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Les diagrammes sulvants iiiustrent la mAthode. 1 2 3 32X 1 2 3 4 5 6 ^:^ \ir.-: flf^ AN ESSAY ON THE f' . il >■■ ENLARGE3IENT 't .U I. '1 < , ,.t »■) - ' . I « " ! I.J ■( ■ Wf j ' ' t - OF Tl fi ERIE CANAL, ! T- il WITH ARGUxMENTS IN FAVOR OF RETAINING THE PRESENT PROPOSED SIZE OF SEVENTY FEET BY SEVEN ; AND FOR ITS ENTIRE LENGTH FROM ALBANY TO BUFFALO WITHOUT ANY DIMINUTION. BY JES^SE HAWIiEY. '5 rf,ti- \y-'f^\i- LOCKPORT, N. Y. ' PRINTED AT THE COURIER OFFICE. 1840. » 1 TnK Enlargement of the Eric Canal was. authorized unrlof the A6t of 1 1 May* . 5335, by a Regency Legislature, possessing a majority of two to one, — to be carricu on bv its surplus Tolls only. In tl;e party conflict for political capital, between a Whig Ass^iably and a Regency Senate, the law of 18 April, 1839, was passed, authorizing a loan of four mimons; , to accelerate the progress of the Enlargement. Notwithstanding this liberal grant, a re-*ction--a sort of .ebb-tide— sat in against the measure, in which the politicians of both schoolsj commenced an opposition to its further progress; and even residents of the cities of New York and Albany, on whom the Canal had conferred its greatest benefits, entered into public discussions, in the newspapers, of both parlies, and in both cities, opposing the measure as being of dubious policy, and incurring an enormous state^ebt, and proposed to reduce its (iimensions, or limit its extent,— on which several motions were made in the Legis- lature, then in.session, in accordance-withthesc suggestions. The session of 1839 closed without any definite Legislative action, either to . advance or, retard the progress of the work, — leaving those hostile feeUngs to agi- tate and convulse the State with doubts, and threats to arrest its future progress, — similar to the lowering aspect which over-hung its original construction, from 1818 to the passage of the two million bill, in Feb. 1821. It was at this portentous hour the following Essay was written, — endeavoring io present a broad, perspicuous, and familiar view of ther subject, — to spread it out, as on a Map, and t& exhibit the.,Erie Canal, with its Enlargement, as^the source of cer- tain prosperity and future greatness to New York. It wr.% drawn ,ii) .the form of a Memorial, and presented to the House of Assembly, on 27 Jan., 1840, by Derick fcjjbley, Esq., from Monroe County, and referred to the Committee on Canals ; and was, in part, included in the Report from that Committee, by G. W.Lay, Esq., from Genesee, on 23 March, 1840. The very able and masterly Report- of the Canal Board, pf 9 April, 1840, soon came to the aid cf Mr. Lay's Report. It was the former which mamVy influenced the Legislature to grant a further loan of twoimillions for the Enlargement of the Erie Canal, by the act of 24 April, 1840, and which goes so far to easure its final com- .. pletion. With regard to the merits of the subject, 1 humbly acknoAvledge, that, with all my feeble labor and study, the theme is not lialf exhausted ; — that the finite mind of man cannot comprehend the immensity of the future commercial and political benefits to flow from the construction of this navigable connexion — thisNew York. Hellespont — between the American Mediterraneans and the Atlantic; — and I venture to predict, that the history of the anomalous opposition lo the original construction^ ana subse- quent Enlargement of the Erie Canal, will be viewed by posterity as a Fable of untiquitv. J.HAWLEY.. LQ<:kport,-4 July, 1940^;. :,*»*' -v- m.:y, ERIE CANAL ENLARGEMENT. f 1 1 Ma/f . be carried a Regency ir millions; . . in against iilion lo its . Vlbany, on iscussions, e as being ) reduce ils ttie Legis- , cither to • ings to agi- progress, — , from 1818 Bavoring to i it out, &i irce of cer- form of a by Derick anals; and , Esq., from . 1840, soon . luenced the of the trie s final com- with all my nind of mar. benefits to lellespont — I to predict, ^ and subse- I a Fable of The following was written by Derick Sibley, Ksq., ns a prcfiicc to the publiodtion of the Essay, which appeared in the Newsj)aper, published iij the city of New York; called the "Empire State," on 7 May, 1840: '*To the Editor of the Empire State : Presuming, from, the title of your paper, that it is designed to spread before thc^ people of the Empire Stale, information and facts, in which ilie whole puoph; li;ive a direct interest, I ask the insertisn in your columns of the following lVlemori;il, which was presented to the Legislature of this State, on the 27ili of Jan. last. It is from- the pen of Jesse Hawiey, Esq., now of Lockpoi't, in the county of Niagara, but for- merly of Rochester, in the county of Mom oe. His friends claim for him, that he wos the projector of the overland route of- the Erie Caiial, and wus the aulltor of the cele- brated Essays, signed "Hercules," published in the OiUurio J\lcs.'ie7iger, in 1807'; Those Essays may be found re-printed in the Appendix o( Dr. David Hosack's Memoir of De Witt Clinton, from page 300 to 340, and they deliiicutc the route of the Erie Canal almost exactly where it was adopted. The productions of his pen are rich in facts and statistical information, and his UIh eral and enlarged views aviM be found interesting to all who look at the prospective oommerfiial prosperity of' the nation/ ' ' - ".i -. . ONE OF YOUR READERS." To the Honorable the- Legislature (f the Slatf of New York, in Senate and Assembly convened, the MEMORIAL of JESS hi JIAWLEY, of Lock- port, in the Countu of Niagara, and his argumejtis in favor of sustaining the. Enlargement of the Erie Canal, omihe present proposed size of seventy by seven feet, and for its entire length to^Lake Erie, loithout any reduction of iis dimensions: — r. j: ; , , HUMBLY SHEWRTH :— That on the 25th Aprj],.1839, Mr. Powers brought into the Senate a bill, the first section of which reads as follows, visi.;^— "The plan of the enlarge- ment of the Erie Canal ishereby so far modified as to reduce the dimensions of the enlargement ot said Canal from seven feet deep and seventy feel width, to six feet deep, and in general sixty feet width of surface." Tiiat the public mind was previously ag.ilated with frequent discussions in our newspapers at Albany and. New: York, and of both political parties, for a similar reduction of the enlarged dimensions of the Erie Canal. That at a meeting of the cilizend of Lockport, held on 27th March, 1839, to take into consideration the subject of the enlargement of the Erie CanaU under these agitaiiona of the public mind, and the true policy of the state of New York in relation thereto, it was said, — "We therefore consider the pro- •* poaed dimensions of seventy feet by seven feet for the enlargement of the •vErie Caaal, to have been very deliberately investigated, debated, concluded; fT i I ♦♦ upon, and sinco concurred in, for more timn three years, as beinjOf now a ques- »» lion dc'tiiiilf'Iy Bt'ttlod, aa it wero by a general convention, and aa fornf)ing a »•' lUntm di.'cision thiUno trivial, transioui or temporary cause ought to disturb •• or unsettle : — And wo most sincerely dtiprecatc any euggeetioii being now •' made to iiltt.'r and reduce those dimensions, as opening u door to let in a vas- *» cilUiting course of legislation on our system of internal improvements, which •'may tiiruati'ii to overthrow the whole system." These preliminaries present the subjocl for consideration, and which I will attempt to discuss under the three following heads, viz : — 1st. What arc the superior natural advantages which the slate of New York possesses for a Canal to connect the navigation of the upper Lalics with the Atlantic ! 