ABANDONED CANALS 



3°3 



abandoned by the state, the result of an ignorant and weak constituency 

 and an aggressive lobby who represented the powerful railways behind 

 the movement. These canals will be rebuilt on a grander scale com- 

 mensurate with the magnitude of the barge canal. Already some of 

 the great inland lakes have applied for a renewal of the canals. The 

 history of the lateral canals will insure a favorable response. Even 

 then they will not be money-makers. They will make money for the 

 state only in proportion to the trade developed. 



It is doubtful if the history of the country can parallel such useless 

 destruction. From the amount of money squandered and the human 



Oxeida Canal. 



interests involved,. it stands alone, not as an object of public plunder, 

 but, worse than that, a colossal blunder. 



In going over these old canals it appears among the marvels of 

 time, how quickly they are disappearing. Stones of monolithic size 

 are lying in heaps. Canals, like the Chemung, are simply weed- 

 grown ditches. Wooden locks have left scarcely a trace; ruin, meas- 

 ured by the hundreds of miles, disfigures and encumbers the earth. 



The Genesee Valley was one of the most important of the sub- 

 sidiary canals. During the year previous to its official abandonment 

 the total movement of goods amounted to 96,000 tons, in a total of 

 nearly a half million. In 1873, 132 tons of wheat and 245 tons of 



