20 Method of conducting the Canal Surveys. 



future inconvenience from the same source. This it was apparent 

 could be done only through the medium of surveys properly execu- 

 ted, the maps, field-books, he. of which, should be deposited in some 

 place convenient for reference. 



The result of the legislative action upon the subject is to be found 

 in Part. I. Chap. IX, Title IX. of the Revised Statutes of the state of 

 New York, in nearly the following words : 



A complete manuscript map and field notes of evjery Canal that 

 now is or hereafter shall be completed, and of all the lands belonging 

 to the state adjacent thereto or connected therewith shall be made, 

 on which the boundaries of every parcel of such lands to which the 

 state shall have a separate title, shall be designated, and the names 

 of the former owners and the date of each title be entered. The 

 expense to be defrayed out of the Canal fund. The surveys to be 

 executed under the direction of the Canal commissioners, and appro- 

 ved by the Canal board, and when completed to be filed in the of- 

 fice of the comptroller. Copies of the maps and field notes so filed 

 are to be made under the direction of the Canal board, and trans- 

 mitted by the comptroller to every county intersected by the Canals 

 to which the maps shall relate, and filed in the Clerk's office of such 

 county. 



The portion of the revised statutes from which the preceding is ta- 

 ken received the legislative sanction in 1827, and in 1828 and '9 the 

 attention of the Canal commissioners was directed to the subject with 

 the view of making the necessary arrangements for the execution of 

 the surveys. 



The Canals which were at this time completed and considered 

 as the property of the state, were the Erie, Champlain, Seneca and 

 Cayuga, and Oswego, which, including the Chemung and Crooked 

 Lake Canals, upon which operations had already been commenced, 

 constituted an extent of nearly six hundred miles. 



In accomplishing the survey of these works the importance was at 

 once seen of a rigid adherence to the same uniform system through- 

 out; and it was likewise obvious that the greatest caution and judg- 

 ment should be exercised in selecting from the different modes which 

 might be devised, the one which should afford the means of deter- 

 mining at any future day, with the greatest practicable degree of pre- 

 cision, the outlines of the land set apart by the state for the use of the 

 Canals. . 