2. What are the benefits already derived to the state of New York, (and the Western country) from the present Canal, during the short period of thirteen years since its completion? 3d, What have been the former conclusions on the subject of the enlarge- ment of the I'hie Canal, under the various discussions had in the official re- ports made to the Legislature, during the four years past 1 The first head loads us to investigate the geographical and the topographical outline of the continent of North America, as having some peculiar features belonging to itself; in its possessing two ranges, or chains of mountamsi for tlie support of its enlarged width, as well as of its extended length. The lirst range commences at Cape Horn, and extends north eleven thou- sand rniles to tiie Frozen Ocean, and forms the back-bone of both the North and South Continents, — called the Andes of the South, the Cordilleras of jMexico, and the Rocky Mountains of the north, with a general course through the north continent of N. 10 degrees W., being nearly parallel to the \vestern coast, and from five hundred to seven hundred miles inland. The other and eastern range is called the Appalachian chain of mountains, and may be termed the breast-bone of the north continent, taking its rise out of the plains or table Isnds of Georgia and Alabama, in iat. 33 degrees N. and long. deorees W. from Washington, and running two thousand miles on a co'.irse N. 33 degrees K., nearly parallel to the Atlantic coast, and from one liundrcd to three hundred miles inland, — passing through Pennsylvania in sev- en parallel and contiguous ridges, us the Alleghany mountains ; thence spread- ing, branching, breaking and i)assing through New York, as the Highlands, Fishkill, Blue Ridge and Cattskill mountains ; thence gathering more com- pactly and passing through Vermont, as tlie Green Mountains ; through New Hampshire^ as the White Mountains ; and forming the Boundary Line be- tween the state of Maine and Lower Canada, runs out and terminates under 48 degrees N. Iat., near the souther.i shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. The extent of territory lying between these two chains of mountains is about one thousand miles in width at the south end, on the 33" N. Iat., lying between the 6 o and the 26 " of W. long, and about 1.500 miles wide on the 42 o N. Iat. — lying between the 2o and the 30 o W. long, and extends north & south from the 30 o to the 50 » of N. Iat., equal to 1400 miles, — and forms an area of about 1200 by 1400 miles square, and containing l,.500,0o0 square miles ; — a territory as large as the western half of Europe, [as large as ail Europe, excepting Russia and Turkey,] with its twenty kingdoms, numerous priucipaiities, and 150 millions of population ;— a territory thirty times as large IV a ques- brming a :o (listurlj eing now in a vas- ts, which ich 1 will lew York with the , (and the f thirteen ( enlargc- >fficial re- (graphical r features itamsi for ven Ihou- ;he North hlleras of e through 2 western lountains, •ise out of 38 N. and ilea on a from one lia in sev- ;e spread- ighlands, lore com- ugh New Line be- tes under ;nce. iintains is at., lying le on the nds north forms an X) square .rge as ail numerous s as large as that of the state of New York, and with the same ratio of population, would contain seventy millions of people. This vast valley, lying botween Mie confines of these two mountains, occa- sionally callerf the valley of the Mississippi, and the valley of tho Lakes, accu- mulate large bodies of waters mto lakes and rivers, which atTord an extensive range of interior fresh watur navigation, hut has only (wo outlets to the ocean- ic or tide-water navigation, viz., tlie St. Lawrence and the Mississippi, whicli are four thousand miles apart by their inland iinu of communication, and about the same distance by the traverse of the Atlantic coast. The head waters of both these outlets take their rise on the summit tuble land in the northwest corner of the valley, under the 49th do(,'roo N. lat. and 18 degrees VV. Ion. — the one in the Lake of the Woods, and the other in its vicinity — and thence extending from their sources, like a broad spread fan, castwardly two thousand miles, and southwardly three thousand miles, to their respective estuaries. The eastern outlet, through the St. Lawrence, takes its source in the Lake of the Woods, and gathers its waters into a chain of five largo Lakes, which, with a succession of outlets, in passing troin the upper to the lower lakes, forma the largest body of inland Mediterranean Seas on the globe, nflbrding n naviga- ble coast of five thousand miles, (9000 of which lie in tlie United Slates,) and containing an area of one hundred thousand square miles of water — their channel lying in a line nearly southeast for one thousand miles to the head of Lake Erie — ^thence turning and running northeast one thousand mileH to the ocean, passing over the Falls of Niagara, through Lake Ontario, down the St. Lawrence, with a rough, rapid, and heavy navigation, to the tide-waters at Montreal ; thence, with tide-water, one hundred and eighty miles, to Ciuebec ; and thence four hundred and fifty miles, down the river, widening into a strait, where it disembogues, with a broad estuary, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, \inder the 50 degree of N. lat., with a frozen and tempestuous navigation, ice- bound nearly seven months in the year; — as remote from the West Indies as it is from Europe, — and from the commercial part of the Atlantic coast, as is that of the Mississippi, and equally dangerous and difticult in its navigation. The southern outlet gathers its waters from the utmost verge of the valley ; from the east, the west,and the noub, and forms the mighty Mississippi.of three thousand six hundred miles in length, called the Father uf Rivers, which, with its numerous and extended branches, spreading like