368,497. The city's population has grown in proportion, being in 1841 (exclusive of those resident in the suburbs) 255,650, and in 1891 565,714, or, including the annexed burghs, 814,411. But perhaps the greatest example of progress on the Clyde is the Cessnock Dock, at present under construction, which will have a water area of 342 2/3 acres and 11,280 lineal feet of quayage; and the graving dock adjoining, also under construction, with a length of 880 feet on floor, 83 feet width of entrance, and with a depth of 26 feet on sill at average high water spring tides.
The Weir, which stood immediately above the jail Bridge, was removed some years ago, in the hope that this would benefit navigation. It formed a barrier to the flow and action of the tide in the upper reaches of the river, but in time of spates the banks were washed away and destroyed, necessitating piling and strengthening at considerable cost. It is now proposed to erect a new weir or tidal dam with improved means of outlet, which it is believed will be advantageous to the citizens and more serviceable for navigation.
It is not known when the Clyde was first navigated, but we do know that steamboat traffic began with the starting, in 1812, by Henry Bell, of the Comet, which ran between Glasgow and Greenock. The time taken in this voyage was occasionally something like this: Leaving Greenock at 10 A.M. for Glasgow, at 2 P.M. the Comet reached Bowling, 10½ miles above Greenock, a head wind delaying the little vessel. The tide having ebbed, the passengers were compelled to walk from this village to the city. On the downward voyage on one occasion the time taken was seven hours, three hours of which were spent on a sandbank at Erskine.
In 1854 the Glasgow, one of the first steamers trading between Glasgow and New York, struck upon what was at first supposed to be a large boulder, and knocked a hole in her bottom. Borings were made, and it was found that a whinstone rock, afterwards known as the Elderslie Rock, 925 feet in length and 320 feet in breadth, blocked the river a short distance above Renfrew. The explosives used in the removal of this obstruction were dynamite, blasting gelatine, tonite, and potentite, and in carrying out the enterprise there was this novelty - the holes were bored, charged, and exploded from a floating barge without the aid of divers.
The ferry boats form an important means of cross communication between the north and south sides of the City and suburbs. The Clyde Trustees have at present ten cross harbour ferry steamers, licensed to carry from ninety-three to 110 passengers (nine of them having fire engines on board), for the service of the four cross ferries within the limits of the harbour, and for the two across the river below the harbour at Meadowside and Whiteinch respectively, and two vehicular and passenger ferries combined, one at Finnieston, about the centre of the harbour, and the other at Govan. The ferry at Govan has been in existence for many years, by a boat worked by hand wheels up to 1867, and since then by steam. The first steamer accommodated three horses and carts and fifty passengers, or 200 passengers alone, and wrought on one chain stretched across the bottom of the river. A second steamer for the same ferry, designed by Mr. Deas, has two cart and carriage ways, one on each side, the passengers being accommodated in the centre. It carries eight horses and carts and 140 passengers, or 500 passengers alone, and is wrought on two chains, one on the inside of each cart and carriage way.
A vehicular ferry plies across the harbour at Finnieston, its main feature being an elevating deck raised and lowered by bevel and worm gearing, bringing the deck to the same level as the quay at any state of the tide.
In 1884 the Cluthas were established. These passenger steamers, now numbering ten, ply between Victoria Bridge and Whiteinch, a distance of 3½ miles, the fare charged being a penny. They are licensed to carry from 235 to 360 persons; sail every ten minutes, and call at the intermediate stations on both sides of the harbour. During the year which ended on the 30th June, 1892, they carried nearly three millions of passengers and drew a revenue of £12,373.
To the enterprise and intelligence of the Corporation and Clyde Trust is due the present position of the river and harbour, with its docks and tidal basins. The benefits derived from these improvements have not been confined to Glasgow alone. The neighbouring burghs of Partick and Govan owe much of their prosperity in shipbuilding and kindred trades, as well as in all departments of skilled labour, to the deepening of, and improvements connected with, our noble river.
Should the question be put: What is the cost since 1770, when the first important attempt to deepen the river was made? the answer is: Since that year, up to 30th June, 1892, the expenditure, omitting shillings and pence, amounted to £13,641,301. The gross revenue, from July, 1752, to 30th June, 1892, amounted to £8,890,279, while the total debt due by the Trust at the latter date was £4,843,228.
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