ABANDONED CANALS 



297 



ABANDONED CANALS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK 



By ELY VAN DE WARKER 



THOSE who have only a partial knowledge of the subject, regard 

 the present time as the age of canals. They overlook the genera- 

 tions of time and the vast sums of money expended by other people 

 who have held to the idea of the canal with a national fixity of purpose 

 that has produced astonishing results. The amount of money ex- 

 pended so exceeds the sums spent in the United States, including the 

 Isthmian Canal, that they appear like trivial things. 



France has 3,045 miles of artificial waterways and 4,665 miles of 

 canalized rivers, aggregating nearly 8,000 miles. These cost in the 

 last thirty years five hundred million dollars. Belgium has one mile 

 of canal navigation to eight miles of territory. Germany has spent, 

 since 1900, eighty million dollars and has just authorized the expendi- 

 ture of eighty-five million dollars more. Austria-Hungary within a 

 few years has expended fifty-three million dollars and is yet pushing 

 the work. The canals of Holland and some of those of southern 

 France were built centuries ago. 



Fish Creek, Opening of Wood Creek, which will be a part of the Barge Canal. 



