NEW" EI%GLA.^D FARMER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOHN B. RUSSELL, ROGi^S' BUILDINGS, CONGRESS STREET, BOSTON.— THOMAS 



VOL. III. 



FRIDAY, JMARCH 11, 182.-}. 



rESSENDEN, EDITOR. 



No. 33. 



INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS. 



FOR THE JfEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



River to Ne»v Yorl;. Now let us rellect a mo- 

 ment upon the result ot" this operation of re- 

 siiipping, factorage, and wastage at Albany and 

 I\ew York. Labour to cft'ect the same, — boais 

 ilctainej for at least one week lor their returns 

 u'ith iVeiglit, — and extra charges on these re- 

 turns, without, perhaps, liie principal's eye in 

 selecting them. With these views, let some 

 estimate bo made of the whole freight of the 

 [iroduce of the c;mal, from its outlet to tlio great 

 city, together with the return I'reighls to .\lbanv 

 ibr which flata may be obtaineil, ubichilala arc 

 not at my command ; yet if my judgment does 

 not much mislead me, they must amount to far 

 m.orc than the whole of the canal toll. If so 



CAN.^L FROM ALHANY TO BOSTON. 



Londondcmj, J\larcfi 1, 1825. 



IIo.»J. JOSIAH Qul.N'CY, 



Mayor aftlie Cil;/ nf Boslon. 



De.\ii Sia — Knowing the lively interest ar»d 

 disposition to action, you have always evinced, 

 when the interest of your City or Slate were in 

 any way concerned, and the means you possess 

 to promote their prosperity, 1 cannot conceive 

 that you will be indiiiercnt to the subject of a 

 Canal from Boston to Albany or Troy, which 1 



see no! nnfrequontly mentioned in the public' (lijs circumstance sheivs in an astonishing point 

 nipers. My retirement from the scene of ac- j of view, the strong inducement there is for a 



on, aflbrds me leisure to digest my thoughts, ,;.jn:i| direct (o Boston. IS'ow reverse this pic- 

 „r.d bring together such observations as I am -nr-e, nnd let it be shown what accommodations 

 able to recall, and which 1 think may be useful ,-;e oiVercd for a can:il cargo to proceed from 

 •0 the Massachusetts srhomo, principally de- Albany or Troy, 170 or ISO miles farther, di- 



':vedfrom my view of the great locks from | ..-.ct lo Boston, without unloading or disturbance 

 i.ake Wener to Gothenburg, seen in 1786,— t^ej of cargo, freight, fictoragc, detention, wastage, 

 canal and underground works of the Duke ol 1 1^. and the boat factor doing his own busiiiess, 

 Bedford, e.xplored for nearly one mile in the , |,,o|{jpj, up ijjg ,.g(j,pr, 



year 1787, and my view of a noble work in the i,;^ boat earning her freiaht backwards and for- 

 year 1310, undertaken and executed hy a sin- wards. Besides, how important to the U. S. 

 gle individual, for the iiurjiose of carrying the j i\-;,,.j, Yard; and is not Boston a more appro- 

 prodnce of three lifty feet furnaces from the j |,|.i„|e place lor the shipment of large cargoes of 

 upper combs of the mountains of South Wale-, j i^tni,;.,. (q Europe, than Albany or iiny port high 

 at Merthyr Fidwell, to Cardiff, a distance ofSO ,,p the North River ? And linally Bo-iOn is much 

 miles, with filty locks, often feet each, making ,,e;,,.er to Trov, than is liie city of New York, 

 live hundred feet drop. This work was e.ecut- j^ ,,^ ^"j^, ,^^^, ,^^ ^,. ^^^^ ^ork will 



cd by Mr Crawshaw,-who had been a po^rl ,.^^^ ^^,f^^^ ^^ ^^j, ihis undertaknu', as par- 



backsmith in the vicinity ol London, but bavint . ,, . ,. ,- ,■' in j . 



•^ ' -^.^ailv taking from her such wpII eainfd expect- 



^^tions. But this will not be the ca'^e at all, or 



the good Inrtune to invent the irons, called 

 irons, with which women now iron their clothes, 

 instead of the old fashioned mode of a healer 

 in an iron box case — was, by the means of a 

 patent for this simple article, enabled to .estab- 

 lish an iron furnace and forge shop, on a centu- 

 ry lease of a bleak and entirely barren territo- 

 ry, of one mile front by two deep. This estab- 

 lishment made steady and rapid progiess lor 

 thirty-five or forty years, when, at the close of 

 life, his wages to colliers, coke-burners, smell- 

 ers, retiners, bar-iron workers, castor?, &.c. 

 amounted lo £40,000 per week, and at his 

 death, which was shortly before my visil, his 

 nephew informed me, he was enabled to dis- 

 tribute £700,000 sterling among his heirs. 



Now shall it be said that the energy of the 

 rich and enterprising slate of Massachusetts sliall 

 be mis-directed, or tall in the rear of this poor 

 blacksmith on the other side of the water? es- 

 pecially when our sister slate of New Yorkhai- 

 so completely removed the scales from our eyes 

 by not only showing [be modus operandi, but by 

 opening her book of results to our admiring vis- 

 ion ? 



