Historic Highways of America (Vol. 14)

The "great western" route through New York State to the Lakes has come under consideration in our study of highways in three places: as an Indian trail, as a portage path, and as a pioneer road. The old Iroquois Trail, as we have called it, ran up the Mohawk, which it crossed at Nun-da-da-sis, "around the hill," (Utica); thence it made for the Genesee River and the Niagara frontier; an important tributary pathway led down the Genesee to Swa-geh (Oswego) on Lake Ontario. This was the landward route from the Hudson to the Great Lakes.

As a thoroughfare in its entirety, it meant much to the Indians, but very little to the white men before the nineteenth century. Though the lower Mohawk Valley was sparsely settled early in the eighteenth century, white men did not build their cabins along the Iroquois Trail to the westward until nearly a century later, when the old Genesee Road was opened. Until then the country through which the Iroquois Trail ran had been a terra incognita where only Indian runners knew the way through the Long House of the Iroquois. Yet it was a pleasant country for all the forest shades; from Nun-da-da-sis the trail ran on, leaving the Mohawk River and Ole-hisk, "the place of nettles"-the famed battlefield of Oriskany-to the north, passing Ka-ne-go-dick (Wood Creek) and Ga-no-a-lo-hole (Lake Oneida), the "Lake of the Head on a Pole."[1] To the southward, the path bore away toward Na-ta-dunk (Syracuse), the place of the "broken pine-tree," and Ga-do-quat (Fort Brewerton). There were the silver lakes strung like white gems on wreaths of heaviest green. The low lands of the Genesee country, soon to see the great advances heralded by the famous purchases of land speculators, intervened; and straight beyond, far away across the pine-tree tops, gleamed the Great Lakes and the plunging river between them; the deep growl of Niagara seemed to warn voyageurs away to the forest trails on either side. Those falls were the only interruption in a water highway which in many aspects is, today, the most stupendous in the world.

Had this winding trail been the only means of communication between the rapidly filling Hudson River valley and the chain of lakes to the northwest, it is very probable that a Braddock or a Forbes would have built a military road even through that bloody Long House; but the Mohawk River, and the Oswego, offered a waterway which, though difficult and uncertain, was the white man's route from the Hudson to the Lakes-the western war route of which the portage at Rome was the key. A clear picture of the old Mohawk would be a precious possession. The records, however, are so few and so general in character that one would be at a loss to supply an artist with his material. It is only in the staid reports of old navigation companies that we get any definite description of our old-time rivers. We know of the main obstructions to continuous navigation in the Mohawk; first there was the Ga-ha-oose Falls, or Cohoes Falls as we know them today. These were impassable for any craft, and made Schenectady the metropolis of the lower Mohawk Valley because it was the Mohawk terminus of the difficult portage to Albany through the pine barrens. Thus the old-time river traffic began at Schenectady. Proceeding northward by Te-hon-de-lo-ga, the famous lower castle of the Mohawks, and Ga-no-jo-hi-e, the middle castle, the traveler passed the present Fonda, which was Ga-na-wa-da, "over the rapids," and came to the rocky confines of Ta-la-que-ga, the "place of small bushes"-the present Little Falls. Here the roaring rapids interrupted all navigation, empty boats not even being able to pass over them. The early portage of one mile here in sleds over the swampy ground has been described as it was in 1756, when enterprising Teutons residing here transferred all boats in sleds over marshy ground which would "admit of no wheel carriage." In all of the military operations in the Mohawk Valley in the French and Indian and Revolutionary wars this portage played a part. As early as 1768, Governor Sir Henry Moore suggested the improvement of the Mohawk at the Falls of Canajoharie. A route for a canal around Niagara Falls was surveyed in 1784. Travelers to Niagara with heavy baggage invariably went by way of the Mohawk batteaus. We have seen that in 1793 two of the commissioners to the western Indians, traveling light, went overland by horse to the Genesee, while General Lincoln went with the heavy baggage by way of the Mohawk.[2] From Schenectady to the Oneida Portage at Rome, Little Falls offered the only insurmountable obstruction; later on, about 1790, we find that the Germans' sleds were out of use and that boats were transferred on wheeled vehicles appropriately fashioned to carry them without damage to their hulls. No great boats could be transferred by such means; this fact had a tendency to limit the carrying capacity of Mohawk batteaus to about one and a half tons. These boats were operated by three men, and a journey from Rome to Schenectady and return-one hundred and twelve miles-required, at the least estimate, nine days. Such was the high rate of freight that, if no return freight was secured, the cost of sending a ton to Schenectady equaled one man's wages for eighteen days, about fourteen dollars.

The improvement of the Mohawk before 1792 was, without doubt, of no real consequence. Ascending boatmen and forwarding companies here and there of necessity made the river passable, otherwise there could have been no traffic at all. As one of our maps shows, as early as 1730 a neck of land, in one instance, was cut through.[3] The batteaus which carried provisions and ammunition northward to Fort Stanwix or Fort Schuyler probably often broke a new way through the dams of forest driftwood which the flood tides left; and at high tide there was, we know, good downward navigation. Elkanah Watson must be remembered as one of the pioneers in the improvement of the central New York waterway. In 1788 he made a western journey by way of the Mohawk, and his journal is full of observations which show him to have been a far-sighted man with correct ideas of the logical advance of commerce and the revolutions it would make.[4] Returning from his journey October, 1791, he prepared all the facts in favor of improving New York's western waterway, in the form of a pamphlet which he presented to General Schuyler, then a member of the state senate. He also contributed an anonymous article to one of the papers in January, 1792, urging publicly the improvement of the Mohawk and Oswego Rivers.[5]

Public interest being awakened, in one way or another, as to the value of the river route westward, and the route up the Hudson and across to Lake George and Lake Champlain, a bill was presented to the New York legislature authorizing the formation of two companies to undertake the work of improving these strategic passageways between the country east of the state and the country west. Accordingly, on the thirtieth day of March, 1792, the following act was passed by the legislature: An Act for establishing and opening Lock Navigation within this State.[6] The legal name of the company which was to operate on the Mohawk was the "president, directors, and company of the western inland lock navigation in the state of New-York." The word "northern" was inserted in the legal name of the Hudson-Lake Champlain company, which was otherwise the same. The two companies were chartered by one and the same act, on exactly the same basis; we will consider, however, only the one under discussion.

The Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, to operate between the Hudson, and Lake Seneca and Lake Ontario, was to be capitalized at $25,000; one thousand shares of twenty-five dollars each, no stockholder being allowed more than ten shares. The subscription books were ordered to be opened at New York and Albany on the first Tuesday of May, 1792, and kept open until the last Tuesday. If five hundred shares were taken the organization became effective. Thirteen directors were to control its affairs and they were to be elected annually. Article VII authorized "... each of the said corporations ... [to] enter into, and upon all and singular the land and lands covered with water, where they shall deem it proper to carry the canals and navigation hereinbefore particularly assigned to each...." The stipulations usually made in such cases, as to the company's right to enter land by paying damages, were nominated. The controlling officers were empowered to name the per cent of stock the stockholders were to be required to pay. They were also to decide upon the rates of toll to be charged to boats for the enjoyment of benefits of navigation; the one restriction was that the charge for one ton of freight from Ontario or Seneca lakes to the Hudson should not exceed twenty-five dollars, and other tolls were to be pro rata. The directors were to be allowed to increase the capital stock at discretion, and were ordered to make semiannual reports to the public. After ten years an abstract record was to be published for the inspection of the legislature, and if the profits were found to exceed fifteen per cent, the excess above this amount they were to turn over to the state treasurer. The act of incorporation also stipulated that the company's charter became void if work was not undertaken in five years; if the work was not completed in fifteen years, all rights, so far as the residue was concerned, were to be forfeited. The state of New York promised to give, as a free gift, to both the Western and the Northern companies, $12,500 as soon as both had invested $25,000 in the work on which they were starting.

