﻿HYDROLOGY 
  OP 
  NEW 
  YORK 
  595 
  

  

  which 
  we 
  now 
  have 
  to 
  consider. 
  The 
  canal, 
  from 
  Lake 
  Erie 
  to 
  

   the 
  Hudson, 
  may 
  be 
  fed 
  by 
  pure 
  water 
  from 
  lakes, 
  provided 
  

   mounds 
  and 
  aqueducts 
  be 
  made 
  over 
  intervening 
  valleys, 
  or 
  the 
  

   •canal 
  be 
  carried 
  around 
  them. 
  In 
  every 
  case 
  the 
  attending 
  cir- 
  

   cumstances 
  must 
  decide. 
  

  

  In 
  June 
  1812, 
  an 
  act 
  was 
  passed 
  authorizing 
  the 
  Canal 
  Com- 
  

   missioners 
  to 
  borrow 
  five 
  million 
  dollars 
  in 
  order 
  to 
  provide 
  for 
  

   the 
  improvement 
  of 
  the 
  internal 
  navigation 
  of 
  the 
  State. 
  

  

  The 
  war 
  of 
  1812 
  led 
  to 
  the 
  suspension 
  of 
  the 
  work, 
  but 
  in 
  1816 
  

   the 
  project 
  was 
  revived; 
  the 
  act 
  of 
  1812 
  was 
  repealed 
  and 
  a 
  new 
  

   act 
  passed 
  appropriating 
  twenty 
  thousand 
  dollars 
  for 
  additional 
  

   surveys. 
  

  

  In 
  the 
  report 
  of 
  the 
  Commissioners, 
  1817, 
  under 
  the 
  last 
  act 
  

   referred 
  to, 
  in 
  speaking 
  of 
  the 
  proposed 
  route 
  across 
  the 
  Genesee 
  

   river, 
  they 
  say 
  : 
  

  

  Pursuing 
  this 
  route 
  the 
  canal 
  never 
  rises 
  above 
  the 
  Lake 
  Erie 
  

   level. 
  It 
  would, 
  therefore, 
  derive 
  its 
  waters, 
  till 
  it 
  descends 
  to 
  the 
  

   Genesee 
  level, 
  and 
  as 
  much 
  farther 
  as 
  may 
  be 
  necessary, 
  from 
  

   that 
  never 
  failing 
  reservoir 
  (Lake 
  Erie). 
  

  

  Finally, 
  on 
  April 
  15, 
  1817, 
  an 
  act 
  was 
  passed 
  which 
  actually 
  

   led 
  to 
  the 
  construction 
  of 
  the 
  canal 
  and 
  which 
  provides 
  in 
  detail 
  

   the 
  method 
  of 
  procedure. 
  

  

  In 
  1819, 
  the 
  canal 
  having 
  been 
  partially 
  constructed 
  in 
  the 
  

   eastern 
  part 
  of 
  the 
  State, 
  active 
  operations 
  were 
  begun 
  in 
  the 
  

   western 
  part. 
  During 
  that 
  year 
  the 
  Genesee 
  river 
  feeder 
  was 
  

   surveyed 
  by 
  Thomas 
  Hutchinson, 
  an 
  engineer 
  in 
  the 
  employ 
  of 
  

   the 
  State. 
  In 
  1820, 
  in 
  a 
  communication 
  from 
  the 
  Canal 
  Com- 
  

   missioners 
  to 
  the 
  Canal 
  Committee 
  of 
  the 
  Assembly, 
  it 
  is 
  stated 
  

   that 
  : 
  

  

  Whenever 
  in 
  its 
  progress 
  from 
  Seneca 
  river 
  west, 
  the 
  canal 
  

   reaches 
  the 
  Genesee 
  river, 
  that 
  stream 
  will 
  afford 
  an 
  additional 
  

   navigation 
  connected 
  with 
  it, 
  for 
  a 
  distance 
  of 
  nearly 
  forty 
  miles 
  ; 
  

   that 
  is, 
  by 
  making 
  sixty-three 
  miles 
  of 
  canal 
  at 
  about 
  half 
  the 
  

   expense 
  per 
  mile 
  at 
  which 
  the 
  eastern 
  section 
  is 
  estimated, 
  the 
  

   State 
  will 
  have 
  the 
  benefit 
  of 
  one 
  hundred 
  miles 
  of 
  interior 
  naviga- 
  

   tion 
  through 
  a 
  country, 
  at 
  least 
  as 
  populous 
  and 
  productive 
  as 
  

   any 
  other 
  of 
  equal 
  extent 
  in 
  the 
  State. 
  The 
  surplus 
  productions 
  

   of 
  Ontario 
  county 
  alone 
  have 
  been 
  reckoned 
  as 
  high 
  in 
  some 
  sea- 
  

   sons 
  as 
  six 
  hundred 
  thousand 
  dollars. 
  

  

  