Mr. Clinton, in his reply to the committee appointed by the citizens of New-York, to express their sentiments relative to his removal as a canal commissioner, notices the important services that had been rendered by the surveyors and engineers in exploring and examining the country, and in the performance of the duties that devolved upon them in their several capacities. While the labours of the Surveyor-General, James Geddes, and Joseph Ellicott, are rewarded and gratefully acknowledged by the people of this state, those of Judge Wright and of Canvas White, which are perhaps less extensively known, will more fully appear in the following communication, with which I have been favoured, in reply to my request to obtain the information it conveys.

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Letter from Judge Wright to David Hosack, M.D.

NEW-YORK, Dec. 31, 1828.

DEAR SIR,

In answer to your favour requesting general information as to all the incidents and several transactions in which I took a part, in the canal policy of the state of New-York, and also as to all matters relative to the improvements of the interior navigation of the state, which had taken place previous to the state commencing operations on their own account, I with great pleasure give you all within my knowledge.

In the year 1791, Major Hardenburgh came to Fort Stanwix (now Rome) to make a survey for a cut or canal, (under the direction of the Surveyor-General) from Mohawk River to Wood Creek; and as I resided in the neighbourhood, and was then a country surveyor of new lands, he sent for me to assist in running certain lines, to ascertain distances between certain points, in order to get a correct topography of the country, while he carried on his level over the proposed route.

This duty was performed by order of a legislative act or resolution of the previous session.

The report of Major Hardenburgh, upon his whole plan and estimate of expense, can be found, no doubt, in the public offices at Albany.

Being at that day very young and inexperienced as a civil engineer, I knew nothing at that time of the merits of his plan. I can now, however, perfectly recollect the outlines, and can say with great assurance, that the project was only one of those temporary expedients in improvements which are only to answer for a short period, and to be superseded by more durable, permanent, and useful works.

Nothing more was done until after the charter granted to the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company in 1792-93, who commenced their operation at the Little Falls, on the Mohawk River. After completing their works at that place, they commenced operations at Fort Stanwix, in 1796. Mr. William Weston, a gentleman from England, was then the engineer employed by that company.

Being at this time engaged in surveying large tracts of new lands in the counties of Oneida, Oswego, Jefferson, and Lewis, I took no part in any of the operations going on under the direction of Mr. Weston.

After Mr. Weston had completed the improvements at Rome, or Fort Stanwix, and a short cut and two locks at German Flatts, in Herkimer county, which was completed about the year 1798-99, he soon after returned to England, his native country.

In 1802, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company determined upon improving the navigation of Wood Creek from near Fort Stanwix to a small tributary stream six miles westerly, called Little Canada Creek. In this distance there was a descent of nearly twenty-four feet, and the navigation very indifferent and troublesome. The plan decided upon was by means of dams and locks, of which they constructed four in the distance above mentioned. George Huntington, Esq. of Rome, was their agent, and I was their engineer.

After locating and determining all that was necessary for these works, the gentlemen composing the board of directors, of which General Schuyler was president, and Robert Bowne and Thomas Eddy two very prominent and active members, were so well satisfied with my manner of executing the duties of civil engineer, that they directed me to make a traverse and regular survey, ground plan, and profile of the Wood Creek, from the point at Little Canada Creek, before mentioned (where the improvements of 1802 ended) down to the Oneida Lake, where Wood Creek empties its waters. This I performed in the spring of 1803.

Immediately on completing my work on Wood Creek, and returning the maps, plane, reports, &c. I received further directions from the president and directors to commence a survey of the Mohawk River from Fort Stanwix to Schenectady – "taking a regular traverse of the river, so as to show all its windings, its breadth, the descent in each rapid, and the descent between rapids, the depth of water in the channel at each rapid, and the depth in each pool between rapids at its lowest summer drought, the height of alluvial banks and all other remarks and observations which I might think useful." – "And as a final duty, to strike out my own plan of improving the river in as cheap and economical a manner as possible, and one adapted to the situation and circumstances of the company."

This duty I performed in 1803, by recommending a compound of dams, locks, and short canals, so as to make a slack water navigation upon the cheapest possible and useful plan. Unfortunately the pecuniary affairs of the company never permitted them to carry any part of the proposed plan into effect.

Things remained in their then state until the resolution of Judge Forman, in February, 1808, in the Assembly, he being at that time a member from Onondaga county, and myself a member from Oneida. We roomed together in company with General McNiel, a colleague of mine.

Judge Forman and myself were subscribers to Rees’ Cyclopedia, and we received that winter, in an early part of the session, the sixth volume of that work, containing the article "Canal." We also read a long and able report published in a newspaper, made by a committee of the legislature of Pennsylvania, wherein it was recommended in strong terms, that that state should make a first-rate road from some proper point towards Philadelphia, where it could be connected with an existing good road, and carry it to some proper point near the north line of the state, where it would lead to what was then called the "Genesee country" of the state of New-York, and urging as a reason, that Philadelphia was so much nearer to that part of the state of New-York than any large commercial town in New-York state, that therefore the trade might be directed, and would, with little exertion, centre in Philadelphia, from all that part of New-York. Tioga Point was considered as the place where this road was to approach the New-York line.

