HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



731 



Kock harbor, lowering Onondaga outlet, Salina and Onondaga 

 side cut, Waterford and Troy side cuts, Troy dam, and Glens 

 Falls feeder, the sum of $1,621,274. Hence the actual cost of 

 construction of the canal proper was $7,853,099, which, on the 

 aggregate length of 433 miles, equals $18,136 per mile, or taking 

 into account the various extensions enumerated and the engineer- 

 ing as necessary items of expenditure, the original cost per mile 

 of the Erie and Champlain canals may be placed at $21,881 per 

 mile. 



Between 1825 and 1833 work was begun on a number of lateral 

 canals — as, for instance, the Oswego canal, begun in 1826 and 

 completed in 1828 ; the Cayuga and Seneca canal, begun- in 1827 

 and completed in 1829; the Chemung canal, begun in 1831 and 

 completed in 1832, and the Crooked Lake canal, begun in 1831 and 

 completed in 1833. The total cost of all the canals, including 

 interest on loans up to March 23, 1833, was $11,460,066.77. 



Chenango canal was begun in 1833. The total amount expended 

 on all the canals, including original construction, extensions, 

 maintenance, repairs, and interest on loans, to the end of 1834 

 was $13,798,438, and the total amount of tolls received from 1820 

 to 1834, inclusive, was $10,000,730.97— that is to say, at the end 

 of ten years from the original completion of the Erie canal the 

 amount returned to the State was nearly 78 per cent of the total 

 cost to that date. This fact is of the greatest interest because it 

 indicates that from the very beginning the New York State canal 

 system was operated as a purely business enterprise. It is clear, 

 then, that in reality the State of Xew York, in constructing its 

 internal navigation system, went into the transportation business ; 

 by that statement it is meant that the State managed the affairs of 

 the canals precisely as a private company would have managed 

 them — that is, the State built its canal system and levied as 

 heavy tolls as the articles transported would stand. 



By way of illustrating how thoroughly the State was in the 

 transportation business and on exactly the same basis as trans- 

 portation companies, it may be cited that in 1830 the Legislature 

 sent a communication to the Commissioners of the Canal Fund 

 asking if it were not possible to increase the rate of toll on many 

 of the articles transported, and stating that it seemed necessary, 

 in order to meet all the interests involved, that the canals yield 



