Cart, a river of Renfrewshire, formed by the union of the Black Cart and the White Cart at Inchinnan Bridge, and running 7 furlongs northward, along the boundary between Renfrew and Inchinnan parishes, to the Clyde, 1¼ mile NW of Renfrew town. Its banks are low and wooded; and its mouth contains a wooded islet, said to have been formed by a sunken raft of timber. The Black Cart issues from Castle Semple Loch in Lochwinnoch parish; runs about 9 miles north-eastward past Johnstone and Linwood; and receives the Gryfe from the W at Walkinshaw. Its valley, from head to foot, has nowhere an elevation of 100 feet above sea-level; and its current is dark and sluggish.-The White Cart, rising in the moors of Eaglesham, near the meeting-point of Renfrew, Lanark, and Ayr shires, runs 9 miles northward, partly in Eaglesham, partly on the boundary between Renfrew and Lanark shires, partly in Cathcart; then turns 7 miles westward, past Pollokshaws and Crookston Castle, to Paisley, receiving the Levern from the S near Crookston Castle; and again runs 2½ miles northward, through Abbey and Renfrew parishes, to its confluence with the Black Cart. Its upper and middle reaches, particularly in Cathcart parish, and thence to the neighbourhood of Paisley, exhibit beautiful scenery, sung by Burns, Campbell, Tannahill, and Graham; and its waters drive a vast amount of machinery, particularly at Pollokshaws and Paisley, and are navigable up to Paisley for vessels of 80 tons burden. Once everywhere a noble angling water for trout, perch, and braise, the Cart, both in its main body and in much of its upper streams, has been foully polluted by the discharges of public works. Its navigable communication from the Clyde to Paisley was naturally obstructed by shallows at Inchinnan Bridge; but now is aided by a canal cut. A navigation, continuous with it, from the Clyde opposite its mouth to the Forth and Clyde Canal, was artificially formed in 1840; bears the name of the Cart and Forth Junction Canal; and is about ¾ mile long.—Ord. Sur., shs. 22,30,1865-66.
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