a majestic oak, drains two- thirds of the valley, and empties its waters into the Gulf of Mexico. The Mouths of the Mississippi consist of several narrow channels, without safe and convenient harbors for the accommodation of its shipping ; with its mart one hundred and five miles up the river, under the 30th degree N. lat., almost within the torrid zone, subject to the fevers of a tropical climate, with a sultry sun that shortly injures and perishes mostly all articles of merchan- dize, as well the finer fabrics of European manufacture, as of Ihe coarser ma- terials of agricultural and home productions ; whose winter business is also interrupted by frosts on the upper waters; and her mid-summer business, by her desolating epidemics. New Orleans is indeed comraodiously situated for trade with the West In- dies, yet producing some of their staple articles, viz., cotton, sugar, molasses, &c., in competition with them ; but being placed at double distance from the commercial nations of Europe, with tho diOicuIl and dangerous navigation, I. ■ 1 M ■I hi through the Caribbean sens and Bahamachannels, she cannot become the nt«m inarkut tbr the supply of hor up-thu-river country with European merchandize — not more so llian Qtiebci^ tbr the supply of her back territories with West India jrouds. And the romo>& distance of four thousand miles between Que^ bee and New Orleans, with t<. circuitous und dangerous coast navigation, im> pedes and prccludoy a reciprocal cotnniercial intercourse between them. VVIiilo the wiitfTH of the Mississippi) with its numerous and long eAtended branches, mostly How in a smooth and placid, but a stern and rugged stream, affording a cliunnci for an almost uninterrupted natural boat navigation of from twenty thousand to thirty thousand miles, in all their varied extent, with only few impcdiinents from rapids and cataracts, but with a strong descending antl forever ebbing current, which was a very formidable difficulty to overcome, un> til the invention and introduction of steamboats'- and while the navigation of thu Upper Lakes was impeded with the insuperable barrier of the Niagara Fall?, the dangerous rapids of the St. Lawrence, with the tempestuous sea, and iron-bound coast of its Gulf. With these iniiny and formidable impediments to the foreign trade and com. mer(?c through the two natural outlets of the vast plains and prairies lyirtg be- 2/07i(/of a consideration, and the United States, therefore, made a purchase of Louisiana from France, as the grantee of Spain, in 1804, to obtain a free navigation for its upper waters with the Atlantic ; and even this purchase was considered-by many at the time, as of dubious and mis-judged policy. England being more tenacious of her colonies, than either France or Spain, no purchase of the Canadas was ever contemplated ; but in the course of an> other twenty years, the commerce of the Lakes had grown into value, so as to induce the President, Monroe, in bis message to Congress of December, 1823, lo propound tho idea of a treaty with England for the tree navigation of the St. Lawrence from its source to its nouth. But the Erie Canal was then in progress and completed in October, 1825, and no proceedings have since been instituted to obtain the privilege ot that navigation, other than what the com- mercial interests of Great Britain and her colonies have voluntarily oonceded. In the projection and completion of the Erie Canal, the saying that the gei>- ixis and enterprise of the American People are commensurate with the eii^n- cies of their necessities, has been fully realized and amplified. Tub Erie Canal forma a new outlet— 4n artificial channel of navigation — the HfiLIiGSPQNT BKTWJEEN TRB UPPBR LaKKS AND THE ATLANTIC— -devel- o\iirfQ eome peculi«r and remarkable features in its dclinoalion, and command- ing a superior location for its mart and depot — market and warehouao. ' Its peculiar feotiiro conaists in taking the advantage of tl»o elevation of tlic Waters of Lake Erie above the level of the tide-wotera of the Ocean, by tap- pmg the lake at its throat for a feeder, and drawing its waters into the Erio Canal, as the channel of a now and artificial river, and passing them through iTonawanda Creek twelve miles ; thenco through a channel carved out of tlwj rock-bound rim of the great basin of Lake Erie, by an excavation to the depth of twenty.five feet at Lockport; thence letting down the waters of the canal, by a set of 10 combined locks, 60 feet, on the middle terrace of the Queens- ton mountain ; thence atong its slope tp the east, with a very gentle declivity, extending into Monroe county, until it terminates at Brighton village, four ihiles cast of Rochester, forming the second longest line of level canal, being sixty-five miles in length, where the waters are again let down by four locks into the Irondequoit valley,which has the peculiar topographical feature of sev. eringthe Queenston from the Alleghany mountains ; and aflcr being made to traverse the valley in a meandering courbo fbr eight miles, and to pass the Iron- dequoit creek over an embankment of seventy feet elevation, in order to maintain the level of the canal ; crossing the valley at Bushnell's basin, and being led along its eastern verge fonr miles northvv^ardly to Fairport ; thenco it is turned to the cast and parsed through Perrinton swamp, a distance of six miles ; this swamp lies at the foot of the most northwestern termination of the western ridge of the Alleghanies as they pass through Pennsylvonia, and which thence diverge from the eastern ridges, turn more to the north than their gen- eral course — shoot across western New York, in broken spurs and ledges gradually declinin^f into terraces of rolling upland, and becfome extinct as they approachthemargin of the northern waters;-which makes of Perrinton swamp the celebrated point where the line of the Erie Canal circumnavigates the Alle- ghany mountains to the north about in an open canal, without the necessity of tunnelling the mountain at the distance of one hundred and twelve miles from its source at the Ibo^ of Lake Erie, and seventeen miles east of Rochester ; thence carrying on the waters of Lake Erie to Monte/uma onc'hundred and sixty miles where it receives a new supply for the continuance of its line onward to th& Hudson, and returns those Erie waters into Lake Ontario by the Seneca River. I will ii^re remark, that along this line thdre are two pieces of work which will be lefl to be accomplished by posterity, fot a more effectual and complete improvement of t1ie Erie Canal ; the one, is to tiin a direct line from Brightori village across the Irondequoit valley, on a high efmbankment, to Fairport, and reducing tiie distance from thirteen, to six miles ; the other is to carry on the present level of the canal from