HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



729 



riding for the construction of artificial navigation from Lake Erie 

 to tidewater on the Hudson river, and also from Lake Champlain 

 to tidewater on the Hudson. The dimensions of the proposed 

 canals were fixed by the commissioners as follows: For Erie 

 canal a bottom width of 28 feet, surface width 40 feet, and depth 

 4 feet, with locks 90 feet long and 15 feet wide; for Champlain 

 canal a bottom width of 20 feet, surface width 30 feet, and depth 

 3 feet, with locks 75 feet long and 10 feet wide. 



Ground was broken for the Erie canal at Rome, July 4, 1817, and 

 the section from Utica to Seneca river completed October 22. 



Fig. 47 Proposed lengthened lock for enlarged canal. 



1819, a boat passing from Rome to Utica on that day. Champlain 

 canal was opened in part for navigation November 24, 1819. The 

 route for Erie canal from Seneca river west was also explored 

 in 1819, and the final location, from Seneca river to Rochester, 

 made in 1821. The principal engineers were James Geddes, 

 Benjamin Wright, and Canvass White. 



The annual report of the Canal Commissioners, dated January 

 31, 1818, gives details of the system adopted for the construction 

 of the canal. They state that they had decided to complete the 

 middle section first, 58 miles of which were put under contract 

 during the year 1817, this portion being wholly on the summit 

 level. The whole labor performed in 1817 was equal to the com- 

 pletion of 15 miles. In indication of the easy character of the 

 work, the commissioners state that three Irishmen finished 3 rods 

 of canal in 4 feet cutting in five and one-half days, and that on 

 the 58 miles under contract only half a mile required puddling. 



The engineer's original estimate of the cost of the middle sec- 

 tion, completed in 1819, was $1,021,851. The actual cost was 



