In 1891 the North Staffordshire Railway Company obtained statutory powers to raise £400,000 () to widen and improve the canal. By 1893 the section between the Anderton Boat Lift and Middlewich had been widened and deepened to allow an increase in the maximum tonnage of boats using this section to be increased from 30 tons to 60 tons. The basin at Middlewich was widened from to with the erection of a concrete wall and an extension to the wharfage. The canal was dredged by a Priestman-type steam dredger which removed between 80,000 and 100,000 tons.
In 1891 the North Staffordshire Railway Company obtained statutory powers to raise £400,000 () to widen a.nd improve the canal. By 1893 the section between the Anderton Boat Lif.t and Middlewich had been widened and deepened to allow an increase in the maximum tonnage of boats using this section to be increased from 30 tons to 60 tons The basin at Middlewich was widened from to with the erection of a concrete wall and an extension to the wharfage. The canal was dredged by a Priestman-type steam dredger which removed between 80,000 and 100,000 tons