Newark, across the head of the Cayuga marshes over a heavy embankment, and thence to Syracuse, on the Rome level, extend- ing' that longest level of the canal, from sixty-nine, to one hundred and thirty mues, — superseding the use of thirteeen locks, and literally feeding the canal with the waters of Lake Erie, to the Hudson. From Buffalo to Albany by the artificial channel of the canal, is throb hundred and sixty-three miles, which will be straightened and reduced a few miles un- der the enlargement — thence on the Hudson river to New York, one hundreii and fbrty-seven miles, making five hundred and ten miles from Buffalo to New York, and from BuffaJo to Montreal four hundred miles. From New York it is only twenty miles to the broad Atlantic at Saiidy Hook — and from Montreal it 18 [ISOiind 150 malcc] six hundred and thirty miles to the Atlantic in the Gulfi of in. La\/renco; and about an equal voyujfc t'roui cither port, to Europe. Givinjj to the state of New York the eupurior advantage fur constructing an artificial outlet from the upper lakes to navigato around the northweat(>rn ex- tremities of the Alleghany mountains in an open canal of throe hundred and sixty-throe miles in length to Albony, — and at that place forming a junction with the tide waters of the Hudson River, being a natural canal with the How ok' tide water one hundred and seventy miles, from tho ocean, through a gorgo carved out of the Highlands by nature, to form a deep ship channel through thu most eastern range of the Alleghanics, /orming a prominent gulf that constitutes the military key of the continent — tho Giuualtar of Amkuica — and which liere permits the ocean tides to pass its conHnes and ilovv onward, thence one iuindrcd miles to Albany, (he only passugu of tide-water known to penetrate and pass the lino of the Appalachian chain of Mountains. With this passage of a new outlet from the upper lakes, running near- ly at right angles with tho general lino of tho two natural outlets, and at thu point of tho nearest approximation of tho groat valley, to the Atlontic, in part by an artificiai,and in part by a natural canal uf ilve hundred and ten miles of inland narrow water navigation,6afo from all the storms, tompests,and sea- risks of broad water, requiring no insurance, the) ino boats, as common carriers, being our in- surers, we roach the city of New York, beautifully located about rnidwav be- tween the Gulfs of Mexico and tho St. Lawrence ; under the 40°, 40. ^. lat. near the northern line of the temperate zone, with a mild and moderate climato that favors the preservation of all articles of merchandize ; at tho confluence of tho North and East rivers; with a spacious inland bay, a brisk ebb and flood current of tide waters, and good anchoring ground, forming altogether the most, safe and commodious harbor and road stead for shipping of any size and num- ber, in America ; so rarely mterruptcd by tides, frosts or freshets, as to be ia good condition for business nearly flfty weeks in a year; and so centrally loca- ted in the middle of the Atlantic shores of our continent, and onlv twenty milea inland from the ocean, as to hold a convenient intercourse with all of its extrem- ities, and to constitute tho city of New York, the emporium of trade between Europe and the two continents of America ; from whence an European voyago can be made with greater facility than from Quebec, with nearly twice the m- cility as from New Orleans, a West India voyage nearly equal with New Or- leans, and as five in a year, to two from Montreal or Quebec. With these superior natural advantoges lying within tho territory and jurisdic- tion of the State of New Y^ork, to be improved by skill and science at the cost of her government, and held in perpetuity, to be enjoyed by her sover§ignty, as State properties, for State revenues,and the commercial prosperity of her citizens; . by the construction of the THIRD OUTLET from the upper valley of tho * Mississippi and the lakes, to the Atlantic,she can double the amount of its trado by the increase of values, divide the business witli the two natural outlets, and leave to each a greater portion than what would be the amount of the whole* were it lefl to remain in a natural and unimproved condition. Under the second head I will endeavor to show the benefits alrcadj^ derived , to the State of New York and the western country from the present minor sise , of the Erie Canal of only forty by four feet dimensions, and ia the short period *\.\ J k 1- »r thirteen years ; — furnishing tnKtcriatq for a rulo of calculation on the future berofitB to bo (loriviHJ from ita rnlarjfotnont. For the calculatiotiH of its influences on the growth of values in the State of New York, wo liavi! the indubitable data of the Comptroller's annual reports of the anf^regato amount of the Town AsscflHmont KoIIb in the State ; (and all of us who have taken oor turns as town officers, well know these valuations are rarrly overrated, and often underrated 20 percent.) The asfgrrogato valuation of the real and personal properties in tho Sate of New York, for tho year 1815, was two hundred and eitflity-ono millio.is; — in 1825, was two hundred and sixty-thred millions, bcin^if a decrease of eighteen millions. In October, 1825, the Erie Canal was completed and opened tor nav- igation, having coPt $7,110,790. In If^Mij, it wna 5M0 millions ; — niid in 18118 was 027 millions, — being an in- crease of ;KM millions in 13 years, equal to fitty-ono times the original cost of the Erie canal, exclusivo of tho Chainplain Canal. For tho want of duto, wo simll have to got at an estimate of benefits of tho Erie Canal on the woatorn country, by an approximation. The territory lying west of New York, north of the Ohio River, r^ast of the Mississippi, and eoutli of the Upper Lalcfs, is estimated to contain two hundred eighty thousand square miles, equal to 170 millions of acren. Lotus presume the increase of values of properties in this secj^tion of territory arc equal to an average of two dollars per acre ; making u growth of 358 mill- ions, which added tn the 364 millions in iNew York, would make n gross in- crease of values of 722 millions, equal to one hundred 'iines tho cost of the Erie Canal, during the firdt thirteen years after its completion, and now yielding one and a half millions of annual lolls ; — and its business, even in its infancy, out- growing its dimensions. But you may object that I have given credit to the Erie Canal alone, for all the growth and prosperity of the country. Then please to make as many deductions, for the natural growth of tho popu- lation of the country, for the steady accumulation of values by its progressivo industry, for the Champlain Canal, and for all other ciuises which ycu may choose to enumerate ; and then, there will