72 



Doc. No. 75. 



According to the exhibits of the foregoing table, the Erie canal has 

 produced; in the course of fifteen years, the sum of twelve million two 

 hundred and seventy five thousand six hundred and sixty-four dollars and 

 fifty cents — showing a clear profit of seven hundred and ninety- seven 

 thousand six hundred and nine dollars over the original outlay in the 

 costs of construction, which only amounted to eleven million four hun- 

 dred and eighty- eight thousand thirty- five dollars and ninety- nine cents. 

 The debt incurred by the loan has, therefore, been cancelled by the pro- 

 ductive energies of the work itself. 



The income for the last year was one million five hundred and forty- 

 eight thousand one hundred and eight dollars and sixty-five cents: so 

 that the real value of the work at the present moment may be set down 

 at twenty- five millions of dollars, which is a clear gain redounding to the 

 benefit of the public treasury, since the hquidation of the debt. The 

 value of the work must continue to increase in proportion to the increase 

 of its revenue, because the value of every kind of property depends upon 

 the quantity of revenue produced. Hence it may be inferred that, at 

 some future day, tlie value of the canal, estimated in proportion to the 

 rate of income derived from it by the public treasury, will be fifty millions 

 of dollars. 



Such are the benefits that have accrued to the State of New York. Let 

 us now see what immediate advantages the people themselves have de- 

 rived from the enterprise. 



The increase of agricultural pursuits, industry, and traffic, to be attrib- 

 uted exclusively to the opening of the Erie canal, is shown by a very 

 simple operation. The toll duties levied upon goods being at the rate of 

 ^iVtt P®^ cent., it is evident that, in order to produce the gross income of 

 twelve million two hundred and seventy- five thousand six hundred and 

 forty- four dollars in the course of fifteen years, the amount of property 

 transported must have exceeded in value four hundred millions of dollars. 

 The revenue of the canal during the first year of its operation was seven 

 thousand feur hundred and thirty-seven dollars and thirty-four cents — 

 showing that the amount of goods transported must have been under two 

 hundred thousand dollars. The tollage for the last year was one million 

 five hundred and eighteen thousand one hundred and eight dollars and 

 sixty-five cents — exhibiting an amount of property taxed of forty- seven 

 millions of dollars. 



The difierence between two hundred thousand dollars and forty- seven 

 millions is not trifling; and yet this is precisely the difference we find in 

 the circumstances of the State of New York between the periods preced- 

 ing and following the opening of the canal. This appears almost incred- 

 ible; but the data upon which the statement is made are authentic and 

 official. 



The increase of value in landed property produced by the Erie canal 

 can easily be ascertained by referring to the census which was taken pre- 

 vious to the opening of the canal and the last, which was published in 

 1834. In 1815, an acre of land situated on the canal route was valued at 

 the rate of five dollars ; at the present day, not a single acre could be pur- 

 chased for less than fifty dollars. The thousands of acres which have 

 thus acquired ten times their original value, throughout the vast area of 

 land crossed by the canal, constitute an amount of wealth in landed prop 



