110 
INTRODUCTION. 
constitution of the United States. The same law appropriated twenty-five 
thousand dollars for the improvement of the Oswego river; and by other acts, 
Grand island on the Niagara river, and a portion of the reservation at the Onon¬ 
daga salt springs, were directed to be sold for the benefit of the canal fund ; and 
the legislature prescribed a general system of police for the management and 
protection of the canals. 
By an arrangement made by the commissioners, and sanctioned by the legisla¬ 
ture, three of the five commissioners were charged with active duties, to be com¬ 
pensated by salaries, while the other commissioners were relieved from such du¬ 
ties. The acting commissioners designated were Mr. Young, Mr. Seymour and 
Mr. Holley. During the same year the title of the Western Inland Lock Naviga¬ 
tion Company, to its property and privileges, was transferred to the state, and a 
compensation of one hundred and fifty thousand eight hundred and twenty-eight 
dollars was paid for the same. 
In November, 1820 , governor Clinton congratulated the legislature upon the 
progress of the public works. He urged the adoption of plenary measures to com¬ 
plete the Erie canal within three years, enforcing the recommendation by the 
consideration, that Ohio would thereby be encouraged to pursue her noble 
attempt to unite the waters of Lake Erie with the Ohio river. The canal com¬ 
missioners showed in their report that the Erie canal was navigable from Utica 
to the Seneca river, a distance of ninety-six miles, and that its tolls, during four 
months, had amounted to five thousand two hundred and forty-four dollars. 
An effort was made in the assembly to abrogate the local tax, which failed ; a 
result showing that distrust of the productiveness of the canals still lingered in the 
halls of the legislature. This, however, was the last effort, and the law has been 
suffered to remain ever since, unexecuted and unrepealed. William C. Bouck 
was, during the same session, appointed an acting canal commissioner. 
Governor Clinton, in 1822 , referred, in his speech, to the difficulties and em¬ 
barrassments which had been encountered with regard to the most eligible routes 
for the canals, and the most proper designations for the termini of the Erie 
