vessels that could use the Forth and Clyde Canal, which could then reach Tennent's chemical works. Opening bridges were provided at Glebe Street and Port Dundas. Boats The boats used on the canal were originally flat-bottomed wooden vessels with a low freeboard; they had no living accommodation nor any protection for their crew, and they were horse-drawn. Hutton says that they were habitually known as "scows". Steam vessels with screw propellers were introduced from the 1850s. A iron boat was launched in May 1819 and entered service on the Forth and Clyde Canal as a passenger boat. Named the Vulcan, she is famous for being the first iron boat made in Scotland. Although she operated on another canal, she was made at Thomas Wilson's Faskine boatyard, partly because of the proximity of ironworks and ironfounders. She was scrapped in 1873. In 1986 Monklands District Council had a replica constructed. This can now be seen on the canal within Summerlee Museum of Scottish Industrial Life. History Origins Prior to 1743 coal had been mined in Little Govan, close to Glasgow. When that working ceased, the price of coal in Glasgow rose considerably, doubling by 1760 (from between 1/1 and 1/3 per cart of 7 cwt), to between 2/1 and 2/6. (1 cwt = 112 lb or 51 kg). Available coal was mined in Lanarkshire, but, before proper roads were built, the cost of transport by horse and cart was a significant factor. When the Trades House of Glasgow protested, one member cited another cause: that the coal masters had combined to keep prices high; he asserted that the price ought not to exceed 1/6, including 6d for cartage and tolls. The inventor and engineer James Watt said later that Monklands was "a country full of level free coals of good quality, in the hands of many proprietors, who sell them at present at 6d per cart of 7 cwt at the pit". By 1768, the rapid growth of Glasgow had vastly increased the demand for coal, and its price: several bodies expressed concern, and the magistrates of Glasgow took action. The Lord Provost was James Buchanan of Drumpellier, and the rich Monklands coalfield was practically untapped. Canals were being promoted all over the country, and seemed to be the obvious solution here; the magistrates commissioned James Watt to recommend a route. In November 1769 he reported back, suggesting two possible routes;