Wc are indebted to Gov. Clinton's Speech, 

 for his information as to the income of the Canal 

 in its present slate, and its eventual prospects, 

 with liis view of the probable incidental im- 

 j)roven!ents from side-feeders, not yet in opera- 

 tion. But we are much more indebted to him 

 ior his information that the canal boats, (and he 

 might have added arks and rafts) are inadequate 

 ■ 1 contend with the navigatioa of tha North 



does not hnrmcnii:.! ivith the requirements of 

 the interior ? 



Your city w?n:.H water, and you mutually re- 

 quire the canal :". r commercial purposes, and 

 as a stimulus tn aarriculture. If the canal can 

 be so laid as to ofTect both, it is of considerable 

 moment. Anotl-.;r want also exists with you, 

 that I believe m.y be satisfied as well as the 

 first, which is, tint the canal should commence 

 near the norlh side of your Mill Dam, so as lo 

 bring the raw produce of the canal to a loca- 

 tion, where it can be wrought into value for the 

 home or foreign markets. Here also your 

 South End W.'iarf and Roxbury, might be as 

 much accommodated in their lumber business 

 from the canal, -.vhether Ihey hold a full basia 

 or not, by a short opening across the neck, re- 

 taining at th^ same time their easter.i inter- 

 course. • 



Your city will be much benefited, by having 

 a large.supply of water brought close to your 

 doors. Your wharfs, to the norlh, east, and 

 south, will come in direct contact with the ca- 

 nal. Your wr.ter, by pipes, can be conveyed to 

 wilh his own eyes, and j large cisterns at the upper edge ofyourcom- 

 mon, and on the north side of Beacon Hill, so as 

 to supply your whole city, and the proprietors 

 of your Mill Dam receive the extra encourage- 

 ment they need. Thus all parties will be mu- 

 tually accomino.iated. 



But can all this be effected ? No one can say 

 decisively Ycf, nnlfl accurate surveys are made. 

 Let these surveys be made by different routes. 

 Survey and famine my favourite route to the 

 south of C'ii;',;- 'ps river, skirting the upland sut- 

 ficientlv hJ;.jV;for (he water sujiply to Boston, 

 lo cros.T &^fifi river, where it may be found 

 favourable, at or nenr to Walthnm Pi ifns ; thence 

 to West erf, Sudbury, anrt Stow; thence ui u.^ 

 north of Lancaster to the north branch of the 

 Nashua, in Leominster, to Filchhurg. Here 

 come your locks, and perhaps this point cannot 

 be <lpvialed from. Then let a partial survey 

 be taken on the south side of Charles river, 

 which if preferred, the canal may be brought 

 over the Charles sufhcienlly elevated to effect 

 my lir=l object. Let another survey be from 

 West C.imliridge meeting hou^e to Lexington 

 and Concord; thence through Acton, Boxboro', 

 Harvard, part of Shirley, and part ol Lunenburg, 

 to the Nashua, below Fitchburg. From these 

 different routes make your selection, remember- 

 ins: you are to the north of m} object. \et see 

 if a sufficient elevation of yonr water can be 

 held to enable you to receive from it your sup- 

 ply, to be taken by pipes from some point oa 

 your high plains in Caml>ridge across Charles 

 river lo your Mill Dam ; and from thence into 

 your city. In this case your canal may keep 

 the high land as far as possible till it drops into 

 the channel near the mouth of Charles river — 

 thus allowing it to vent its produce at nearly 'he 

 lowest Slate of the tide. In this nay your Mill 

 Dam may receive what may be needed by them 

 —Roxbury and the South End at e%ery period 

 of high water. At the same time the stranger 



if so, it cj'.nnot frustrate your enterprise ; lor her 

 republican cilizons of the interior, (in whose 

 hands is th? controlling power,) can never re- 

 main long blind to the advantage of having the 

 election of two markets tor her produce and 

 supplies, instead of being forcibly restricted to 

 one. And as the State will receive an equivalent 

 Jbr all she may spare to Massachusetts, an en- 

 lightened policy will dictate lo her to aid your 

 undertaking instead of thwarting it. 



Now the queslion comes — how is this great 

 object to be effected? In the fir^t place, by 

 the exertions of a few patriotic individuals, ■,\< 

 was the case in New York. I know not all 

 iheir names, nor the exact detail ol iheir la- 

 bours lor ten, if not fifteen years, their expen- 

 ces, &.C. &,c. but by their enlightened efforts, 

 and I believe disinterested iiir-jci/s, the .Slate was 

 jit hist induced lo commence their great con- 

 cern, which has had so happy a result. Now 

 the same thing must be partially done to enable 

 the people and Legislature of Massachusetts to 

 risque the undertaking, and you and others 

 have before jouthe example and surveys of 

 our late amiable friend. Gen. Knox, towards 

 the same object. They still exist in the State 

 House, and probably the minutes of his surveys 

 remain there also. 



With resjiect to the survey of a proposed 



route, the interest of your city, and that of the 

 interior, should be brought as much into union 

 as possible. And what can your city want, that 



Iravelling tb^ canal will be interested in passing 

 near our most ancient seat of learning, and ia 

 passing the town of Lexington and Concord^ 



