THE OUTDOOR WORLD 



183 



The Picturesque Old Farmington 

 Canal. 



BY WELLS MCM ASTER, CHESHIRE, CON- 

 NECTICUT. 



Stimulated by the building of the 

 Erie Canal in New York state many 

 similar projects were proposed in this 

 and adjoining" states. In 1822 a charter 

 was granted to the Farmington Canal 

 Company for a canal to start at tide 

 water in New Haven harbor and extend 

 to the town of Colebrooke where it was 

 to enter the Connecticut River. Pros- 

 perous communities in the upper Con- 

 necticut valley were sending a rich 



stream of commerce down the rivei 

 to Hartford, then a capitol of the state. 

 The Farmington Canal it was planned 

 would turn much of this commerce to 

 New Haven, also a capitol of the state. 

 The Connecticut River which in earlier 

 years had probably been diverted from its 

 original course, turning east, between 

 Hartford and Middletown, by volcanic 

 action at Berlin, would through the 

 canal carry commerce to the Sound by 

 its original path. A series of twenty 

 locks were necessary to overcome an 

 elevation of one hundred and eighty 

 odd feet between New r Haven and what 



LOOKING SOUTHWARD AT THE OLD AND THE NEW— CANAL AND RAILROAD BY 



BROOKSVALE, CONNECTICUT, STATION. 



THE 