On December 22, 1792, the act was amended as the lessons of the season seemed to indicate that there was necessity. The principal amendments were that the locks built on the company's works should have a breadth of not less than ten feet at the base and should have a length of not less than seventy feet between gates. The company was to be allowed, in the future, to take up land without first having paid for it-settlement to be made afterward in proper legal form. The land under all locks was vested in the company owning the locks.[7]

It would seem from Elkanah Watson's account that, when these subscription books were opened for signatures of prospective stockholders, there were absolutely no subscribers forthcoming. "They had been opened three days by the committee," he wrote from New York where he happened to be in April (?), "at the old coffee-house, and not a share was subscribed. I considered the cause hopeless-called on my friend (I think it was) James Watson, Esq., and induced him, with much pursuasion, to subscribe twenty [?] shares; from that moment the subscriptions went on briskly. On my arrival in Albany, the commissioners had kept the books open several days, at Lewis's old tavern, in State street, and no mortal had yet signed to exceed two shares. I immediately subscribed seven in each company...." Watson also wrote to Schuyler of the low state of affairs; the latter ordered him to subscribe to ten shares in Schuyler's name.[8]

A committee appointed by the directors of the Western Company, August 14, 1792, consisting of Philip Schuyler, Goldsbrow Bangar, and Elkanah Watson, to examine the Mohawk from Fort Schuyler (Rome) to Schenectady, reported in the following September. Accompanied by the surveyor Moses De Witt, and Mr. Lightall, a carpenter, and a Mr. Nesbit, the committee left Schenectady August 21 in a batteau, and reached Fort Schuyler on the twenty-ninth. Their itinerary gives us a picture of the old river, and preserves valuable facts for local historians.[9] The first day's journey was six and one-half miles to John Mabey's, half a mile above Jacobus Swart's. Six rapids were passed, over which the water ran, on the average, a foot and a half deep-the river then having the least water running "within the memory of the eldest person." The night of the twenty-second was spent at John Fonda's, seventeen and three-fourths miles up the river; in this distance were five sharp rapids and many small rapids with shallow water, as at Sir William Johnson's "first settlement," eight and one-half miles above Mabey's. The night of the twenty-third was spent at Mr. Nellis's, nineteen and three-fourths miles on; one mile above Fonda's was "Caughnawaga rift, deep, incommoded with large rocks;" nine miles onward, lay Kettar's rapid, and two and a half miles on was Colonel John Fry's. A journey of four miles the next day brought the examiners to Fort Hendrick, four and a half miles below Little Falls. "From the landing at the foot [of Little Falls], to the landing at the head of the Falls, is about three-quarters of a mile, the height thirty-nine feet two inches, the ground stony, rocky and rough." It will be seen that this was not the old-time portage over which boats were drawn on sleds. Two days were spent examining this strategic fall. Proceeding on the twenty-seventh, Fort Schuyler, about fifty miles distant, was reached on the twenty-ninth. The navigation throughout this distance was good with but two rapids, Orendorff's and Wolf's.

The recommendations of the committee affirm that the work at Little Falls will be the most important and expensive single work, and would consist of a canal by which river craft can overcome the fall of nearly forty feet; in addition to the canal "a strong work ... to prevent the Canal and Locks from being overflowed, and damaged in high freshes; at this point two guard gates at the distance of seventy feet from each other must be placed; the surface of the ground here is eight feet eight inches above the level of the water in the river above the falls, and, as three feet ought to be given for the depth of the water in the Canal, the depth to be dug at this point will be nearly twelve feet.... Many large stones and rocks, and probably much solid rock will be found in all the distance ... which is 1666 feet; the quantity of earth, stone, and rock to be removed in this space, if the Canal has ten feet base, will be about 242,200 cubic feet. [For] 422 feet the Canal must be confined by a double dyke, or embankment, about four feet high; [for] 123 feet the whole depth to be dug is about 4? feet and contains 5,085 cubic feet; at various places to the water at the bottom of the falls about 100,000 cubic feet of earth must be removed, and about 1,200 feet of a dyke to be made. An estimate of the expense of this work with five Locks ... amounts to ￡10,500."

The improvement of the river from Schenectady to the mouth of the Schoharie would call for an expenditure of ￡20,000 in dykes, dams, and small canals.

At Rome a canal 5,352 feet long was proposed as a substitute for the ancient portage path; "apparently the mean depth of the earth to be removed for forming the Canal would be about twelve feet at the greatest depth, hence about 642,240 cubic feet of earth must be removed. The ground though soft is so much interwoven with the roots of trees, and the work will also be so much retarded by the influx of water into the Canal whilst digging, that it is supposed that one man could not remove above fifty cubic feet per day, hence 12,845 days for one man would be required; which at 4s. per day amounts to ￡2,569. In very dry times, such as the present, the water in the Mohawk is so little that none can be spared to increase the quantity in Wood Creek. A bulkhead must therefore be placed ... precisely of the height with the level of the water in the Mohawk, a boat then in this low state of the river coming up Wood Creek ... must unlade, and be drawn across the bulkhead into the Canal; there reloaded and proceed through the Canal into the Mohawk River; but when the Mohawk River rises so much as that a quantity of water equal to carry an empty boat is added to the water in the river, the water on the bulkhead will rise to nearly that height, and the empty boat will pass. If the rise be equal to the water drawn by a loaded boat, the boat and its cargo will pass the bulkhead into the Canal. It is evident by this arrangement the navigation of Wood Creek will be much mended whenever the water in the Mohawk is higher than at present. The whole expence at this place will probably not exceed ￡3,000."

Many of the general observations of this committee are important in the history of water transportation across New York.

"Having premised thus much your Committee beg leave to observe, That since (except in such an extraordinary dry season as the present) the river from Schenectady to Scohara Creek is capable of considerable navigation-is still better from thence to the Falls, and will be good to Fort Schuyler, especially if the trees and timber are removed, That therefore, except the removal of the trees and timber West of, and blowing a few rocks on, some of the rapids, East of the Falls, nothing further should be speedily attempted in the parts mentioned; but that the primary exertions should be directed to the Canal and Locks at the Falls; that when this is completed, the water in the river above, will probably be sufficiently low to clear away the timber which incommodes it, and to do the like by Wood-Creek down to the Oneida Lake, and to remove the most dangerous rocks below the Falls. This accomplished, the next in degree of eligibility, appears to your Committee, to extend the navigation from Schenectady to the navigable waters of the Hudson-because when with the improvements above suggested, the river shall be rendered navigable in the greater part of its extent from Fort Schuyler to Schenectady, in all seasons not so dry as the present, for boats of considerable burthen; yet the portage from Schenectady to Albany, is not only a very heavy charge on the produce of the upper country, but attended with serious inconveniences to those who enter largely into the interior commerce. To prepare for the accomplishment of this apparently very necessary part of the navigation, your committee recommend, That accurate surveys should be made, as early in the ensuing spring as circumstances will permit, to enable the board to determine the direction in which Canals are to run, to take the necessary preliminary measures for providing the materials; that, if the works at the Falls, &c., should be completed before the whole of the next operating season is expired, the residue may be appropriated to this important part of the navigation, and completed in the succeeding year;-Soon after this shall be accomplished, the company will be enabled to judge with precision, what farther is in their power, and if what they have done, should prove beneficial to the community at large, and the resources of the company be then found not competent to such a perfect completion of the whole internal navigation, as is contemplated by the act of incorporation, there can be little doubt but that an enlightened Legislature will extend its aid, to objects promising such extensive benefits to every class of citizens.

"It now remains for your Committee to venture an opinion on the mode of conducting the contemplated improvements. The observations already made will evince the necessity of strict economy in every operation. It will certainly occur to the Directors, that in a work so extensive, as that committed to them, much unnecessary expence, and much waste of time must be incurred, unless the executive part of the business be properly conferred; and your committee, to avoid this evil as much as possible, recommend that the executive of the business should be committed to a single directing head, to a man of known and acknowledged abilities, of a mind so comprehensive, as to combine and form all the arrangements, with a minute detail of each part....

"A Person who has had practical experience in making canals and locks, would be a desirable and valuable acquisition, but such a person may not be attainable in this country; if so, it has occurred to your committee, that probably the defect might be supplied, if the person to whom the general direction shall be committed was to select two or three of our most ingenious and best informed carpenters, and repair with them to view the works in Pennsylvania and Virginia, with a critical and close attention. Canals and locks are already formed there, and little doubt can be entertained but that every information which gentlemen are capable of communicating will be afforded with alacrity; and your committee have too good an opinion of their countrymen to apprehend, that if your superintendant is a man of genius, and the mechanics who accompany him men of approved reputation in their professions, they would not after such an inspection be able to fulfil the wishes of their employers with satisfaction and credit to both."

Work on the Mohawk River improvements[10] was begun in April, 1793, by a force of three hundred men; the digging of the canal around the Little Falls was the most important item in the difficult undertaking. Soon the company's funds gave out and work ceased. It was begun again feebly in January, 1794, in hopes that the next legislature would assist by grants, loans, or money, or by subscribing to stock in the company. In this the company was not disappointed, for the state subscribed to two hundred shares of stock in each of the improvement schemes. In May, 1795, work was again resumed, and in November of that year boats could go about Little Falls in the canal. It was opened November seventeenth and on that day nine boats passed through gratis. In the next thirty days "eight large boats, and one hundred and two small boats, passed the little falls on the Mohawk, and paid toll in the aggregate of ￡80.10."[11]

This famous little canal, for in its day it was a very significant piece of work, was 4,752 feet long; it contained five locks, each having a lift of about nine feet; the total rise of boats ascending was forty-four feet and seven inches. The locks were located at the lower end of the canal; "the pits, in which they are placed, have been excavated out of solid rock, of the hardest kind. The area of the chambers was 74×12 feet, admitting boats drawing 3? feet; the depth of water in the canal above the locks was three feet and would float boats carrying 32 tons; the time of the passage was three quarters of an hour. Nearly one-half of the canal (2550 feet) was cut through solid rock and its total original cost was about $50,000."

