Illustrated i7i the History of Albany, 



101 



general wins a great battle his hour of success is embittered by the 

 thought that it has been attained by the destruction of thousands of 

 friends and foes. But when Fulton and Livingston triumphed in their 

 efforts to establish the possibility of navigation by steam, there were 

 no drawbacks to their satisfaction. They could feel that they had 

 conferred a benefaction on their race which could be alloyed with no 

 element of regret. From that day to this, steam navigation between 

 Albany and New York has never for a single season been interrupted, 

 ^nd has never ceased to receive improvements every year. 



The next great step in the material progress of Albany and of the 

 State of New York was the construction of the Erie canal. The 

 State of New York has the advantage over all her rivals of having 

 within her territory the line of greatest depression between the ocean 

 and the great western lakes. The river at Albany is only five or six 

 feet higher than at New York. The valley of the Mohawk, which 

 connects with the Hudson, penetrates far into the interior of the 

 State. The early traders pursued this line of travel. They avoided the 

 great falls at Cohoes by crossing the plains to Schenectady. In bat- 

 eaux they pushed their way up the Mohawk to Rome, and from there, 

 by portages, they made their way to Wood's creek and the Oswego 

 river, into Oswego lake. This easy line early attracted the atten- 

 tion of the great statesmen of that day. The names which deserve 

 especial mention as connected with the great canal system of the State 

 are General Philip Schuyler, Elkanah Watson, Gouverneur Morris, 

 Stephen Van Rensselaer the senior, Simeon De Witt and De Witt 

 Clinton. I have not time to detail the struggles and difficulties 

 encountered by the promoters of this great work. Clinton, whose 

 name will always be associated with it, saw the work begun during his 

 term as governor in 1817. And in 1825, when he was again governor, 

 he had the satisfaction to officiate at its formal opening, when a keg 

 of water which had been brought on the canal, 352 miles, from Lake 

 Erie, was by him emptied into the sea at New York. 



This was the turning point in the history of the State and city of 

 New York. If there had been before any doubt about New York 

 being the Empire State, and the city of New York the national me- 

 tropolis, these doubts were forever put at rest.* And of this great 

 increment of prosperity Albany secured more than her full share. 

 She sat at the junction of canal and river. And as boats filled with 

 the floating products of the west, and in turn with the commercial 



* Here are the figures which told the story. Before, to carry a ton of freight from Buf- 

 falo to Albany, took 20 days and cost $100 ; after, it took 10 days and cost $3. 



