HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



801 



Studi/ of continuously descending canal from Lake Erie to the 

 Hudson river. Ever since the publication of the paper by the 

 late Elnathan Sweet in 1884 in regard to a radical enlargement 

 of the artificial waterway between the lakes and the Hudson 

 river, the opinion has extensively prevailed that it was preferable 

 to relocate the Erie canal in such manner as to eliminate the 

 depression between Newark and Syracuse, thus making a canal 

 with a continuous fall all the way from Lake Erie to the Hudson. 



In his report for 1883 State Engineer and Surveyor Silas Sey- 

 mour remarks that an examination of the Erie canal profile will 

 show that by raising Montezuma level 36.4 feet and the intervening 

 portions of the canal to the same elevation, Rome level would be 

 extended to a corresponding level west of the valley of the Seneca 

 river, and the lockage discharges of the entire Erie canal would all 

 be to the eastward, thus making Lake Erie the principal source of 

 water supply for the whole canal. He concludes his discussion by 

 suggesting that if a ship canal should ever be seriously contem- 

 plated, the practicability of this improvement should be carefully 

 considered. 1 



'So far as known, the foregoing is the first reference in canal 

 literature of this State to a continuously descending high level 

 canal from Newark to the west end of Rome level. 



In the early days of inland navigation in the State of New 

 York effort was entirely directed towards the improvement of the 

 natural watercourses, artificial channels being only considered 

 when necessary to connect such. 2 There were no engineers in 

 the State at that time, and the difficulties of meeting flood con- 

 ditions seemed to our ancestors insuperable. The result was 

 that when the Erie canal was finally projected from about 1808 to 

 1817, as a waterway independent of the streams, it was made an 

 artificial channel, although for the greater portion of its dis- 

 tance it paralleled waterways which could easily have been 

 canalized, producing much greater depth of water than was con- 

 templated in the canal. There is little doubt but that the mis- 

 take of making the artificial channel has retarded the develop- 

 ment of New York State in many ways ; and it is accordingly in- 



1 Report State Engineer and Surveyor for 1883, p. 16-17. 



2 Refer to description of works of Western Inland Lock Navigation Com- 

 pany on page 724. 



