INTRODUCTION. 107 



arrest the prosecution of the canals. The motion was lost, only twenty-one 

 members voting therefor. 



In 1819, governor Chnton announced to the legislature, that the progress of 

 the pubUc works equalled the most sanguine expectations, and that the canal 

 fund was flourishing. He recommended the prosecution of the entire Erie canal. 

 Enlarging upon the benefits of internal navigation, he remarked, that he looked 

 to a time not far distant, when the state would be able to improve the navigation 

 of the Susquehannah, the Allegany, the Genesee and the St. Lawrence ; to assist 

 in connecting the waters of the great lakes and the Mississippi ; to form a junc- 

 tion between the Erie canal and Lake Ontario through the Oswego river ; and 

 to promote the laudable intention of Pennsylvania to unite the Seneca lake with 

 the Susquehannah ; deducing arguments in favor of such enterprises, from the 

 immediate commercial advantages of extended navigation, as well as from its 

 tendency to improve the condition of society, and strengthen the bonds of the 

 union. Henry Yates junior, in the senate, and John Van Ness Yates, in the 

 assembly, on behalf of the proper committees, submitted answers concurring in 

 the opinions expressed by the chief magistrate, and the same were adopted. 



Joseph EUicott, having resigned the office of canal commissioner, Ephraim 

 Hart was appointed in his place, ad interim, and subsequently Henry Seymour 

 was called to fill the vacancy. 



The canal commissioners, in their report, gave an interesting account of their 

 proceedings, represented that the work on the middle section, under the care of 

 Benjamin Wright as principal engineer, had been conducted with great success ; 

 and that Canvass White and Nathan S. Roberts, who had previously bee nassis- 

 tant engineers, were assigned, on account of their eminent skill, to higher duties. 

 Mr. White was distinguished at this time for his discovery of the manner of pre- 

 paring a hydraulic cement from a pecuHar species of limestone found in the 

 vicinity of the canal. He was the inventor, also, of the improvement in the con- 

 struction of upper gates of canal locks, which has been said to be the only im- 