be enough lefl to convince you that more than the half of this accumulation of values, is justly to be credited to the Erie Canal. It is to be remembered that the growth of population and of pro- ductive labor were alike active and progressive, from 1815 to 1825, it being in a time of peace, as they wore from 1825 to 1835 ; and yet in the former period of ten years, their market values depreciated nearly ten per cent., while in the latter period often years, they increased over 100 per cent. Since the completion of the Erie Canal in 1S25 ; since the doubtful question on the //len devious and perverse policy of some of the New York politicians (and even of the city of New York, which has derived nearly one-halt of tho growth of values in the State) whether the Erie Canal should be permitted to reacli Lake Erie, and derive its name, or to be made to stop short of it, at some point of inland termination, as at Montezuma, Lyons, Palmyra, or Rochester, was finally settled by the prevalence of the Clintonian policy, by its completion,, in its extension to fiako Erie and its termination at Buffalo ; the Ohio and tho Miami canals of3i}4. and 65 miles ia lcng:tb,lm8 been commenced and coio^ pleted. r' Mi 10 Since then, in later time and under the influences of the former, other an)a «lct^n8ive improveiiientB have been comn\enced, of which a late Chicago pa- per in publishing the report oflde Illinois Canal, gives us a list of the foliowini^ canals, as some of them being already completed, and of others that will be Bnished in three c.* four years, viz : "The iMichigan and Erie Canal, including both the branch to Michigan city, and to the Illinois State lins, 198 miles ; Wa- bash and Erie Canal in Ohio and Indiana/ 8^5 miles ; Central Canal, Indiana, ' 310 miles ; Cross-cut Canal, Indiana, 43 miles ; Miami Canal, Ohio, 205 miles; White Water Canal, Indiana, (length of Richmond branch estimated^ 90 milod; Harrison, an the White Water' Canal, (estimated,) 30 miles; making twelve hundred and one miles. There are also some navigable feeders, in- creasing the length 30 or 40 miles. These canals are intersected at various points by railroads and other improvements, which must increase their useful- ness and importance." To this list add the'IIlirtois Canal of 101 miles in length from Chicago to its junction with the Illinois river, making with the Ohio and Miami Canals, a to- ^tal of seventeen hundred and thirty miles of canals ; beside' the natural naviga- tion ofthe rtveta and lakes of a much greater length, and also of many miles ot railroads projected for the facilities of commercial communications through this section of territory. It is to be observed that the Ilhnois canal (of which three-fourths of its line has been under contract for a year past) is of seventy feet'by seven and an half feet dimensions, and its locks 110 by 18 feet within the chambers ; being six inches deeper, and otherwise ofthe same dimensions as is proposed for the en- largement ofthe Erie Canal. The gross tonnage of American vessels in 1818, was 2,068 tons ; in 1838 it was 36,447 tons, (viz. Buffalo distriiit, 9,615 ; Presque Isle, 3,216 ; Cuyahoga, 9,495; Sandusky, 1,467 ; Miami, 2,807; Detroit, 8,657, and Mackinaw 1,196 tone,) being an increase of neatly seventeen times' the 2,068 tons, in 20 years. The influx of population, the rise and sale of lands, the extravagant specula- tions which have been made in'the Government lands within this section of territory, since 1825, fully denonstrate that' the influences which the Erie Ca- nal has had upon it, are equal to the ctil delations herein given. Theamountof tonnage of canal boats, passing and re^passing Utica for a year, are estimated greater than that bf foreign shipping entering and clear- ing the port of New York. In order to illustrate the //tir(/^ea(/ of my argument, and to show you what ' considerations have been given to the subject by your predecessorb in oflice, 1 could quote a volume of extracts from the public documents ; but for the sake of brevity, I shall do but little more than to r^lbr you to them for perusal at your leisure. There are twdve public documents which relate in part or all to the en- largement ofthe Erie Oaniil, under the law of 11th May, 1835, which author- izes its enlargement. The first and leading one, is the report of the Canal Board to the Legislature on 26th Jan. 1636, No. 98 consisting of 14 pages, and detailing the proceedings ofthe Canal Board on 30th June, and 20th Oct. 1835 ; and also of the Board of Canal Commissioners ofthe 6tb and 17th July ; aeeompanied by seven other documents marked A. B. C. D. E. F. and G. con- ■flisting of 290 pages collectively, and containing the surveys and estimates of iihe^ooat ofthe enlargement, made by the four State En|fineerg, Meesrs. Jervis, ■#; u II 'Roberts, Mills, and Hutcbinson, who collectively had surveyed from July to October, the whole line of the canal from Buffalo to Albany, for the basis of the proceedings of the Canal Board at their adjourned meeting held on 20th Octo> ber, when they determined on the enlarged dimensions of the Erie Canal " to be seven feet depth of water, and seventy feet width of surface, and locks 110 feet long and 18 feet width of chamber; reconsidering the decision made on 3d July, tor the enlargement to be sixty feet by six feet dimensions." The 9th document is a part of the annual report of the Canal Commissioners of 20th January, 1838, No. 61, of 48 pages, with reference to pages 22, 23, 24, and 25. The 10th is the report to ihe House on Internal Improvements, rela- tive to the enlargement of the Erie Canal, of the 13th March, 1838, No. 245, of 7 pages. The 11th is a part of the annual report of the Canal Commissioners of 22d January^ 1839, No. 86, of 47 pages, with reference from the 6th to the 24th pages. And the 12th is n special report from the same, to the House of Asssembly of 30th March, 1839, No. 339, of 21 pages. I will add the 13th document, being the Report of the Cftnal Board on the Oswego and Utica Ship Canal of iiiOth March, 1835, accompanied by the Re- port of the Engineers, Messrs. Jervis, Hutchinson and Mills, end marked as Assembly Document, No. 334. In this mass of upwards of 400 pages of documentary matter, the enlarge- ment of the Erie Canal is discussed in all its relations, and oa which our Com- missioners and Engineers had bestowed their best skill as scientific American artists. But that part which more immediately relates to the specific dimen- sions of the enlarged canal, and which is the direct pomt ot our present subject of consideration, will be found in almost every page of the first document ; also in pages 15, 58, 119, 120, 190, 191, 196, 197, 200, 201, 202, 281 and 282 of the continuous pagings-of the seven documents of the Engineers Reports; and in the 