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NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



The Barge canal survey. The report of the Canal Committee 

 was presented to Governor Roosevelt under date of January 15, 

 1900, and chapter 411 of the laws of 1900 directed the State 

 Engineer and Surveyor to cause surveys, plans and estimates to 

 be made for improving the Erie canal, the Champlain canal and 

 the Oswego canal, appropriating $200,000 therefor. The route 

 to be surveyed is defined in this act, and follows the recom- 

 mendations of the Canal Committee already given. It is also 

 provided in section 3 of this act that the surveys, plans and 

 estimates for the construction and improvement of the Erie canal 

 shall be of such dimensions as will allow said canal to carry 

 and lock through boats 150 feet in length, 25 feet in width and 

 of 10 feet draft, with a cargo capacity of 1000 tons each. The 

 prism of Erie canal was to have a depth of water of not less 

 than 12 feet, with 11 feet in the locks and over structures. The 

 locks were to be 310 feet long and 28 feet wide and 11 feet deep. 

 The State Engineer was required by the act to complete the 

 survey and hand his report to the Governor on or before January 

 1, 1901. The Governor was to submit the same, with his own 

 recommendations relating thereto, to the Legislature on or be- 

 fore January 15, 1901. Chapter 411, became a law April 12, 

 1900. 



This act required the completion of the survey in about eight 

 months, and while there was a large amount of data available, 

 which had been gathered two years previously by the Board of 

 Engineers on Deep Waterways, nevertheless it is difficult to 

 suppose that very complete surveys could have been made in so 

 short a time as this. The State Engineer conducted the sur- 

 vey ably, and it is intended to merely point out that from limita- 

 tion of time alone the survey was necessarily somewhat approxi- 

 mative. 



The estimates are, generally speaking, as reliable as could be 

 expected for the amount of time put upon them. The total cost 

 of the improvement on the present line of the Erie canal through- 

 out the whole extent, and including the Oswego and Champlain 

 canals, is estimated at about $87,000,000, while the total cost on 

 the most desirable route, via Mohawk and Seneca rivers, is ^ 

 about $77,000,000. There are certain additions to this which 