At the same time, 1793, work was begun at other points, principally on a canal from the Mohawk to the Hudson (to avoid Cohoes Falls), but the work soon ceased because of lack of funds. In that summer the preliminary work on the water route down Wood Creek and the Onondaga to Lake Ontario was done. The little, winding creek was found to be almost incorrigible. It was so crooked that thirteen cuts were made across the points of land contained within its curving banks. The banks were lined with aged trees whose predecessors had fallen into the narrow waterway which they choked with their many huge, straggling branches. It was no less a task to remove the débris from the waterway than it was to remove from the banks the trees which would fall into the water during the next windstorm. Many have written gaily of the swift canoes of the olden days, gliding peacefully on the limpid surface of the old-time rivers; a study of the condition of the old Mohawk, Susquehanna, or Ohio would have corrected suggestions which are inherently misrepresentations. On such smaller streams as Little River or Wood Creek, the havoc of the wind was even more noticeable. The company now at work on Wood Creek planned to clear the banks of timber for four rods back on each bank and, by the report of 1796, the contracts were actually proposed to that effect. The company had trouble with settlers along the rivers, for felling trees which grew along the banks into the water, thereby saving themselves the labor of burning them or hauling them away. The company expected to cut a canal from the Mohawk to Wood Creek near Rome, New York, to take the place of the famous portage path. In the report of 1796 it was proposed even to mortgage the works at Little Falls in order to secure funds for this portage canal.

The plan of the complete communication was outlined by the company's engineer, Mr. Weston, December 23, 1795, and was embodied in the report of 1796. It called for a canal from the Hudson, above Lansing's Mill, to the Mohawk above Cohoes Falls; these falls, seventy feet in height, had made necessary the portage path through the pine barrens from Schenectady to Albany. The surveyor spoke hopefully of the rapids between Schenectady and Utica (Fort Schuyler) since rapids always indicated pools above and below. The rapids were to be overcome by small, low dams with oblique walls "to collect a greater quantity of water in the channel and pond above." In the forty odd miles down Wood Creek and Lake Oneida to Fort Brewerton, the "chief impediment is occasioned by an old Indian ell wear [weir]-a wing wall to confine the channel into a narrow compass."[12] At Oswego Falls (Rochester) a canal was proposed on the south side of the river, sixty-two chains in length, and with a fall of eighteen feet. Thence to Lake Ontario, twelve miles, the rapidity of the river necessitated a series of dams and locks. "Arrived at lake Ontario, it is almost superfluous to remark (what is so obvious to every person the least acquainted with the geography of the state) on the immense expanse of internal navigation, that opens upon our view-the extent of these lakes (with one obstruction only, that doubtless will be surmounted in a few years) presents to the mind-a scene unequalled in any other part of the globe; offering to the enterprising and adventurous, sources of trade, rapidly advancing to an incalculable amount, ensuring a certain recompence to the individuals, who promote, and the state, that patronizes their important undertakings." Thus Mr. Weston concluded his report.

Yet the projectors of this work were men ahead of their days; in a great measure public sympathy was not in favor of the undertaking, especially along the line of operation. Here the strongest objections were raised, some of them of a curious nature. One petition to the legislature read that the operations on the Hudson "will Cause the Fish to wit Shad, Herrin &c. Totally to Abandon the North River, a circumstance which would be felt not only by Your Petitioners but by thousands Residing between Fort Edward and as far Southward as the River Extends."[13]

It was found to be all the company could do to keep things going on the eastern division of their works; much less carry on the work in the west. In ten years the company spent $367,743 and, in the end, sank about $100,000 more. The greatest expense was in remedying faults and failures. "... hence the expenditures baffled all calculation," frankly writes Watson; "-besides, we were all novices in this department.... Indeed we were so extremely deficient in a knowledge of the science of constructing locks and canals, that we found it expedient to send a committee of respectable mechanics, to examine the imperfect works then constructing on the Potowmac,[14] for the purpose of gaining information-we had no other resource but from books."[15] Wooden locks were built at Little Falls, German Flats, and Rome at large expense, and these rotted in six years. It was wooden locks like these that the New Yorkers had found the Virginians building on the Potomac. The locks at German Flats and at Rome were rebuilt with brick, but the mortar was poor and they fell to pieces. Finally, at all points, the locks were built of stone. This experimenting was extremely expensive work and explains why, for a long time, no dividends could be paid. Up to December, 1804, the company had received $232,000, which was paid on 2,630 shares of capital stock. It had received $25,494 on forfeited shares. The tolls at Little Falls since 1796, when the works there were completed, amounted to $58,346; at Rome, $15,037 had been taken in as tolls. The sum of $12,500 had been received as a gift from the state. Of the total stock the state held $92,000, and the private stockholders, $140,000. In 1798 a dividend of 3 per cent had been declared; in 1813, a dividend of 3?; in 1814, a dividend of 3; 4? per cent dividend was paid in 1815, 8 per cent in 1816, 3 per cent in 1817, and 5? per cent in 1818. All receipts from 1798 to 1813 had been absorbed in improvements and repairs.[16]

* * *

The honor of originating the plan of a canal from the Great Lakes to the Hudson will forever lie with the brilliant, visionary Gouverneur Morris. The idea must have suggested itself to other minds even if it occurred to Morris originally; this cannot be disproved; but Morris's shoulders were broad enough for an honor too great for many, and his persistent labors in behalf of the project are altogether consistent with this verdict of a century. In 1777 Morris was known to have hinted of what we know as the Erie Canal.

In that year he was sent to General Schuyler's army at Fort Edward, then slowly retiring before Burgoyne's advancing regiments. Morgan Lewis, then quartermaster, later governor of New York, leaves this testimony, in a letter dated May 26, 1828: "One evening in particular, while describing in the most animated and glowing terms the rapid march of the useful arts through our country, when once freed from a foreign yoke; the spirit with which agriculture and commerce both external and internal would advance; the facilities which would be afforded them by the numerous water courses, intersecting the country, and the ease by which they might be made to communicate; he announced, in language highly poetic, and to which I cannot do justice, that at no very distant day the waters of the great western inland seas would, by the aid of man, break through their barriers and mingle with those of the Hudson. I recollect asking him how they were to break through these barriers. To which he replied, that numerous streams passed them through natural channels, and that artificial ones might be conducted by the same routes."[17]

In his diary for October, 1795, Morris describes his feeling on viewing the Caledonian Canal in Scotland; "when I see this," he writes, "my mind opens to a view of wealth for the interior of America, which hitherto I had rather conjectured than seen."[18] In a letter to Mr. Parish in January, 1801, he observes, after seeing a number of ships riding at anchor in Lake Erie, "Hundreds of large ships will, at no distant period, bound on the billows of these inland seas. At this point begins a navigation of more than a thousand miles [to the extremity of Lake Superior]. Shall I lead your astonishment up to the verge of incredulity? I will. Know then that one-tenth of the expense, borne by Britain in the last campaign, would enable ships to sail from London through Hudson's River into Lake Erie."[19]

"The merit of first starting the idea of a direct communication by water, between lake Erie and Hudson's river," wrote Simeon De Witt to William Darby, February 25, 1822, "unquestionably belongs to Mr. Gouverneur Morris. The first suggestion I had of it was from him. In 1803, I accidentally met with him at Schenectady. We put up for the night at the same inn and passed the evening together. Among the numerous topics of conversation, to which his prolific mind, and excursive imagination, gave birth, was that of improving the means of intercourse with the interior of our state. He then mentioned the project of tapping Lake Erie, as he expressed it himself, and leading its waters, in an artificial river, directly across the country to Hudson's river. To this I very naturally opposed the intervening hills and valleys as insuperable obstacles. His answer was in substance, labor improbus omnia vincit, and that the object would justify the labour and expense, whatever that might be. Considering this a romantic thing, and characteristic of the man, I related it on several occasions."[20] J. Geddes wrote William Darby, February 22, 1822, as follows: "In the year of 1804, I learnt for the first time, from the surveyor-general [Simeon De Witt] that Mr Gouverneur Morris, in a conversation between them in the preceding autumn, mentioned the scheme of a canal from lake Erie across the country to the Hudson river. The idea of saving so much lockage by not descending to lake Ontario made a very lively impression on my mind."[21]

With canal building going on in other portions of the country, it was inevitable that the suggestion made by Morris could not down. The opportunity offered here in central New York was so favorable, that a people with only half the ambition and ability of New Yorkers would have profited sooner or later by it. Having studied the tremendous tasks undertaken by the Marylanders and Pennsylvanians, it can be understood why the Erie Canal was under consideration at a comparatively early date; the Mohawk offered a gateway through the northern foothills of the Alleghenies, and beyond lay lakes and rivers in the direct route to Lake Erie. There could be no question of water supply at the summit level; the waterways to be crossed, however, might cause the engineers no little trouble.