5tb,6lh and 7th pages of the 12th document, from which I make the tew following extracts, and leave the remainder for your perusal; — In Document A, page 15, Mr. Jervis says-—" The present canal is adapted to a boat of 31 tons ; the six feet canal to a boat of71 tons, and the seven feet canal to a boat of 103 tons." In Document B, page 119, Mr. Roberts say«, " that if the water line or width of the canal is seventy feet, and if this is four and an half times the width ot the boat (which inthatcase will be 15 1-2 feet,) such width of boat will pass through ihe carnal as through an indefinite expanse of ualer. " It is admitted that the length of a boat may, with economy in transportation, be eight times its-width— but suppose it to be seven times — lo 1-2 by 7 is 108 1-2 feet, or varying from 100 to 108 — the length of the locks might be 115 or 120.; such a boat, when full loaded, might carry a freight of 140 tons." In Document D, page 197, Mr. Hutchinson says: "the Erie Canal is forty feet wide on the^surfkce and four feet deep, and the locks are ninety feet long by. fifteen wide in the chamber. The width of these locks are disproportioned to'thedunensions of the canal, and in the improvements, the canal and locks should be constructed to pass boats best adapted to economy in transportation. Experiments have been made by the Chevalier Du Buat, by which it was shown thi^t the canal should be four and an half times the breadth of the boat, and with the ratio of the transverse section of the canal, as compared with the boat of 6 <^^t6-I00 to 1, the resistance of the boat, with a moderate velocity, would be, the same;, as on an indefinite extent of water " ^ r * K: 1 !: 12 In page 200 — "Boats of 120 tons, as has been shown, are nearly a quarter larger than the average of vessels on Lakes Erie and Ontario, and correspond well in size with the usual coasting tonnage on the Hudson river; and if these dimensions are sufRcien'.'y large for the prospective business, then a canal of sixty five feet wide and b 1-2 feet deep, will require locks one hundred five feet long and fifteen feet wide, to be best adapted to economy in transportation." In Document E, pnsro 281, Messrs. Jervis and Mills say — »• In a canal six feet deep and sixty feet wide, a boat may be navigated with 100 tons burthen ; but in our opinion, such a canal will not afford cheap and convenient naviga- tion for boats of more than 70 to 80 tons, and will fail to accommodate that class of boats that may be most conveniently navigated on the Hudson. The same ratio would give for a canol of 7 feet by 70, a boat that would afford con- venient and cheap navigation for 100 to 110 tons ; and for u canal 8 feet deep and 80 feet wide, a cheap and convenient navigation for boats of 130 to 150 tons." In page 283 — " V\ e are of opinion that the 8 feet canal, as before de- fined, is the most suitable to be adopted in the enlargement of the Erie Canal." In theso^ investigations of our public officers they endeavored to study into the science of canal navigation by traction, in order to ascertain as near as pos- sible, "what amount of cargo approaches nearest the maximum that can bo transported on a canal with the greatest economy," which they found " expe- rience had no where pointed out with certainty" — and although the engineers differed among themselves on some minor points, yet they have very nearly agreed in the general principles laid down — that a column of water requires to be 4 1-2 times as wide as the boat, for her to pass through it, as through an in- definite expense, or a broad sheet of water — that is to say, a boat passing through the water, makes a wake equal to 4 1-2 times her own width :— > That when the width of the boat is of a greater proportion to the width of the canal — then her wahe strikes the banks of the canal, washes and wears thetn, and produces a resistance to her own speed something like dead-water, which wastes a part of the power of traction. That on this principle, the present width of the Erie Canal, being forty feet, would require our canal boats to be reduced from 13 to 9^ feet width for the bet- ter economy of drafl, and in order that they might pass through as in a broad expanse, i. e. to make no wake against the banks of the'canals. That our canal boats have hitherto been taxed on our canals subject to this waste and loss of power and strength, although they have brought in eighteen millions of tolls since the completion of the canals. That a boat of 15 feet is considered an economical width for conveying freight — but that width is disproportioned to the present width of the canal and loses economy of traction. That th« length of a boat may bo 7 or 8 times her width for the economy of freight. That no specific depth for a boat has yet been ascertained and given. "^ That for an increased economy in transportation, these relative proportions should be consulted in the enlargement of the Erie canal, as being some of its essential improvementA. That in consulting the relations of trade, of the transhipment of cargoes from other vessels, and of traction on the tow-path of the canal, a boat of 100 tons burthen is considered to be the most su'^able size. That a boat of 100 feet keel, 16 feet beam, and 6 feet in the hold (below her everdeck) gives 9600 cubic feet of hold^ which divided by 95 cubic feet, the i ' IB carpenter's rule of tonnage, gives 101 tons of carpenter's measure [and with a seven feet hold could be made to carry 1000 barrels of flour.] That these views of the subject demonstrated to the Canal Board, at their adjourned meeting on 20th October, 1835, the dimensions of seventy feet wide anu seven feet deep, with locks 110 feet long by 18 feet wide, as more suitable for the enlargement of the Erie canal, and led them to reconsider their former resolution of tiie 3d July for GO by 6 feet dimensions; and that these were probably the views and conclusions of our public functionaries, whose office and profesbion it is to stuily the principles of artiflcial navigation, and to grow it up into science, for the advice and information of our legislative authorities. And these views have been accepted, approved, and adopted by the Legislature of 1836, 1837, 1838, and until a mania — a madness of purpose seemed to have possessed your immediate predecessors. •/ ,, ' . These investigations afford the following synopsis of the subject :— That there is a large and fertile valley lying between these two great chains of the east and west mountains of our North American continent, which in the visions of the future will one day abound with myriads of people and millions of wealth, enjoying an extensive inland domestic trade and a lucrative com- merce with its several outlets to the Atlantic ocean ; presentuig subjects of great national