FARMERS' REGISTER— RAIL ROADS, &c. 



625 



wards it an increasing tide of emigration. No 

 human efforts — no conceivable changes of circum- 

 stances can check its rapid settlement, or put far 

 off the time when it will he the abode of a popula- 

 tion of many millions, abounding in wealth, and 

 seeking the comforts and luxuries to which com- 

 merce must necessarily administer. Its trade will 

 increase with its wealth and its numbers. If our 

 canals are to be what a wise management cannot 

 fail to make them — the principal channel for this 

 trade — we must calculate its extent, and make 

 them adequate to this object. When our system 

 of interna! improvements was commenced, a great 

 part of this fertile region was a wilderness, and 

 scarcely a sail was spread, for the purposes of 

 commerce, on the great western lakes. The ad- 

 vancing steps of settlement have but just passed 

 the borders of what was then a wild domain, and 

 it already abounds in products demanding a 

 market, and inviting an exchange for articles from 

 merchandize from the Atlantic states. Lake Erie 

 now appears like a frequented track in the high- 

 way of commercial nations. Its waters are navi- 

 gated by twenty steam boats, and one hundred 

 and twenty eight sloops and schooners. 



"The shipping on tiiis lake has increased in the 

 three last years, from six to eighteen thousand 

 tons. The tonnage entering the port of ButTalo 

 last year, was more than two hundred thousand; 

 and an hundred thousand passengers, are estimated 

 to have left it for the west. 



" We ought not, however, to flatter ourselves 

 that we shall enjoy what we now possess, and what 

 lies before us, without competition. The western 

 trade is a noble prize, for which several of the At- 

 lantic states are contending with a laudable emu- 

 lation ; and they are making powerful efforts to 

 remove the barriers interposed by nature between 

 them and their object. We look on their exer- 

 tions with no unfriendly feelings ; and we trust 

 that they will view, in a like spirit, our efforts to 

 administer to Jhe wants, and to subserve the conve- 

 niences of the western country. 



" It has already become quite evident that the 

 capacity of the trie canal will not much longer 

 be adequate to the exigency of the business on it. 

 The improvements which will soon be required, 

 are double locks, to facilitate the passage of boats, 

 and an enlargement of the canal in its width and 

 depth. These improvements must necessarily be 

 made under great disadvantages. The public in- 

 terests will not allow of an interruption to the na- 

 vigation ; and a considerable part of the labor must 

 therefore be performed in the winter season. This 

 subject will probably be presented to you in a com- 

 munication from the officers having the charge of 

 the canals, and it will undoubtedly receive from 

 you the attention its great importance demands. 



" The extent of business on all canals is in- 

 creased by the facility of transportation, and a re- 

 duction of the expenses. By enlarging the capa- 

 city of the Erie canal, the cost of transportation 

 will be diminished. The tolls are considerable 

 part of the expense. This subject has occupied 

 the anxious attention of the Canal Board, during 

 the present year ; and some of the beneficial re- 

 sults to which I have alluded, particularly the wide 

 diffusion of the trade into the western and south- 

 western sections of the union, are justly ascriba- 

 ble to tlie enlightened views of this board, and the 

 judicious modification of the rates of toll. Previ- 



VoL. I.— 79 



ous to opening the canals last season, the tolls were 

 reduced twenty eight and an half per cent, on 

 most of the products of the country, and fourteen 

 and a quarter per cent, on merchandize. Notwith- 

 standing the reduction, the amount of lolls receiv- 

 ed on the Erie and Champlain canals during the 

 last season, is one million, four hundred and sixty- 

 tour thousand and fifty-nine dollars and ninety- 

 eight cents, which is two hundred and thirty-four 

 thousand, seven hundred and seventy-six dollars 

 and fifty-one cents more than tlie receipts of the 

 preceding year. This board have it in contempla- 

 tion to make a further reduction on merchandize, 

 of twenty-five per cent, on the present rates of 

 toll, before the navigation opens in the spring. 

 This reduction will bring the tolls down nearly to 

 the constitutional limit. It is probable they might 

 be reduced on some articles below that point, if it 

 were practicable, without lessening the total 

 amount of revenue." 



" Indiana. — The message of Gov. Noah Noble 

 of Indiana, is evidently the production of a man of 

 no ordinary mind — for such minds seldom reach 

 these high stations — and enters into much detail 

 on the affairs requiring the attention of the Legis- 

 lature. This state, like almost every other in the 

 union, is not incumbered with any debt. A new 

 and more equitable method of assessment has been 

 substituted tor the imperfect system hitherto pur- 

 sued. Thirty-two miles cf the IVahash and Erie 

 canal will be completed next season. It is very 

 easy for our young sisters to undertake these spi- 

 rited enterprises, and very natural for them to wish 

 to, when they see Uncle Sam ready to thrust his 

 hands into his pockets to help them on all occasions, 

 be the request ever so trivial, even down to a mud- 

 scow, or buoy, or wheel barrow. But this age of 

 prodigality, of which Ohio, Maryland, &c. have 

 availed themselves so opportunely, has gone by. 

 Little Indiana too, a mere wilderness, compara- 

 tively speaking, has had no less a slice than some 

 300,000 acres of our lands. The canal is to extend 

 across Ohio to the lake, and the last mentioned 

 state, if she does not co-operate, promises to per- 

 mit Indiana to complete the work. The Wabash 

 river too, which only yesterday, it seems, was the 

 scene of Tecumseh's exploits, and the hunting- 

 ground of his tribes, is to be improved conjointly 

 with the state of Illinois. The Michigan road is 

 grading, and here also. Uncle Sam, to use Gover- 

 nor Noble's phraseology, hasdonated some 100,000 

 or more acres to give a helping hand. Really Jo- 

 nathan is a true type of his grandfather Bull — a 

 perfect lunatic and spendthrift in expenditures. 

 The judiciary proceedings have been simplified by 

 merging a portion of the duties of the probate into 

 those of the circuit courts. Governor Noble stre- 

 nuously urges an extensive system of rail road 

 communications, and seems deeply imbued with a 

 disposition to promote every laudable enterprise 

 which can advance the prosperity of the state. 

 The common school system is in a flourishing 

 state, under the provisions of the constitution ma- 

 king it obligatory." 



Synopsis of Canal debt of New York. 

 Tolls for 1833, $1,360,155 A5 



Expenses of collection, 25,800 00 



Total amount of tolls, $ 1,385,955 45 