"I have not been able to trace," Mr. Watson leaves record, "any measure, public or private, tending towards this great enterprize, till the 27th October, 1807, when an anonymous publication, under the signature of Hercules, appeared in the Genesee Messenger of Canandaigua, which is attributed to Jesse Hawley, Esq. now [1820] collector of the port of Rochester."[22] It is affirmed that these communications were not inspired by the prophetic words of Morris;[23] they were fourteen in number, and were contributed weekly from October, 1807, to March, 1808. Hawley had thought out his problem with great seriousness and detail, and had splendidly planned a canal from Buffalo to Utica, where improved navigation on the Mohawk was to be depended upon. The cost he estimated at five millions. It is not at all unlikely that Hawley's attention was the more quickly attracted to this subject because of the celebrated message of President Jefferson to Congress in this fall of 1807, just when Hercules was writing his articles.

It was probably the general discussion of this great theme, more than the result of any one influence, which led to the crystallization of the movement, when on February 4, 1808, Joshua Forman, a member of the New York legislature, from Onondaga County, offered the following bill:

"Whereas the President of the United States by his message to Congress, delivered at their meeting in October last, did recommend that the surplus money in the treasury, over and above such sums as could be applied to the extinguishment of the national debt, be appropriated to the great national objects of opening canals and making turnpike roads. And whereas the state of New York, holding the first commercial rank in the United States, possesses within herself the best route of communication between the Atlantic and western waters, by means of a canal, between the tide waters of the Hudson river and Lake Erie,-through which the wealth and trade of that large portion of the United States, bordering on the upper lakes, would for ever flow to our great commercial emporium. And whereas the legislatures of several of our sister states, have made great exertions to secure to their own states the trade of that wide extended country, west of the Alleganies, under natural advantages vastly inferior to those of this state. And whereas it is highly important that these advantages should as speedily as possible be improved, both to preserve and increase the commerce and national importance of this state:-Resolved, (if the honourable the senate concur herein) that a joint committee be appointed to take into consideration the propriety of exploring, and causing an accurate survey to be made of the most eligible and direct route for a canal to open a communication between the tide waters of the Hudson river and Lake Erie; to the end that congress may be enabled to appropriate such sums as may be necessary to the accomplishment of that great national object." In the general appropriation bill now passed the sum of $600 was allotted to a survey of this proposed canal and the work was done by James Geddes, whose report, at a later day, became important.[24]

Mr. Forman's motion passed, but amounted to nothing. In 1810 Thomas Eddy, the treasurer of the old Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, called on General Platt, a member of the New York senate, and the two conversed seriously about the great plan which was slowly coming more and more to the front. Platt affirmed that he would offer a resolution in the legislature looking toward increasing public interest in the great dream of the farthest-seeing men of New York. Perhaps the two drafted this resolution; at least, the very next day Platt handed De Witt Clinton a draft of a resolution. Clinton liked it. Its author thereupon offered it in the senate and Clinton supported it and it passed, March 13, 1810. It began: "Whereas, the agricultural and commercial interests of the state, require that the inland navigation from the Hudson river to lake Ontario and lake Erie, be improved and completed on a scale commensurate to the great advantages derived from the accomplishment of that important object: And whereas, it is doubtful whether the resources of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company are adequate to such improvements:

"Therefore resolved, that if the honourable the assembly consent herein, that Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Simeon De Witt, William North, Thomas Eddy and Peter B. Porter, be and they are hereby appointed commissioners for exploring the whole route, examining the present condition of the said navigation, and considering what further improvements ought to be made therein; and that they be authorized to direct and procure such surveys as to them shall appear necessary and proper in relation to these objects; and that they report thereon to the legislature, at their next session, presenting a full view of the subjects referred to them, with their estimates and opinion thereon."[25] On April 5 following $3,000 was appropriated for the expenses of the surveys called for in the above resolution.[26]

Accordingly the commissioners named explored the country between the Hudson and Lake Erie through which the prospective waterway would run, in the summer of 1810 with Jesse Hawley's contributions of 1807-08 in their hands. At the next meeting of the legislature they presented an elaborate report. It would seem that the committee had passed over the route of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company from Schenectady to Lake Ontario; James Geddes, the experienced engineer who had given some little study to the region under survey, made a map and a few rough estimates. The report opens with the declaration that the idea of making small rivers navigable had long ago been exploded in Europe; this was a polite way of saying that the days of the Lock Navigation Company were fairly numbered. The report affirms that a canal parallel with the rivers improved by the Navigation Company (Mohawk, Wood Creek, and Oswego) is practicable as far as Oswego Falls (Rochester). The twelve remaining miles to Lake Ontario might well be covered by a railway.

However, the committee had another plan, that of building the canal straight west from the Oswego to Lake Erie, avoiding Lake Ontario's winds and waves entirely. Certain interesting commercial questions were here involved. Even with the advantages offered by the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, New York and Albany could not hold their own in competition with Montreal. Freight rates down the St. Lawrence were marvelously cheap; fifty cents a hundredweight, only, was charged by descending boatmen from Kingston to Montreal-one-half the early rate from Buffalo to New York on the Erie Canal when it was at last built. The rate of freight up the St. Lawrence was only one dollar per hundredweight. If any point east of Niagara Falls was made the terminus of New York's canal, it was feared that Montreal would profit by it more, perhaps, than the cities it was intended to build up and benefit.

Mr. Geddes favored the direct route to Lake Erie by way of the "Tanawanta" River. He advanced the following rough estimate of distances in the direct route:

Miles

Descent

(feet)

Mouth of Tanawanta 10 5

Genesee River (about) 68 34

Seneca Lake 46 23

Cayuga Lake 6 3

Rome (summit) 66 33

Little Falls 38 19

Schoharie 38 19

Summit between Schenectady and Albany (about) 24 12

Hudson River 14 7

-- --

Totals 310 155

The actual descent would be 525 feet. Mr. Geddes's plan included aqueducts across the Genesee River twenty-six feet high and one hundred and fifty yards long, across the mouth of Seneca Lake eighty-three feet high, and across the mouth of Cayuga one hundred and thirty feet high. As a detailed survey had not been made, it was impossible to estimate accurately the expense.

Agitation of the great question was the only tangible result of this investigation. In 1811 Robert Livingston and Robert Fulton were added to the committee, and a report was made to the legislature, March, 1812. This report showed that the friends of the great waterway had resolved to exhaust all resources before relinquishing the work. They applied to Congress through Morris and De Witt Clinton for "Co-operation and aid in making a canal navigation between the great lakes and Hudson's river, which, in the opinion of the Legislature of New-York, will encourage agriculture, promote commerce and manufacture, ficilitate [sic] a free and general intercourse between different parts of the United States, tend to the aggrandizement and prosperity of the country, and consolidate and strengthen the Union." The legislatures of the various states were likewise asked to lend sympathy and aid-to co-operate and aid New York in opening the communication between the Great Lakes and the Hudson. "... The general advantage to the whole nation," it was urged, "is of such preponderating influence, as to render the present object of principal, if not exclusive, concern to the national legislature." The ways of help suggested were pecuniary assistance in the form of loans or gifts, and a friendly voice in favor of the project in Congress. A letter to President Madison expressed the hope that in his annual message to Congress he would in every consistent way urge the plan of national assistance. Accordingly in Madison's message, dated December 23, 1812, he enclosed the act of the New York legislature and said: "The particular undertaking contemplated by the state of New-York ... will recall the attention of Congress to the signal advantages to be derived to the United States, from a general system of internal communication and conveyance.... As some of those advantages have an intimate connexion with arrangements and exertions for the general security, it is a period calling for these that the merits of such a system will be seen in the strongest lights." Thomas Eddy wrote Simeon De Witt January 9, 1812 "... accounts from Washington this days post say that the expectations of our committee respecting aid from Congress are very flattering-the project of a Canal from Erie to the Hudson has many friends West of the Allegany-We are full of the news that De Witt Clinton will be president and Munro Vice p-- -this is the united wish of all parties in this City except Madisonians."

A great, comprehensive plan of national aid to local improvements was proposed, by means of giving grants of land in Michigan to a large number of improvement schemes in various states. Article seven read: "And be it further enacted, That four million acres of land, part of the tracts above mentioned, shall vest in and belong to the said state of New-York, so soon as a canal shall be opened from lake Erie to Hudson's river, not less than sixty-three feet wide on the top, forty-five feet wide at the bottom, and five feet deep (and, if practicable, along an inclined plane, descending not more than six feet in a mile,) to Hudson's river, or a bason within four miles thereof; on condition, nevertheless, that no tax, toll, or impost, shall be levied or taken for the passage of boats not exceeding sixty feet long, eighteen feet wide or drawing more than three feet of water on the same canal, other than such as may be needful to pay the annual expenses of superintending and keeping the same in repair."[27]

The war which now came on drove all plans of internal improvement from men's minds until the struggle for honor and independence was won. The bill quoted was never passed by Congress; a law passed by the New York legislature in 1812, authorizing the canal commissioners to borrow five million dollars on the credit of the state, was repealed in 1814.[28] These had been hard years for New York.

