HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



803 



From the mouth of the Mohawk, at Troy, to the deep water of the 

 Hudson river, below Coxsackie, the latter river must be improved 

 by narrowing and deepening its channel, or a canal must be con- 

 structed along its shore. The former method of construction 

 affords the simplest and most useful means of securing the de- 

 sired result. 



The plan may therefore be summarized as the widening, 

 deepening and necessary rectification of the worst curvatures of 

 the present canal, from Buffalo to Newark (about 130 miles); 

 the construction of a new canal from Newark to Utica (about 

 115 miles); the canalization of the Mohawk river from Utica to 

 Troy (about 100 miles), and the improvement of the Hudson 

 river from Troy to Four Mile Point, in Coxsackie (a distance of 

 about 30 miles). 



The elevation of the western level of the canal being governed 

 by the surface of Lake Erie, it must secure the required depth 

 wholly by deepening, while the profiles of the levels from Lock- 

 port east can be adjusted to meet the economical requirements 

 that will be disclosed by detailed surveys. 



The first level from Buffalo to Lockport will be 32 miles long. 

 Descending from this level at Lockport, by two locks, each of 

 about 25 feet lift, the second level of the canal will be reached. 

 This level, 64 miles in length, will extend to Brighton, where, 

 descending by two locks of about 24 feet lift, we reach the third 

 level of the canal, extending from Brighton to Macedon, 20 miles, 

 there descending by a lock of about 20 feet lift we reach the 

 fourth level, extending from Macedon to Newark, 12 miles; 

 where, by a lock of about 20 feet lift, is reached the level of the 

 proposed new canal, to extend from Newark to Utica, about 115 

 miles, which will be the fifth and longest level of the new canal. 

 From that point the Mohawk river (except at Little Falls and 

 Cohoes, where combined locks will be required) can best be 

 canalized through locks of 10 or 12 feet lift, making pools hav- 

 ing an average length of about 5 miles each. 



The change in profile between Newark and the west end of the 

 Rome level, in the eastern suburbs of Syracuse, was considered 

 a very important one by the Canal Committee, and they accord- 



