HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



7S1 



occasionally happen, but it was not considered that they would 

 seriously interfere with the regulation of the lake level. 



The effect on the Niagara river. Lake Ontario and the St Law- 

 rence river will not be objectionable, while the depth of water 

 will be increased about 3 feet in Lake Erie, 2 feet in Lake St 

 Clair and 1 foot in Lake Huron. 



Xiagara ship canal. The project for a waterway from the Great 

 Lakes to the Atlantic tidewaters suitable for transporting the 

 commerce of the upper lakes has attracted public attention for 

 nearly a century, during which time the people of New York have 

 maintained that such a canal must be built directly across the 

 State in order to aid in building up the financial and commercial 

 supremacy of Xew York city, while the people of the western 

 states have considered that the canal should be constructed on 

 the route best adapted for transporting the commerce of the 

 country tributary to the Great Lakes ; that is to say. everybody 

 except the people of New York have considered that the prefer- 

 able route was by a Xiagara ship canal into Lake Ontario at the 

 most convenient point, and from thence through Lake Ontario to 

 Oswego. Even in 1S12. before the construction of the Erie canal, 

 the authorities of the territory of Michigan resolved unanimously 

 that in their opinion the canal contemplated by the Commission- 

 ers of Internal Navigation of the State of New York would not be 

 so desirable as a canal around Niagara. To this the New York 

 Commissioners replied that they had too much respect for the 

 authorities of Michigan to suppose they had given such opinion 

 without information and consideration, and therefore the New 

 York Commissioners inferred that the information received was 

 either not founded in fact, or that not having turned their atten- 

 tion to the subject of canals, the authorities of Michigan were not 

 well qualified to judge. 1 



It is certain that the St Lawrence river is the natural outlet 

 and the line of least resistance for a waterway from the Great 

 Lakes to tidewater. 



A waterway large enough to transport the tonnage of the lakes 

 can be constructed by way of Lake Ontario for less cost than by 

 any other route. Moreover, a steamer will traverse it in about 



'New York Canals, Vol. 1, p. 74. 