In the autumn of 1816, Judge Platt, while holding court in New York City, was in consultation with Clinton and Eddy concerning the canal project, which had temporarily dropped from public attention. Though the outlook was gloomy and discouraging, these men determined to revive public interest in the project if it was in their power. An advertisement was placed in the papers calling for a public meeting at the City Hotel to consider asking the New York legislature to attack the great problem anew. A similar call was issued at Albany for a meeting to be held February 7, 1816, at the Tontine Coffee House, signed by ten friends of the movement.

William Bayard was chosen chairman of the New York meeting, and the speakers were Platt, Clinton, and Swartwout; Clinton, Swartwout, and Thomas Eddy were appointed a committee to prepare a memorial for the legislature. This document was drafted by De Witt Clinton and marks a brilliant crisis in the long, wearing struggle this brave coterie of men had made for their favorite project. New York was recovering from the devastation and prostration caused by the war. The awakening courage of a brave people was stirred by the appeal of Clinton's; it was so "comprehensive a view of the immense advantages that would be produced to the state by the completion of the canal, that copies sent throughout the state were eagerly signed by thousands, and carried full conviction to every mind. The project immediately became popular, and it was the means of rousing the legislature, and produced several successive laws in prosecuting this great work. A system of finance was drawn up by De Witt Clinton which with some trifling alterations, was adopted by the legislature and is now [1825] in successful operation."[29]

This memorial, in which the Erie Canal was born, and which throws much light on the whole problem of early transportation, is given in its entirety in the following chapter.

* * *

To the Legislature of the State of New-York.

The memorial of the subscribers, in favor of a canal navigation, between the great western lakes and the tidewaters of the Hudson, most respectfully represents: That they approach the legislature with a solicitude proportionate to the importance of this great undertaking, and with a confidence founded on the enlightened public spirit of the constituted authorities. If, in presenting the various considerations which have induced them to make this appeal, they should occupy more time than is usual on common occasions, they must stand justified by the importance of the object. Connected as it is with the essential interest of our country, and calculated in its commencement to reflect honor on the state, and its completion, to exalt it to an elevation of unparalleled prosperity; your memorialists are fully persuaded, that centuries may pass away before a subject is again presented so worthy of all your attention, and so deserving of all your patronage and support.

The improvement of the means of intercourse between different parts of the same country, has always been considered the first duty and the most noble employment of government. If it be important that the inhabitants of the same country should be bound together by a community of interests, and a reciprocation of benefits; that agriculture should find a sale for its productions, manufacturers a vent for their fabrics; and commerce a market for its commodities; it is your incumbent duty, to open, facilitate, and improve internal navigation. The pre-eminent advantages of canals have been established by the unerring test of experience. They unite cheapness, celerity, certainty, and safety in the transportation of commodities.

It is calculated that the expense of transporting on a canal, amounts to one cent a ton per mile, or one dollar a ton for one hundred miles; while the usual cost by land conveyance, is one dollar and sixty cents per hundredweight, or thirty-two dollars a ton for the same distance. The celerity and certainty of this mode of transportation are evident. A loaded boat can be towed by one or two horses, at the rate of thirty miles a day. Hence, the seller or buyer can calculate with sufficient precision on his sales or purchases, the period of their arrival, the amount of their avails, and the extent of their value. A vessel on a canal is independent of winds, tides, and currents, and is not exposed to the delays attending conveyances by land: and with regard to safety, there can be no competition. The injuries to which commodities are exposed when transported by land, and the dangers to which they are liable when conveyed by natural waters, are rarely experienced on canals. In the latter way, comparatively speaking, no waste is incurred, no risk is encountered, and no insurance is required. Hence, it follows, that canals operate upon the general interests of society, in the same way that machines for saving labor do in manufactures; they enable the farmer, the mechanic, and the merchant, to convey their commodities to market, and to receive a return, at least thirty times cheaper than by roads. As to all the purposes of beneficial communication, they diminish the distance between places, and therefore encourage the cultivation of the most extensive and remote parts of the country. They create new sources of internal trade, and augment the old channels, for, the cheaper the transportation, the more expanded will be its operation, and the greater the mass of the products of the country for sale, the greater will be the commercial exchange of returning merchandize, and the greater the encouragement to manufacturers, by the increased economy and comfort of living, together with the cheapness and abundance of raw materials; and Canals are consequently advantageous to towns and villages, by destroying the monopoly of the adjacent country, and advantageous to the whole country; for though some rival commodities may be introduced into the old markets, yet many new markets will be opened by increasing population, enlarging old and erecting new towns, augmenting individual and aggregate wealth, and extending foreign commerce.

The prosperity of ancient Egypt, and China, may in a great degree be attributed to their inland navigation. With little foreign commerce, the former of those countries by these means attained and the latter possesses, a population and opulence in proportion to their extent, unequalled in any other. And England and Holland, the most commercial nations of modern times, deprived of their canals, would lose the most prolific sources of their prosperity and greatness. Inland navigation is in fact to the same community what exterior navigation is to the great family of mankind. As the ocean connects the nations of the earth, by the ties of commerce and the benefits of communication, so do lakes, rivers, and canals operate upon the inhabitants of the same country: and it has been well observed, that "were we to make the supposition of two states, the one having all its cities, towns, and villages upon navigable rivers and canals, and having an easy communication with each other; the other possessing the common conveyance of land carriage, and supposing both states to be equal as to soil, climate, and industry, commodities and manufactures in the former state, might be furnished thirty per cent. cheaper than in the latter: or in other words, the first state would be a third richer, and more affluent than the other."

The general arguments in favor of inland navigation, apply with peculiar force to the United States, and most emphatically to this state. A geographical view of the country, will at once demonstrate the unexampled prosperity that will arise from our cultivating the advantages which nature has dispensed with so liberal a hand. A great chain of mountains passes through the United States, and divides them into eastern and western America. In various places, rivers break through those mountains, and are finally discharged into the ocean. To the west, there is a collection of inland lakes exceeding in its aggregate extent, some of the most celebrated seas of the old world. Atlantic America, on account of the priority of its settlement, its vicinity to the ocean, and its favorable position for commerce, has many advantages. The western country, however, has a decided superiority in the fertility of its soil, the benignity of its climate, and the extent of its territory. To connect these great sections by inland navigation, to unite our Mediterranean seas with the ocean, is evidently an object of the first importance to the general prosperity. Nature has effected this in some measure; the St Lawrence emanates from the lakes, and discharges itself into the ocean in a foreign territory. Some of the streams which flow into the Mississippi, originate near the great lakes and pass around the chain of mountains. Some of the waters of this state which pass into Lake Ontario, approach the Mohawk; but our Hudson has decided advantages. It affords a tide navigation for vessels of 80 tons to Albany and Troy, 160 miles above New-York, and this peculiarity distinguishes it from all the other bays and rivers in the United States, viz:

The tide in no other ascends higher than the Granite Ridge, or within thirty miles of the Blue Ridge, or eastern chain of mountains. In the Hudson, it breaks through the Blue Ridge, and ascends above the eastern termination of the Catskill, or great western chain; and there are no interrupting mountains to prevent a communication between it and the great western lakes.

The importance of the Hudson river to the old settled parts of the state, may be observed in the immense wealth which is daily borne on its waters, in the flourishing villages and cities on its banks, and in the opulence and prosperity of all the country connected with it, either remotely or immediately. It may also be readily conceived, if we only suppose that by some awful physical calamity, some overwhelming convulsion of nature, this great river was exhausted of its waters: Where then would be the abundance of our markets, the prosperity of our farmers, the wealth of our merchants? Our villages would become deserted; our flourishing cities would be converted into masses of mouldering ruins, and this state would be precipitated into poverty and insignificance. If a river or natural canal, navigable about 170 miles, has been productive of such signal benefits, what blessings might not be expected, if it were extended 300 miles through the most fertile country in the universe, and united with the great seas of the west! The contemplated canal would be this extension, and viewed in reference only to the productions and consumptions of this state, would perhaps convey more riches on its waters, than any other canal in the world. Connected with the Hudson, it might be considered as a navigable stream that extends 450 miles through a fertile country, embracing a great population, and abounding with all the productions of industry. If we were to suppose all the rivers and canals in England and Wales, combined into one, and discharged into the ocean at a great city, after passing through the heart of that country, then we can form a distinct idea of the importance of the projected canal; but it indeed comprehends within its influence a greater extent of territory, which will in time embrace a greater population. If this work be so important, when we confine our views to this state alone, how unspeakably beneficial must it appear, when we extend our contemplations to the great lakes, and the country affiliated with them! Waters extending two thousand miles from the beginning of the canal, and a country containing more territory than all Great Britain and Ireland, and at least as much as France.

While we do not pretend that all the trade of our western world, will centre in any given place, (nor indeed would it be desirable if it were practicable, because we sincerely wish the prosperity of all the states,) yet we contend, that our natural advantages are so transcendant, that it is in our power to obtain the greater part, and put successful competition at defiance. As all the other communications are impeded by mountains, the only formidable rivals of New-York for this great prize, are New-Orleans and Montreal, the former relying on the Mississippi, and the latter on the St Lawrence.

