PROJECTKO NEW BARCK ("AXAL OK STATI', OF XKW YORK. / OT) 



In' a lU'w I'oiilc. Laryc porlions ol' (he ( 'liauiplaiii and ( )sAV('^r(> canals 

 also follow now locations. 



Tho oxistinu: canals may he called "•hillside" canals, ms they go 

 through the ojien country and aloni;,' the upper portions of the valleys 

 above the rivers, from which they religiously kee|) away to tho groat- 

 ost extent, possible. The new and gi"(>ater canal is put in tho valley 

 bottoms and in the water courses and lakes wherever practicable. 



The princij)al advantages of tho valley -bottom location in tho case 

 of the greater canal are cheai)noss of construction, greater freedom 

 and ease of movement by boats in the wider waters of the water 

 courses and lakes, greater rajiidity and less cost of transportation, 

 greater innnunity from accidents that disable the canal, and loss cost 

 of maintenance. With the small canal as originally built and as snb- 

 sequently enlarged to its ])resent size it would not have been econom- 

 ical, with the knoA^'ledge and moans then possessed, to have built the 

 dams and locks required to canalize the Mohawk and other rivers and 

 to excavate the largo channels required for flood discharge. With 

 the large barge canals now ])roj)osed this canalization is not only 

 desirable, but is cheaper than it would bo to utilize the existing lines 

 of the canals. 



The existing canal is a " tow-path " canal, built with the distinct 

 idea that all business on it should be done by animal towing. In the 

 now and larger canal no tow path is provided, and it is expected that 

 navigation through it will be by means of steamboats properly 

 adapted to it and towing other motorless cargo boats, in accordance 

 with tho custom which has boon developed and is now in vogue on the 

 Erie Canal to a certain extent. It is this change in tho method of 

 navigation which permits the valley bottom, lake, and water-course 

 location to be adopted. 



Long years before the construction of the Erie Canal tho early 

 pioneers had found a water highway extending nearly acreoss the 

 State of New York, and it was largely used by those who settled 

 the Avestern portion of the State. It was not perfect, involving, as 

 it did, many portages about falls and rapids and from one river to 

 another, and tho stemming of swift river currents, with bars and 

 shoals, but it fulfilled a most useful function. 



The Erie Canal when built did not follow this pioneer route for 

 reasons stated: but it is a remarkable circumstance that now, after 

 nearly a century of disuse, this old pioneer route is to be again 

 adopted and the new and larger barge canal is to follow it without 

 material deviation. This old pioneer route followed up the Mohawk 

 River, with portages about tho falls and bad rapids, to the vicinity of 

 Rome: thence a portage was made across to the waters of AVood 

 Creek; thence it followed down the waters of this small stream to 

 Oneida Lake. On across the lake it went and down the Oneida River 



