530 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



necticut, Vermont Pennsylvania. Virginia, West Virginia, Ken- 

 tucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Missouri, Indiana, Iowa, Illinois, 

 Michigan, Nebraska, Minnesota, Kansas, North Carolina, Ten- 

 nessee, Georgia, Delaware, Arkansas, Florida and Oregon, or in 

 twenty-eight States in all. In New York State we have been so 

 wedded to the single idea of canals that we have never enacted a 

 mill act. That this failure has been to the material disadvantage 

 of the State may be easily shown. 



Special mill acts in New York. While no general mill act has 

 ever been enacted in New York, nevertheless the legislature has 

 in a number of cases, in effect, recognized the principle which they 

 embody. As for instance in chapter 235, laws of 1854, an act for 

 the improvement of the Saranac river and lakes; chapter 505, 

 laws of 1865, an act for the improvement of the navigation of the 

 Oswegatchie river, and of the hydraulic power thereon, and to 

 check freshets therein ; and in chapter 289, laws of 1868, an act to 

 provide for the improvement of the hydraulic power of the Great 

 Chazy river and to check freshets therein. 1 



None of these acts has ever been subjected to the tests of the 

 courts. By their terms commissioners are appointed who may 

 erect dams, and, if possible to agree on terms with the owners, 

 purchase the necessary lands, taking a conveyance thereof to 

 Themselves, their heirs and assigns forever. If they can not agree 

 on the terms of purchase, then title may be acquired under the 

 general condemnation laws of the State. Under the provisions 

 of the act applying to the Raquette river, a dam was constructed 

 a couple of miles below Raquette pond about 1872. This dam 

 stored water over Raquette pond, Tupper lake and a number of 

 smaller ponds in that vicinity. It was destroyed by the people 

 of the vicinity, as the writer recollects, about 1875. Under the 

 provisions of the act applying to the Oswegatchie river, a dam 



i There are a considerable number of similar acts, of which, so far as 

 known, the following is a complete list: Salmon river, chap. 268, laws of 

 1872; Raquette river, chap. 90, laws of 1869; Raquette river, chap. 432, 

 laws of 1872 ; Raquette river, chap. 425, laws of 1873 ; Raquette river, chap. 

 269, laws of 1874; Raquette river, chap. 148, laws of 1877; Oswegatchie 

 river, chap. 505, laws of 1865 ; Grasse river, chap. 83, laws of 1S69 ; Saranac 

 river, chap. 684, laws of 1871; Saranac river, chap. 085, laws of 1871; 

 Moose river, chap. 94, laws of 1872 ; Great Chazy river, chap. 289, laws of 

 1S0S; and Chateaugny river, chap. 652, laws of 1S74. 