interest which we have hitherto only superficially considered, known and understood, but which is Vvoll deserving a more thorough investiga- tion by our merchants and statesmen ; and although it is now lying among the hack forests of our territory, yet it will ultimately become the middle portion of the American Empire ; and that probably in fifty years the Capitol of the United States may be moved from its present site on the tide waters of the Atlantic, and carried over the mountain to seek a new location on the verge of the Valley — at Pittsburg, Portsmouth, Cincmnati, or Louisville. That the State of New York holds the Key to the third—the middle—the artiticial outlet for the channels of foreign trade and commerce with this vast interior valley ; and the irregular boundary lines of her territory covers the whole ground for both the routes leading from Lakes Erie and Champlain to the middle Atlantic* and secures to her the sole property and jurisdiction of them, as her own. That there is no other place or passage along the whole line of the Alleghany mountain, where those vast bodies of inland waters can be tapped and drawn through an artificial channel into the Atlantic — except that the Mississippi river can be taken out below the Chickasaw Bluffs and led in a southeastern di- rection along the declivity of the land across the country and let down into the Atlantic at a suitable harbor between the St. Mary's and the Savannah rivers ; and thus to navigate around the southern extremity of the Appalachian moun- tains, as New York navigates around their northwestern extremity. This route was suggested by Mr. Albert Gallatin in his report on canals in April 1809 — and while it is an improvement of obvious utility, und one which will ultimately be accomplished for the accommodation of the middle and lower Mississippi trade — ^yet as its line of route must necessarily pass through the territories of the state of MississippiiAlabama and Georgia,it will be slow and tardy in its pro- gress as a Stale work conjointly between them—- but which ought never to be done as a national work. .(• t;> T ijj J' J' !;;l^>i VMM r^ ( :i 1' A^ ii That all the intermediate places and passes of the Alleghany mountains wiif aitber have to be surmounted by Rliil-roads, as in Pennsylvania, or tannelled; . as for the Chesapeake and Ohio Canals. That the Ohio river with its numerous and wide spread branches, from the Alleghany riveron the north, to the CiimbRrland and the Tennessee rivers on the south, cover and'incldde all the head springs and fountain waler6 that issue from the western slope of the Alleghany mountains extending along their whole line from Georgia to western N^w York, and'hold^ all the trans- Alleghany communications with the head waters of the Sasquehannah, the Potomac, James, Roanoke, and Savannah rivers — and whatever art, science, industry, and capital may, or can d6 for the improvement of those intermediate passes, to bring them into competition with • the channel of trade leading down the third or middle outlet to the emporium of New York— and whatever efficiency they may bo made to acquire during the season of spring, freshets,, affording competent sup' plies of water — yet they will forever be subject to the mid-summer and autum- nal droughts which have already began to impairthe navigation of the Ohio river at this early period of the settlement of its country, and which must con->^ tinue progressively decresent with the progress of the clearings of the surroun- ding forests and opening them to the more immediate influence of the solar rays for the evaporation of their waters ; while the waters that feed the Hel- lespont of the Lakes will'continue ample, and durable as the Falls of Niagara. That although the EHe Canal is ice-bound and closed for five months in the year, yet during the otherseven ninths it is \n a good and permanent condition for business, with durable feeding waters^-safe as land carriage — not »wift and fleet in its passage — nor precarious — but slow, steady, and of a sure calcula- tion, within twenty-four hours, for a certainty. That no single act — no public measure — except the Declaration of Indepen- dence, and the formation of the United States Constitution, has done so much to promote the public prosperity and produce a new era in the history of the Gouniry, as the construction of, the Erie Canal. It is the father of canals in' America ; and of the State system of internal improvennents which has grown up under its benign influences ; and that its political inflAence and importance to the Union, f6r the construction of internal improvements,- by State funds — as Stale properties— for. Slate rsoenues, on the principle of State Kiguts, is' equal to its commercial values. That the Public Domains, which were formerly State properties, and ced- ed by several of the Slates, togethsr with a, larger and better portion of their revenues, to form a joint stoek property, and compose the ways and means for the basis of a national' government, and which has now grown into an excess of national revenues, and caused a diminution of Slate revenues,--/Aerc/orc they ougiU now to be retumedrlo the several States, by A'lvidifig the avails of the sales thereof, on a federal ratio, in ord^r to replenish the meagre revenues of the States, jand enable them more efficiently to construct their systems of in- ternal improvements on Slate Rights principliRs for increased resources of fcstate revenues^and to grow up the values of the soil and properties of the country. That New York should more emphatically claim of Congress her quota of the avails of the sales of public lands, to aid her State funds, for the extension- and perfection of her system of internal improvements, as her requitat for hav- lagrbeen the first among^ the old thirteen States which ceded her portion of the t; 'm J 15 m' pnibtic ddmains, together with the lucrative revenues of her Bfew York City Custom House to the national government. That this vast range of inland navigation, trade, and commerce, to be grown up id the interior of the United States under the industry and enterprise of our people, 'svill beffreatly enhanced in it& values, by the whole circle of it being fostered by the nws of one general government, instead of being embarrassed and vexed by the varied laws of revenue and inspection of several different conflicting and competing governments, like those in western Europe ; and ; this uniformity of commercial and. revenue regulations, being literally a free trade intercourse, will greatly promote the business, social and political relations of our people, . assirailate their, language, manners, habits, and customs, and cultivate a national character. That canals, like rivers, unite and combine the reciprocal interests of com- ■ munity. Bonaparte's maxim was thai rivers unite — mountains divide : but the extension of internal improvements in the United States will eventually subdue the dividing influences of the American mountains, and the Brie canal, as open-* ing a new avenue for foreign trade and commerce with the interior, will serve to cement the political, with the commercial union of the western, with th& Atlantic states. Entertaining^ these anticipations of the future growth and greatness of our country, it should become the pride and purpose of the citizens of New York to preserve, retain. And improve these natural State advantages, as State proper- ties for the growth of the population and prosperity of her own people; that by the improvement of these ocal advantages of the state, and with her niem-^-. bership in the national confederacy, she may regain^ the equivalents, of her con-, cessicns from her.State properties and prerogratives of sovereignty, to form a . national government ; .and from the commanding positioot which she may ac- quire, and through, the intelligence, integ;rity and magnanimity of her states- Hien and her merchants, she may retain a predominant influence in our national councils, conservative of thegreat princip^tis of our National Confederacy. With these imperfect elucitlations, an«ieven more feeble anticipations of the. future, I leave the subject to the wisdom and sagacity of your Honorable Body, . under the ardent hope that you- will long hesitate before you entertain any prop-> osition for the reduction of the present established dimensions for the enlarge- ment of the Erie Canal ; and your petitioner, as in duty bound, will ever pray. . Lockport, 11 January,. 1840. J. HAWLEY. if! ! -ll APPENDIX. T TT r. T , » ^i6«i», JVJorcA 28, 1840. JjissE Hawlet^ Esft. Lockport : " Dear Sir— la the early part of the session JV!r. Sibley referred to me the able roe- inorial drawn up by>youon the subject- of the Enlargement of the Erie' canal. He requested that 1 .would present the views contained in the.same, provided I approved -< of them, and it was thought advisable to make a general report at this session. The feeling of hostility seemed to be so stronc and rathsr increasing than di- . minishing, against the Enlargement in particular, that I was urged to make a report. The views presented by you seemed to me not only .nen, but important, and !.' liAve given them in substance stating they wer&.yours. I ha.ve ervlarged upon the various topics discussed and introduced a variety of sla^ - liatlcal matter m support of tlie Several arguments. . f I if i \v 16 It was a subject entirely new to me, but I liave bestowed much pains to rendct it as interesting; (md useful to the cause of internal improvements as my time and •opjjortunity would permit. it has been already and will continue to be assailed for the enlarged and expand- ed views presented of tlie power and resources of the oountry. I have not said one word on the subject of the public Lands, although I agree •with you, that the state have a just claim for an equitable distribution of the same. It appeared to me that this rather weakened than strengthened the subject. We have the ability and power within ourselves to carry out our system of internal improve- ments. A sua;gestion therefore of a matter uncertain and contingent seemed to me as though it carried the idea, that wc felt inclined to size upon something remote and un« certain to loan on, because we doubted our own strength. As soon as the report is printed it shall be forwarded to you and I trust it will meet •your views of the subject. An extra number of copies were oi-dered to be printed and it will have an extensive circulation. Vour Respectfully, GEORGE W. LAY. ^ Lockport, ^pril 10, 1840. ' 'Georob W. Lay Es(i.,*Chalrmanof the Committe on canals in the H. of Assembly: Dear Sir — I duly received your friendly letter of the 28th ult. saying that "early in the session my friend Derick Sibley Esq. had handed you my " petition to the Le- *• gislature on the Enlargement of the Erie canal. That the views presented therein " were not oajy new but important, and the subject entirely new to you; and that "you have given them in substance, staling they were mine, in a report which you *• were urged to make in consequence or' the strong and rather increasing hostility ** towards the Enlargement. That it has been already and will continue to be as« *• sailed for the enlarged and expanded views presented of th«j powers and resources " of the country; — as soon ac the report is printed ;t shall be forwarded to you, and I •' trust it will meet with your views on the subject." I had with much labor and study, written that essay for the ardent conflict which was in action for more than a year past, to reduce the dimensions of the Enlargement, intending it for publication with my name to be announced as its author, and 1 put it into the Ibrm of a petition with my signature alone, addressed to the Legislature for greater eflicacy thanit could obtain as an anonymous publication in a newspaper. 1 frankly acknowledge, that considering myself as being the projector of the over land route of the Ene canal, I had some motives of personal ambition on the occasion ; and the friendly expressions contained m your letter, led me to suppose that you had •fully understood and appreciated my .motives from my friend, and that you were dis- posed to give me ample credit with the public as a reward for my labors. Having confidently formed these expectations, I confess, that on the perusal of the copy of the report which you were pleased to send me, I was somewhat disap- pointed at your disingeneous treatment of my writings ; that instead of quoting from - them in their own language, giving me fair and honest credit for what I had written, as you have done from Mr. Clinton and others — you should have garbled the sen- tences, transposed the subjects, and intermingled your own language throughout the whole of it so as to give it the appearance of originality to the reader, in order toinduce him to suppose you were the sole author of it ; merely hinting at me in your 7th page, but in a manner so obscure that no person can readily understand to whom you referred, except those of my personal friends who had j: revious knowledge of the cir- cumstances, obviously made, as a meagre apology for your unfair plagiarisms. I sincerely regret the contingencies of the case, as it seems to impose on me the •necessity of publishing try Essay, with your letter, at my convenience, in order to re^ {rieve it from its obscurity in your report. I am very Respectfully, Yours &c., J. HAWLEY. ■ ■-•/«.: f i) GOVERNOR SEWARD'S RETURN COMPLIMENT FOR A COPY OF THIS ESSAY. •■ ''■'4. . ^^ eX ManH- you /oz youz 'maaniftcen^ ane/ G^zt'oti4 * (■7Z ea^uez 7/cazd. • - . f^ »