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NEW YORK. 



the house of representatives of the United States, 

 and to thirty-six presidential electors. 



Canalt. The following extensive and important 

 communications have been constructed at the public 

 expense, and under the direction of commissioners 

 appointed by the state: I. The Erie Canal com- 

 mences at the city of Albany, and terminates at 

 Buffalo, in the county of Erie, connecting the waters 

 of the Hudson river with those of lake Erie. This 

 canal was commenced in 1817, and lias been in suc- 

 cessful operation, throughout its whole extent, since 

 1825. It is 363 miles in length, and has 689 feet of 

 lockage. The cost of this canal is so blended with 

 the cost of the Champlain canal (they both having 

 been constructed at the same time, and by the opera- 

 tion of the same laws), that it cannot be ascertained 

 with accuracy, what each cost. 2. The Champlain 

 canal commences at West Troy, six miles north of 

 Albany, the point where the Erie canal turns west 

 from the Hudson river, and terminates at Whitehall, 

 in the county of Washington, connecting the waters 

 of the Erie canal with those of lake Champlain. This 

 canal is completed, and has been in successful operation 

 since 1825. It is sixty-four miles in length, and has 188 

 feet of lockage. This canal has a lateral cut connect- 

 ing it with the Hudson river, at Waterford, by three 

 locks, as the Erie canal has, connecting it with the 

 same river, opposite Troy, by two locks. The cost 

 of these two canals, as stated by the commissioners of 

 the canal fund, at the close of the year 1825, when 

 they were first declared complete, was 9,267,234 

 dollars, 48 cents. This was exclusive of any 

 payments of interest upon the loans which had 

 been made to construct them, and which payments 

 of interest then amounted to 1,507,857 dollars, 73 

 cents. 3. The Oswego canal commences at the 

 Erie canal, at the village of Syracuse, in the 

 county of Onondaga, and terminates at the village of 

 Oswego, in the county of Oswego, connecting the 

 waters of the Erie canal with those of lake Ontario. 

 It was completed in 1828, at a cost of 565,437 dollars, 

 35 cents, is thirty-eight miles in length, and has 123 feet 

 of lockage. 4. The Cayuga and Seneca canal com- 

 mences at the Erie canal at Montezuma, in the county 

 of Cayuga, and terminates at Geneva, in the county 

 of Ontario, connecting the waters of the Erie canal 

 with those of the Seneca lake. This canal has also 

 a lateral branch to East Cayuga village, on the Ca- 

 yuga lake, thus connecting the waters of this, and 

 consequently of the Erie canal, with the Cayuga lake. 

 Its cost, to its completion, in 1829, was 236,804 dol- 

 lars, 74 cents ; its length, including the lateral canal, 

 is twenty-two miles, 704 yards, and it has eighty-three 

 feet 6 inches of lockage. 5. The Chemung canal be- 

 gins at the head of the Seneca lake, and terminates at 

 Elmira, on the Chemung river, in the county of Tioga, 

 being intended to connect the waters of the Seneca 

 lake with the head waters of the Susquehannah river. 

 It is to have a navigable feeder from its summit 

 level to Painted Post, in the county of Steuben. 

 The length of the canal is twenty-two, and of the 

 feeder thirteen miles. The lockage upon both is 

 about 520 feet. Contracts for their completion by 

 the 15th day of October, 1831, were made, for the 

 sum of 290,263 dollars. 6. The Crooked lake canal 

 commences at the Seneca lake, at Dresden, and ter- 

 minates at the Crooked lake, at Penyan, being in- 

 tended to connect the waters of the Seneca lake with 

 those of the Crooked lake. Its length is about six 

 miles, 1540 yards, and its lockage is about 270 feet. 

