J 2 WESTERN CANAL. 



lime or sand stone, and are cemented bv mortar 

 made of a calcareous stone found in various parts 

 of this country. I never saw better work, pro- 

 mising a longer uninterrupted duration. This 

 canal was commenced on the 4th of July, 1317, 

 and last autumn it was navigable. In twenty- 

 nine months this gigantic operation was comple- 



The western canal, so far as finished, inclu- 

 ding the Salina canal, is 98 miles long, 98 

 In the same period a canal from Lake 

 Champlain to Hudson river has been 

 constructed 24 miles long, 24 



122 

 Thus these works have been made at the rate 

 of upwards of four miles a month, or fifty miles a 

 year. That part of the western section reaching 

 from the Seneca to the Genesee river, a distance 

 of 63 miles, and that portion of the eastern section 

 from Utica to the Little Falls, about 26 miles in 

 length, making in the aggregate about 90 miles, 

 will be finished next year, which is at the rate of 45 

 miles a year. On this part of the western section 

 there will be 16 locks, and of the eastern at least 

 5 locks. After the year 1821, there will then re- 

 main to finish of the great canal, about 95 miles 

 the western, and 75 in the eastern section, 