In considering this subject we will suppose the commencement of the canal somewhere near the out-let of Lake Erie. The inducements for preferring one market to another, involve a variety of considerations; the principal are the cheapness and facility of transportation, and the goodness of the market. If a cultivator or manufacturer can convey his commodities with the same ease and expedition to New-York, and obtain higher price for them than at Montreal or New-Orleans, and at the same time supply himself at a cheaper rate with such articles as he may want in return, he will undoubtedly prefer New-York. It ought also to be distinctly understood, that a difference in price may be equalized by a difference in the expense of conveyance, and that the vicinity of the market is at all times a consideration of great importance.

From Buffalo, at or near the supposed commencement of the canal, it is 450 miles to the city of New-York, and from that city to the ocean, 20 miles. From Buffalo to Montreal 350 miles; from Montreal to the Chops of the St Lawrence 450. From Buffalo to New Orleans by the great Lakes, and the Illinois river, 2,250 miles; from New-Orleans to the Gulf of Mexico 100. Hence, the distance from Buffalo to the ocean by the way of New-York is 470 miles; by Montreal 800; and by New-Orleans 2,350.

As the upper lakes have no important outlet but into lake Erie, we are warranted in saying, that all their trade must be auxiliary to its trade, and that a favorable communication by water from Buffalo, will render New-York the great depot and warehouse of the western world. In order, however, to obviate all objections that may be raised against the place of comparison, let us take three other positions, Chicago near the southwest end of lake Michigan, and a creek of that name, which sometimes communicates with the Illinois, the nearest river from the lakes to the Mississippi; Detroit, on the river of that name, between lakes St Clair and Erie; and Pittsburgh, at the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, forming the head of the Ohio and communicating with Le Beuf by water, which is distant fifteen miles from lake Erie.

The distance from Chicago to the ocean by New-York, is about 1200 miles. To the mouth of the Mississippi, by New-Orleans, near 1600 miles, and to the mouth of the St Lawrence, by Montreal, near 1600 miles.

The distance from Detroit to the ocean by New-York, is near 700 miles. From Detroit to the ocean by Montreal, is 1050 miles. From Detroit to the ocean, pursuing the nearest route by Cleveland, and down the Muskingum, 2400 miles. The distance from Pittsburgh to the ocean, by Le Beuf, lake, Buffalo, and New York, is 700 miles. The same to the ocean by Buffalo and Montreal, 1050 miles. The same to the ocean by the Ohio and Mississippi, 2150 miles.

These different comparative views show that New-York has, in every instance, a decided advantage over her great rivals. In other essential respects the scale preponderates equally in her favor. Supposing a perfect equality of advantages as to the navigation of the lakes, yet from Buffalo, as the point of departure, there is no comparison of benefits. From that place the voyager to Montreal has to encounter the inconveniences of a portage at the cataract of Niagara, to load and unload at least three times, to brave the tempests of Lake Ontario and the rapids of the St Lawrence. In like manner the voyager to New-Orleans, has a portage between the Chicago and Illinois, an inconvenient navigation in the latter stream, besides the well known obstacles and hazards of the Mississippi. And until the invention of steamboats, an ascending navigation was considered almost impracticable. This inconvenience is, however, still forcibly experienced on that river, as well as on the St Lawrence between Montreal and lake Ontario.

The navigation from lake Erie to Albany, can be completed in ten days with perfect safety on the canal; and from Albany to New-York, there is the best sloop navigation in the world. From Buffalo to Albany, a ton of commodities could be conveyed on the intended canal, for three dollars, and from Albany to New-York, according to the present prices of sloop transportation, for $2.80, and the return cargoes would be the same. We have not sufficient data upon which to predicate very accurate estimates with regard to Montreal and New Orleans; but we have no hesitation in saying, that the descending conveyance to the former, would be four times the expense, and to the latter, at least ten times, and that the cost of the ascending transportation would be greatly enhanced.

It has been stated by several of the most respectable citizens of Ohio, that the present expense of transportation by water from the city of New-York to Sandusky, including the carrying places, is $4.50 per hundred, and allowing it to cost two dollars per hundred for transportation to Clinton, the geographical centre of the state, the whole expense would be $6.50, which is only fifty cents more than the transportation from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, and at least $2.50 less than the transportation by land and water from these places, and that, in their opinion, New-York is the natural emporium of that trade, and that the whole commercial intercourse of the western country north of the Ohio, will be secured to her by the contemplated canal.

In addition to this, it may be stated that the St Lawrence is generally locked up by ice seven months in the year, during which time produce lies a dead weight on the hands of the owner; that the navigation from New-York to the ocean, is at all times easy, and seldom obstructed by ice, and that the passage from the Balize to New-Orleans is tedious; that perhaps one out of five of the western boatmen who descend the Mississippi, become victims to disease; and that many important articles of western production are injured or destroyed by the climate. New-York is, therefore, placed in a happy medium between the insalubrious heat of the Mississippi, and the severe cold of the St Lawrence. She has also pre-eminent advantages, as to the goodness and extensiveness of her market. All the productions of the soil, and the fabrics of art, can command an adequate price, and foreign commodities can generally be procured at a lower rate. The trade of the Mississippi is already in the hands of her merchants, and although accidental and transient causes may have concurred to give Montreal an ascendency in some points, yet the superiority of New-York is founded in nature, and if improved by the wisdom of government, must always soar above competition.

Granting, however, that the rivals of New-York will command a considerable portion of the western trade, yet it must be obvious, from these united considerations, that she will engross more than sufficient to render her the greatest commercial city in the world. The whole line of canal will exhibit boats loaded with flour, pork, beef, pot and pearl ashes, flaxseed, wheat, barley, corn, hemp, wool, flax, iron, lead, copper, salt, gypsum, coal, tar, fur, peltry, ginseng, bees-wax, cheese, butter, lard, staves, lumber, and the other valuable productions of our country; and also, with merchandise from all parts of the world. Great manufacturing establishments will spring up; agriculture will establish its granaries, and commerce its warehouses in all directions. Villages, towns, and cities, will line the banks of the canal, and the shore of the Hudson from Erie to New-York. "The wilderness and the solitary place will become glad, and the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose."

While it is universally admitted that there ought to be a water communication between the great lakes and the tide waters of the Hudson, a contrariety of opinion (greatly to be deplored, as tending to injure the whole undertaking) has arisen with respect to the route that ought to be adopted. It is contended on the one side, that the canal should commence in the vicinity of the outlet of lake Erie, and be carried in the most eligible direction across the country to the head waters of the Mohawk river at Rome: from whence it should be continued along the valley of the Mohawk to the Hudson. It is, on the other side, insisted, that it should be cut around the cataract of Niagara; that lake Ontario should be navigated to the mouth of the Oswego river; that the navigation of that river, and Wood creek, should be improved and pursued until the junction of the latter with the Mohawk at Rome. As to the expediency of a canal from Rome to the Hudson, there is no discrepance of opinion: the route from Rome to the great Lakes constitutes the subject of controversy.

If both plans were presented to the legislature, as worthy of patronage, and if the advocates of the route by lake Ontario did not insist that their schemes should be exclusive, and of course, that its adoption should prove fatal to the other project, this question would not exhibit so serious an aspect. If two roads are made, that which is most accommodating will be preferred; but if only one is established, whether convenient or inconvenient to individuals, beneficial or detrimental to the public, it must necessarily be used. We are so fully persuaded of the superiority of the Erie canal, that although we should greatly regret so useless an expenditure of public money as making a canal round the cataract of Niagara, yet we should not apprehend any danger from the competition of Montreal, if the former were established.

The invincible argument in favor of the Erie canal is, that it would diffuse the blessings of internal navigation over the most fertile and populous parts of the state, and supply the whole community with salt, gypsum, and in all probability coal. Whereas the Ontario route would accommodate but an inconsiderable part of our territory, and instead of being a great highway, leading directly to the object, it would be a circuitous by-road, inconvenient in all essential respects.

The most serious objection against the Ontario route, is, that it will inevitably enrich the territory of a foreign power, at the expense of the United States. If a canal is cut around the falls of Niagara, and no countervailing nor counteracting system is adopted in relation to lake Erie, the commerce of the west is lost to us for ever. When a vessel once descends into Ontario, she will pursue the course ordained by Nature. The British Government are fully aware of this, and are now taking the most active measures to facilitate the passage down the St Lawrence.

It is not to be concealed, that a great portion of the productions of our western country are now transported to Montreal, even with all the inconveniences attending the navigation down the Seneca and Oswego rivers; but if this route is improved in the way proposed, and the other not opened, the consequences will be most prejudicial. A barrel of flour is now transported from Cayuga lake to Montreal for $1.50, and it cannot be conveyed to Albany for less than $2.50. This simple fact speaks a volume of admonitory instruction. But taking it for granted, that the Ontario route will bring the commerce of the west to New-York, yet the other ought to be preferred, on account of the superior facilities it affords.

