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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



couutrv, that which, after independence, most concerned the pros- 

 perity and happiness of the people. Undoubtedly the subject had 

 occupied his mind before the Revolution, although there is no 

 record by which any date can be fixed, but he was without doubt 

 among those who first thought of the advantages and practica- 

 bility of a navigation between the lakes and the Atlantic. Imme- 

 diately after the war ended he devoted himself to this subject, 

 and in 1784 personally explored not only what is now the route 

 of the Champlain canal, but the route which later on the Western 

 Inland Lock Navigation Company adopted for their improvement. 



The following extract from a letter to the Marquis of Chas- 

 tellux, in which Washington refers to these travels, is taken from 

 Marshall's Life of Washington : 



I have lately made a tour through the Lakes George and Cham- 

 plain, as far as Crown Point; then returning to Schenectady, I 

 proceeded up the Mohawk river to Fort Stanwix, and crossed 

 over to Wood creek, which empties into Oneida lake and affords 

 the water communication with Ontario; I then traversed the 

 country to the head of the eastern banks of -the Susquehanna, and 

 viewed the Lake Otsego, and the portage between that lake and 

 the Mohawk river at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual ob- 

 servations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and 

 extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United 

 States, and could not but be struck with the immense importance 

 of it. ... I shall not rest content until I have explored the 

 western country and traversed those lines . . . which have 

 given bounds to a new empire. 



In 1772 Christopher Colles lectured in Philadelphia on the 

 subject of lock navigation, and in 1784 proposed to the New 

 York Legislature to improve the navigation of the Mohawk river. 

 In 1785, on the reiterated application of Mr Colles, the Legisla- 

 ture granted him $125 to enable him to make an attempt towards 

 the execution of his plan. In the same year he published pro- 

 posals to establish a company to improve the inland navigation 

 at Oswego and Albany. In this publication he anticipated the 

 advantages which a water communication with the lakes would 

 afford. He states: 



The Allegheny mountains seem to die away as they approach the 

 Mohawk river. The ground between the upper part of this river 

 and Wood creek is perfectly level. 



