one was expensive, at more than £20,000, entering the Clyde at Glasgow Green. Its route involved 25 locks, with a summit above the level of the Clyde. Watt said: The Great expense of the above canal and the time that would be consumed in passing the locks ... have made me examine how far it is practicable to bring a canal without any locks ... I find that it can be brought to within a little more than a mile [1.6 km] of the town and that a waggon way or good causeway can be made for the remainder of the way. [This route] ends a little south of Jermiston, there appearing to be no possibility of bringing it near Glasgow on that level." This proposal seems to ignore completely the major problem of the of vertical interval at Blackhill, an obstacle that was to cause serious problems later. On 3 January 1770 the cheaper scheme—at £10,000—was laid before a meeting of business people, and following a second meeting on 11 January a subscription list was opened. The Town Council of Glasgow agreed to subscribe £500, with a complicated precondition designed to prevent the coalowners forming a cartel to keep prices high. The subscription list was swiftly filled, and the necessary Act of Parliament was secured on 12 April 1770. The Lord Provost was refunded "£65 as half of his charges in going to and coming from London anent obtaining the Act of Parliament ... the other half of such expense being chargeable on the proprietors of the Monkland Canal". The Act allowed the proprietors to raise £10,000 by issuing shares, and an additional £5,000 if necessary. Water for the canal was to be extracted from Frankfield Loch, Hogganfield Loch, and any other streams or lochs within of the proposed route which were not already supplying the Forth and Clyde Canal. The requirement in the Act to take water only from a narrow geographical area, and the prohibition on taking water from sources that fed the Forth and Clyde Canal resulted in continuing water shortage problems later. Construction starts under James Watt The construction process was very difficult and protracted. It was supervised by Watt, with work beginning on 26 June 1770 at Sheepford, working westward. Evidently he let contracts directly and seemingly informally, in sections; he soon found that contractors were incapable of pricing the jobs properly, or even