HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



725 



confine the water and to keep the level, hence there is no other 

 current in the canal than an almost imperceptible one, when the 

 summit lock is drawn; three handsome and substantial bridges 

 are thrown over the canal, as so many roads which have been 

 intersected by the canal. 



The report to the Legislature of 179G is accompanied by the 

 report of William Weston, the engineer, in which estimates are 

 given of the expense of improving the navigation from tidewater 

 in the Hudson river to Cayuga lake, by means of canals and 

 locks, and removing the obstructions in the rivers so as to 

 render them competent for the transportation of produce in 

 boats of upwards of 20 tons burden. 



In the report of the directors of the Western Inland Lock 

 Navigation Company, made by the president, under date of Feb- 

 ruary 1G, 1798, it is stated that early in the spring of 1796 the 

 directors commenced operations at Fort Stanwix (Rome) with 

 reference to a junction of the waters of the Mohawk river and 

 Wood creek. The length of the canal at this point was a little 

 over three miles. 



With respect to the improvement to the westward of Fort 

 Stanwix, the directors state that from the wit let of Oneida 

 lake to the south end of Cayuga lake, nature has done so much 

 that little is left for art to accomplish. The few obstructions 

 necessary to be removed can all be affected in the course of one 

 summer and at a very moderate expense. 



This company did not realize anything like their expectations. 

 After completing the canal around Little Falls and at Fort Stan- 

 wix, they were confronted by the difficulty that on account of the 

 excessive tolls charged, these short stretches of canal were not 

 as much used as they had expected. While the commerce from 

 Oneida lake and westward was considerable, the boatmen still 

 continued to carry their cargoes around these obstructions in- 

 stead of passing through the canals. Undoubtedly the scarcity 

 of ready money had a good deal to do with this, although the 

 tolls for passing through the canals seem rather high. As we 

 have seen, the entire bed of the Mohawk river had been conveyed 

 to this company by the act of 1792, but there was no practical 

 way of preventing navigation on the river. 



The company, however, continued in existence until the State 

 entered upon its era of inland water improvement under the 