In the first place, it is nearer. The distance from Buffalo to Rome, is less than 200 miles in the course of the intended canal: by lake Ontario and Oswego, it is 232.

2. A loaded boat could pass from Buffalo to Rome by the Erie route, in less than seven days, and with entire safety. By the Ontario route, it will be perfectly uncertain, and not a little hazardous. After leaving Niagara river, it would have to pass an inland sea to the extent of 127 miles, as boisterous and as dangerous as the Atlantic. And besides a navigation of at least twenty miles over another lake, it would have to ascend two difficult streams for 55 miles; no calculation could then be made, either on the certainty or safety of this complicated and inconvenient navigation.

3. When a lake vessel would arrive at Buffalo, she would have to unload her cargo, and when this cargo arrived at Albany by the Erie canal, it would be shifted on board of a river-sloop, in order to be transported to New-York. From the time of the first loading on the great lakes, to the last unloading at the storehouses in New-York, there would be three loadings and three unloadings on this route. But when a lake vessel arrived with a view of passing the canal of Niagara, she would be obliged to shift her lading for that purpose, for it would be almost impracticable to use lake vessels on the Niagara river, on account of the difficulty of the ascending navigation. At Lewistown, or some other place of the Niagara, another change of the cargo on board of a lake vessel for Ontario would be necessary: at Oswego another, and at Albany another; so that on this route there would be five loadings and five unloadings before the commodities were stored in New York. This difference is an object of great consequence, and presents the most powerful objections against the Ontario route; for to the delay we must add the accumulated expense of these changes of the cargo, the storage, the waste and damage, especially by theft (where the chances of depredation are increased by the merchandise passing through a multitude of hands) and the additional lake vessels, boats and men that will be required, thereby increasing in this respect alone, the cost two thirds above that attending the other course. And in general it may be observed, that the difference between a single and double freight forms an immense saving. Goods are brought from Europe for twenty cents per cubic foot; whereas the price from Philadelphia to Baltimore, is equal to ten cents. This shews how far articles once embarked, are conveyed with a very small addition of freight, and if such is the difference between a single and a double freight, how much greater must it be in the case under consideration! If the fall from lake Erie to lake Ontario be 450 feet, as stated in Mr secretary Gallatin's report on canals, it will require at least 45 locks for a navigation around the cataract. Whether it would be practicable to accommodate all the vessels which the population and opulence of future times will create in those waters, with a passage through so many locks accumulated within a short distance, is a question well worthy of serious consideration. At all events, the demurrage must be frequent, vexatious, and expensive.

When we consider the immense expense which would attend the canal proposed on the Niagara river; a canal requiring so many locks, and passing through such difficult ground; when we view the Oswego river from its outlet at Oswego to its origin in Oneida lake, encumbered with dangerous rapids and falls, and flowing through a country almost impervious to canal operations; and when we contemplate the numerous embarrassments which are combined with the improvement of Wood Creek, we are prepared to believe that the expense of this route will not greatly fall short of the other.

It is, however, alleged that it is not practicable to make this canal; and that if practicable, the expense will be enormous, and will far transcend the faculties of the state.

Lake Erie is elevated 541 feet above the tide waters at Troy. The only higher ground between it and the Hudson is but a few miles from the lake: and this difficulty can be easily surmounted by deep cutting; of course no tunnel will be required. The rivers which cross the line of the canal, can be easily passed by aqueducts; on every summit level, plenty of water can be obtained; whenever there is a great rise or descent, locks can be erected, and the whole line will not require more than sixty-two; perhaps there is not an equal extent of country in the world, which presents fewer obstacles to the establishment of a canal. The liberality of Nature has created the great ducts and arteries, and the ingenuities of art can easily provide the connecting veins. The general physiognomy of the country is champaign, and exhibits abundance of water: a gentle rising from the Hudson to the lake; a soil well adapted for such operations: no impassable hills, and no insurmountable waters. As to distance, it is not to be considered in relation to practicability. If a canal can be made for fifty miles, it can be made for three hundred, provided there is no essential variance in the face of the country; the only difference will be that in the latter case, it will take more time, and consume more money.

But this opinion does not rest for its support upon mere speculation. Canals have been successfully cut through more embarrassing ground, in various parts of the United States; and even in part of the intended route from Schenectady to Rome, locks have been erected at the Little Falls, and at other places; and short canals have been made, and all these operations have taken place in the most difficult parts of the whole course of the contemplated Erie navigation. Mr. William Weston, one of the most celebrated civil engineers in Europe, who has superintended canals in this state and Pennsylvania, and who is perfectly well acquainted with the country has thus expressed his opinion on the subject: "Should your noble but stupendous plan of uniting Lake Erie with the Hudson, be carried into effect, you have to fear no rivalry. The commerce of the immense extent of country, bordering on the upper lakes, is yours for ever, and to such an incalculable amount as would baffle all conjecture to conceive. Its execution would confer immortal honor on the projectors and supporters, and would in its eventual consequences, render New-York the greatest commercial emporium in the world, with perhaps the exception, at some distant day of New-Orleans, or some other depot at the mouth of the majestic Mississippi. From your perspicuous topographical description and neat plan and profile of the route of the contemplated canal, I entertain little doubt of the practicability of the measure."

With regard to the expense of this work, different estimates will be formed. The commissioners appointed for that purpose were of opinion that it would not cost more than five millions of dollars. On this subject we must be guided by the light which experience affords in analogous cases. The canal of Languedoc, or canal of the two seas in France, connects the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, and is 180 miles in length: it has 114 locks and sluices, and a tunnel 720 feet long. The breadth of the canal is 144 feet, and its depth six feet: it was begun in 1666, and finished in 1681, and cost ￡540,000 sterling, or ￡3,000 sterling a mile.

The Holstein canal, begun in 1777, and finished in 1785, extends about fifty miles: is 100 feet wide at the top, and 54 at the bottom, and not less than ten feet deep in any part. Ships drawing nine feet four inches of water, pass through it from the German ocean, in the vicinity of Tonningen, into the Baltic. From two to three thousand ships have passed in one year. The expense of the whole work was a little more than a million and a half of dollars, which would be at the rate of 30,000 dollars a mile for this ship navigation.

The extreme length of the canal from the Forth to the Clyde, in Scotland, is 35 miles. It rises and falls 160 feet by means of 39 locks. Vessels pass drawing eight feet water, having 19 feet beam, and 73 feet length. The cost is calculated at ￡200,000 sterling, which is at the rate of about 23,000 dollars a mile. But this was a canal for ships drawing eight feet of water, with an extraordinary rise for its length, and having more than one lock for every mile.

The following will give an idea of the money expended on such works in England:-

Cost Miles

The Rochdale Canal ￡291,900 31?

Ellesmere 400,000 57

Kennet and Avon 420,000 78

Grand Junction 500,000 90

Leeds and Liverpool 800,000 129

The miles of canal are 385?, and the cost is ￡2,411,900 sterling, or about 28,000 dollars per mile.

But in the estimation of the cost of these canals, unquestionably the price of the land over which they pass is included, and this is enormous. The land alone for one canal of 16 miles, is said to have cost ￡90,000 sterling. With us this would be but small. If we look at the history of the English canals, we shall see how many objects of great expense are connected with them, with which we should have nothing to do, and that most of them have encountered and surmounted obstacles which we should not meet with. For instance, the Grand Junction canal passes more than once the great ridge which divides the waters of England; ours will pass over a country which in comparison is champaign.

But it is said that the price of labor in our country is so much above what it is in England, that we must add greatly to the cost of her canals in estimating the expense of ours. But that is certainly a false conclusion, for not only must the price of the land and the adventitious objects which have been before referred to, be deducted from the cost of the foreign canals, but we must consider that there will be almost as great a difference in our favor in the cost of the material and brute labor, as there is in favor of England as to human labor, and it is well known that so much human labor is not now required on canals as formerly. Machines for facilitating excavation have been invented and used with great success.

Mr. Gallatin's report on canals contains several estimates of the cost of contemplated ones. From Weymouth to Taunton, in Massachusetts, the expense of a canal of 26 miles, with a lockage of 260 feet, is set down at $1,250,000. From Brunswick to Trenton, 28 miles, with a lockage of 100 feet, 800,000 dollars. From Christiana to Elk, 22 miles with a lockage of 148 feet, 750,000 dollars. From Elizabeth river to Pasquotank, 22 miles, with a lockage of 40 feet, 250,000 dollars. These estimates thus vary from 48,000 to less than 12,000 dollars a mile, and furnish the medium of about 31,000 dollars a mile. But it must be observed that they are for small distances, are calculated to surmount particular obstacles, and contemplate an extraordinary number of locks, and that they do not therefore furnish proper data from which to form correct conclusions, with respect to the probable cost of an extensive canal, sometimes running over a great number of miles upon a level without any expense for lockage, or any other expense than the mere earthwork.