 Income of the public canals, in 1830 : Erie canal, 

 954,328 dollars; Champlain canal, 78,148 dollars; 

 Oswego canal, 12,335 dollars ; Cayuga and Seneca 

 canal, 11,987 dollars ; total, 1,056,799 dollars. Dis- 

 bursements : interest on canal debt, 379,695 dollars ; 



repairs, salaries, &c., 261,656 dollars. Canal debt, 

 January 1, 1831, 7,825,035 dollars. For the pay- 

 ment of this debt, the canal fund, consisting of the 

 canal tolls, duties on salt, and on sales by auction, 

 and several other items, is inviolably pledged. The 

 revenue of this fund, in 1830, independently of the 

 tolls above stated, was 383,614 dollars. The Dela- 

 ware and Hudson canal, commenced July 1825, and 

 completed October, 1828, was constructed by a pri- 

 vate company, incorporated under the laws of New 

 York and Pennsylvania. Its capital consists of 

 1,500,000 dollars, of which 500,000 dollars are em- 

 ployed in banking, in the city of New York. The 

 credit of the state of New York was also loaned to 

 the company to the amount of 800,000 dollars. This 

 canal commences at the head of tide on the Rondout 

 creek, in the county of Ulster, three miles from the 

 Hudson river, and terminates at Honesdale, opposite 

 the mouth of the Lackawaxan river, in Pennsylvania. 

 Length, eighty-three miles in New York, and twenty- 

 five in Pennsylvania. This canal being principally 

 intended to open a communication with the coal 

 mines in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, a rail-road 

 has been constructed by the company, from the head 

 of the canal, at Honesdale, to the mines at Carbon- 

 dale. Its length is sixteen miles. For further in- 

 formation on the canals of New York, see Canals. 



Public Instruction, &c. Since the establishment of 

 the state government, great exertions have been made 

 by the legislature to extend the means of education 

 to all classes. The appropriations made for this pur- 

 pose, including the capital and income of the common 

 school and literature funds, amount to more than 

 6,000,000 dollars. There are four colleges, viz., 

 Columbia, in the city of New York ; Union, at Sche- 

 nectady ; Hamilton, near the village of Clinton, 

 Oneida county; and Geneva, at Geneva, Ontario 

 county. The whole number of students in these in- 

 stitutions, during the year 1830, including those in 

 the preparatory schools connected with Columbia and 

 Geneva colleges, was 677. (For the university of 

 New York, instituted in 1830, see the article New 

 York City.) There are two medical colleges, one in 

 the city of New York, and the other at Fairfield, 

 Herkimer county ; students in 1830, 350. There are 

 57 incorporated academies and seminaries, which de- 

 rive from the public funds a portion of their annual 

 support, and which had, in 1830, 4218 students. But 

 the common schools are among the most important 

 and interesting institutions in the state. Every town 

 is divided into a suitable number of school districts, 

 in each of which a school-house has been erected, 

 and is provided with furniture and fuel, at the ex- 

 pense of the district. From the income of the com- 

 mon school fund 100,000 dollars are distributed among 

 the school districts, according to the number of scho- 

 lars therein, between the ages of five and sixteen ; 

 and the towns are required to raise, by tax, an amount 

 equal to that received from the state, and are allowed 

 to raise double that sum. The following is from the 

 official reports made in January, 1831 : Productive 

 capital of the school fund, 1,696,743 dollars, 66 cents; 

 revenue in 1830, 100,678 dollars, 60 cents; local school 

 fund, capital not stated ; income in 1830, 14,095 dol- 

 lars, 32 cents ; whole number of school districts, 9062, 

 of which 8630 made returns ; whole number of scho- 

 lars taught in the districts making returns, 499,424, 

 of whom 497,503 were between five and sixteen ; 

 amount of public monies received, 100,000 dollars 

 from state treasury, 124,556 dollars, 04 cents, raised 

 by tax on the several towns, and 14,095 dollars, 32 

 cents, derived from local funds possessed by certain 

 towns, equal to 239,713 dollars, 36 cents; total 

 amount paid for teachers' wages, 586,520 dollars ; 

 estimated amount of all expenses incurred in 1830, 