Upon reading this, Judge Forman observed that something ought to be done to prevent the people of Pennsylvania from drawing away the trade of our state, and suggested that as Mr. Jefferson, the then President of the United States, had recommended the surplus monies in the treasury to be expended on roads and canals, he was for making a canal to Lake Erie. I told him I could give him much light upon the matter, as far as Oneida Lake, as I had surveyed and levelled over all between Schenectady and Oneida Lake, and knew well the country between the Oneida Lake and Lake Ontario at Oswego. Judge Forman observed, that he was for going directly to Lake Erie without touching Lake Ontario; and after conversing a while, he proposed a resolution which he would introduce, and I agreed to second it. He accordingly, introduced it, and being a joint resolution, it laid upon the table one day, according to rule.

I well recollect the surprise and astonishment of many members, and by whose look and manner it was easily seen that they considered it a wild, visionary project, but after conversing with many of them, they rather wished the information which the resolution, if acted upon, would elicit; but when a clause was introduced into the supply bill making an appropriation for the expense, it was filled with one thousand dollars in the assembly, and when it went into the senate, they reduced it to six hundred dollars, which was all that could be obtained. This was to be expended under the direction of the Surveyor-General. He employed Judge Geddes, who resided at Onondaga, and had a better local knowledge of the part of the country then to be examined, than perhaps any other person, as he had been a surveyor of lands for many years.

Judge Geddes spent the season of 1808, and part of 1809, in obtaining information; and the local knowledge he obtained for the above sum, together with seventy dollars in addition, led to a final plan of what could be done as to a canal from Lake Erie through the country, without going into Ontario.

Things remained without further acts or examination, until the formation of a board of commissioners of seven, in the session of the legislature of 1810, when Governeur Morris, De Witt Clinton, Thomas Eddy, Simeon De Witt, Stephen Van Rensselaer, William North, and Peter B. Porter, were appointed, and made their excursion and examination through the western part of the state. This year, 1810, I took no part in the examination, as my engagements on the St. Lawrence confined me to that part of the country nearly the whole season.

This examination of the commissioners, resulted in their famous report of an inclined plane from Lake Erie to near Albany. This plan of the inclined plane was not approved of by public opinion, and further examination took place in 1811. In this year I was directed to make an examination on the north side of the Mohawk River, from Rome to Waterford, on the Hudson. My instructions and report, are in Appendix to Canal Documents, Vol. I. p. 531.

In 1812, I received instructions to examine the country from Seneca Lake to Rome, and from thence on the south side of the Mohawk River to Albany. My instructions directed me to pursue a level from Rome, ten feet below the level of the old canal at that place, and carry that level to Seneca River near Montezuma. This I did; but it was found to be too crooked and serpentine, and the distance increased so much more than the present plan, as it is now executed, that it was abandoned.

My instructions from Rome eastward, along the valley of the Mohawk and thence to Albany, were to strike out such plan for a canal as I thought best. In this examination it became very important for me to find out how a canal could be carried over the Pine Plains between Schenectady and Albany, and I searched and examined every part of this plain, and levelled over it in different directions, between Troy and Schenectady, between Albany and up the Patroon Creek, through the Shaker settlement at Niskayuna. Also between the valley of the Mohawk near Schenectady, and Norman’s Kill, which falls into the Hudson two miles below Albany. In this examination I found every part of this plain elevated from 130 to 200 feet above the Mohawk at Schenectady.

My report, accompanied by maps and profiles for the year 1812, was very full. They are, I believe, lost, as I have never been able to find them since. The war having commenced, nothing more was done until 1816, when the act passed forming a new board of commissioners, and appropriating 20,000 dollars to make surveys and estimates. That part of the line between Rome and Seneca River was assigned to me; and the report of the canal commissioners of 1817, gives a copy of my report and estimate of expense of that part of the canal. In the session of 1817, the work was authorised to commence; and the middle section, as it was called, was put under my charge, extending from Utica to Seneca River at Montezuma.

I was at the head of the engineers while this work was going on and until completed; and then the work from Seneca River westerly, to Genesee River, was under my direction; and when this was laid out and in progress, the eastern division from Utica to Albany was commenced, and I had the charge of that part also until completed in 1823.

Here it is proper that I should render a just tribute of merit to a gentleman who now stands high in his profession, and whose skill and sound judgment as a civil engineer is not surpassed, if equalled, by any other in the United States. The gentleman to whom I refer, is Canvass White, Esq. Mr. White commenced as my pupil in 1816, by carrying the target; he took an active part through that year, and through 1817. In the fall of the latter year, he made a voyage to England on his own account, and purchased for the state several levelling instruments, of which we stood much in need. He returned in the spring, and brought back much valuable information which he has usefully diffused, and greatly to the benefit of the state of New-York. To this gentleman I could always apply for counsel and advice in any great and difficult case: and to his sound judgment in locating the line of canal in much of the difficult part of the route, the people of this state are under obligations greater than is generally known or appreciated.

These, my dear sir, are the outlines of all the incidents relating to the improvements by canal or river navigation in New-York, in which I took part, excepting a map and general plan of the country from Albany to Oswego, on Lake Ontario, showing the topography and connection of the waters, and remarks and observations thereon, which I made by request of George Huntington, Esq. to whom Mr. Gallatin applied in 1807 for information; this was forwarded by Mr. Huntington.

There are many little things which have taken place, by correspondence with various persons touching these subjects, which are not material to your views.

Dr. DAVID HOSACK.

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Transcribed from the original text and html prepared by Bill Carr, last updated 5/30/99.