Mr. Weston, before mentioned, estimated the expense of a canal from the tide waters at Troy to lake Ontario, a distance of 160 miles, (exclusive of lake Oneida,) going around the Cohoes, and embracing 55 locks of eight feet lift each, at 2,200,000 dollars, a little more than 13,000 dollars a mile. Fortunately, however, we have more accurate information than mere estimates.

In the appendix to Mr Gallatin's report, it is stated by Mr Joshua Gilpin, that "by actual measurement, and the sums paid on the feeder, it was found that one mile on the Delaware and Chesapeake canal, the most difficult of all others, from its being nearly altogether formed through hard rocky ground, cost 13,000 dollars, and one other mile perfectly level, and without particular impediments, cost 2,300 dollars; from hence, the general average would be reduced to 7,650 dollars per mile."

The Middlesex canal,[31] in Massachusetts, runs over twenty-eight miles of ground, presenting obstacles much greater than can be expected on the route we purpose. This canal cost 478,000 dollars, which is about 17,000 dollars a mile. It contains 22 locks of solid masonry and excellent workmanship and to accomplish this work, it was necessary to dig in some places to the depth of 20 feet, to cut through ledges of rocks, to fill some vallies and morasses, and to throw several aqueducts across the intervening rivers. One of these across the river Shawshine is 280 feet long, and 22 feet above the river.

From the Tonewanta creek to the Seneca river, is a fall of 195 feet

From thence to the Rome summit, is a rise of 50 "

From thence to the Hudson river, is a fall of 380 "

--

The whole rise and fall 625 feet

This will require 62 locks of ten feet lift each. The expense of such locks as experimentally proved in several instances in this state would be about 620,000 dollars.

We have seen that on the Middlesex canal, there are 22 locks for 28 miles, which is a lock for somewhat less than every mile, whereas, 62 locks for 300 miles is but about one lock for every five miles; and the lockage of the Middlesex canal, would alone cost 220,000 dollars. It would, therefore, appear to be an allowance perhaps too liberal, to consider the cost of it as a fair criterion of the expense of canals in general in this country, and of this in particular. Reservoirs and tunnels, are the most expensive part of the operation, and none will be necessary in our whole route. The expense of the whole earth work of excavating a mile of canal on level ground fifty feet wide and five feet deep, at 18 cents per cubic yard, and allowing for the cost of forming and trimming the banks, puddling, etc. will not exceed 4000 dollars per mile, and the only considerable aqueduct on the whole line, will be over the Genesee river. From a deliberate consideration of these different estimates and actual expenditures, we are fully persuaded that this great work will not cost more than 20,000 dollars a mile, or six millions of dollars in the whole; but willing to make every possible allowance; and even conceding that it will cost double that sum, yet still we contend that there is nothing which ought to retard its execution. The canal cannot be made in a short time. It will be the work perhaps of 10 or 15 years.

The money will not be wanted at once. The expenditure, in order to be beneficial ought not to exceed 500,000 dollars a year, and the work may be accomplished in two ways, either by companies, incorporated for particular sections of the route, or by the state. If the first is resorted to, pecuniary sacrifices will still be necessary on the part of the public, and great care ought to be taken to guard against the high tolls, which will certainly injure, if not ruin the whole enterprise.

If the state shall see fit to achieve this great work, there can be no difficulty in providing funds. Stock can be created and sold at an advanced price. The ways and means of paying the interest will be only required. After the first year, supposing an annual expenditure of 500,000 dollars, thirty thousand dollars must be raised to pay an interest of six per cent; after the second year 60,000, and so on. At this rate of interest they will regularly increase with beneficial appropriation, and will be so little in amount that it may be raised in many shapes without being burdensome to the community. In all human probability, the augmented revenue proceeding from the public salt works, and the increased price of the state lands, in consequence of this undertaking, will more than extinguish the interest of the debt contracted for that purpose. We should also take into view, the land already subscribed by individuals for this work, amounting to 106,632 acres. These donations, together with those which may be confidently anticipated, will exceed in value a million of dollars, and it will be at all times in the power of the state to raise a revenue from the imposition of transit duties, which may be so light as scarcely to be felt, and yet the income may be so great, as in a short time to extinguish the debt, and this might take effect on the completion of every important section of the work.

If the legislature shall consider this important project in the same point of view, and shall unite with us in opinion, that the general prosperity is intimately and essentially involved in its prosecution, we are fully persuaded that now is the proper time for its commencement. Delays are the refuge of weak minds, and to procrastinate on this occasion is to show a culpable inattention to the bounties of Nature; a total insensibility to the blessings of Providence, and an inexcusable neglect of the interests of society. If it were intended to advance the views of individuals, or to foment the divisions of party; if it promoted the interests of a few, at the expense of the prosperity of many; if its benefits were limited as to place, or fugitive as to duration, then indeed it might be received with cold indifference, or treated with stern neglect; but the overflowing blessing from this great fountain of public good and national abundance, will be as extensive as our country, and as durable as time.

The considerations which now demand an immediate, and an undivided attention to this great object, are so obvious, so various, and so weighty, that we shall only attempt to glance at some of the most prominent.

In the first place, it must be evident, that no period could be adopted in which the work can be prosecuted with less expense. Every day augments the value of the land through which the canal will pass; and when we consider the surplus hands which have been recently dismissed from the army into the walks of private industry, and the facility with which an addition can be procured to the mass of our active labour, in consequence of the convulsions of Europe, it must be obvious that this is now the time to make those indispensable acquisitions.

2. The longer this work is delayed, the greater will be the difficulty in surmounting the interests that will rise up in opposition to it. Expedients on a contracted scale have already been adopted for the facilitations of intercourse. Turnpikes, locks, and short canals, have been resorted to, and in consequence of those establishments, villages have been laid out, and towns have been contemplated. To prevent injurious speculation, to avert violent opposition, and to exhibit dignified impartiality and fraternal affection to your fellow-citizens, it is proper that they should be notified at once of your intentions.

3. The experience of the late war has impressed every thinking man in the community, with the importance of this communication. The expenses of transportation frequently exceeded the original value of the article, and at all times operated with injurious pressure upon the finances of the nation. The money thus lost for the want of this communication, would have perhaps defrayed more than one half of its expense.

4. Events which are daily occurring on our frontiers, demonstrate the necessity of this work. Is it of importance that our honourable merchants should not be robbed of their legitimate profits; that the public revenues should not be seriously impaired by dishonest smuggling, and that the commerce of our cities should not be supplanted by the mercantile establishments of foreign countries? then it is essential that this sovereign remedy for maladies so destructive and ruinous should be applied. It is with inconceivable regret we record the well known fact, that merchandise from Montreal has been sold to an alarming extent in our borders, for 15 per cent below the New-York prices.

5. A measure of this kind will have a benign tendency in raising the value of the national domains, in expediting the sale, and enabling the payment. Our national debt may thus, in a short time, be extinguished. Our taxes of course will be diminished, and a considerable portion of revenue may then be expended in great public improvements; in encouraging the arts and sciences; in patronising the operations of industry; in fostering the inventions of genius, and in diffusing the blessings of knowledge.

6. However serious the fears which have been entertained of a dismemberment of the Union by collisions between the north and the south, it is to be apprehended that the most imminent danger lies in another direction, and that a line of separation may be eventually drawn between the atlantic and the western states, unless they are cemented by a common, an ever acting and a powerful interest. The commerce of the ocean, and the trade of the lakes, passing through one channel, supplying the wants, increasing the wealth, and reciprocating the benefits of each great section of the empire, will form an imperishable cement of connexion, and an indissoluble bond of union. New-York is both atlantic and western, and the only state in which this union of interest can be formed and perpetuated, and in which this great centripetal power can be energetically applied. Standing on this exalted eminence, with power to prevent a train of the most extensive and afflicting calamities that ever visited the world, (for such a train will inevitably follow a dissolution of the Union,) she will justly be considered an enemy to the human race, if she does not exert for this purpose the high faculties which the Almighty has put into her hands.

Lastly. It may be confidently asserted, that this canal, as to the extent of its route, as to the countries which it connects, and as to the consequences which it will produce, is without a parallel in the history of mankind. The union of the Baltic and Euxine; of the Red Sea and the Mediterranean; of the Euxine and the Caspian; and of the Mediterranean and the Atlantic, has been projected or executed by the chiefs of powerful monarchies, and the splendor of the design has always attracted the admiration of the world. It remains for a free state to create a new era in history, and to erect a work, more stupendous, more magnificent, and more beneficial, than has hitherto been achieved by the human race. Character is as important to nations as to individuals, and the glory of a republic, founded on the promotion of the general good, is the common property of all its citizens.

We have thus discharged with frankness and plainness, and with every sentiment of respect, a great duty to ourselves, to our fellow-citizens, and to posterity, in presenting this subject to the fathers of the commonwealth. And may that Almighty Being, in whose hands are the destinies of states and nations, enlighten your councils and invigorate your exertions, in favour of the best interests of our beloved country.

* * *