SOS 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



that this route would have long ago received careful attention. 

 Probably there are two reasons for this neglect : 



1) The early reclamation projects, through which it was 

 expected to reclaim Seneca river marshes. 



2) Difficulty of constructing a towpath along a marshy river. 

 The estimated cost of the Seneca-Oneida route was f 6,000,000, 



which ; for a total length, by way of certain cutoffs on Oneida 

 river which reduce the length somewhat, of 81. 6 miles, gives an 

 average cost per mile of, roundly, $73,530. 



The following correspondence explains in detail why this change 

 was made. In his letter of August 3, 1899, to the writer, Gen. 

 F. V. Greene says : 



George W. Rafter, Esq., Rochester, N. Y.: 



Dear Sir. — In accordance with a resolution of this committee 

 authorizing the chairman to employ an engineer for the purpose 

 of giving technical advice upon certain points connected with our 

 investigation and report on the canal question, I desire to obtain 

 your services to such an extent as may be necessary during the 

 next four months for the purpose of reporting to us on the follow- 

 ing questions : 



First. What will be the approximate cost of constructing a new 

 canal from the vicinity of Newark to the Rome level, joining the 

 latter at a point just east of the city of Syracuse, the said canal 

 to have a continuous descent to the eastward and to have a prism 

 sufficient to carry a boat 25 feet in width and 10 feet draft, with a 

 waterway not less than four times the immersed section of the 

 boat? 



#•******« 



Very respectfully, for the Committee, 



(Signed) F. V. Greene, 



Chairman. 



The foregoing instructions apparently limit the investigation 

 to a canal continuously descending, but after making an exami- 

 nation the writer, under date of September 1G, 1899, wrote to 

 John A. Fairley, Secretary of the Commission, as follows: 



Mr John A. Fairley, Secretary, New York, N. Y.: 

 Dear Sir. — 



******** 

 In regard to the proposed rectification between Newark and 

 Syracuse, two lines have been examined — one to south of present 

 < anal and one to north. The line to north appears to be the bet- 



