If the preferable plan of descents and locks, is not adopted, we will repeat the second proposition; to extend the Utica and Rochester levels to the meridian of Palmyra or Lyons, or between them ; and to construct double locks there to connect them. Though we have no personal knowledge of the ground ourselves, on inquiry from intelligent persons, we are informed that the plan is very practicable.
If the experienced Mr. Wright should undertake the task from the Utica level, he will double the length of "the longest summit level in the world," locate the site for the double locks, make the necessary ascent, and pursue another level, to a level junction with that of Rochester: or if Mr. Geddes be called to the business, with the skill and knowledge he has acquired, since his first exploration in the year 1808, there is no doubt, that starting from the Rochester level, he would shun the old navigation and the marshes, overcome difficulties which the former scanty appropriation would not permit him to examine, make the necessary descent, direct his course for the outlets of the Seneca and Cayuga, and form a level junction with the level of Utica: or Messrs. Wright and Geddes, could pursue their respective levels, and effect a junction at the second Lockport.* Or if they should decline the business, there are others who will undertake to perform it. At any rate the low level of Salina, the Jordan summit, and the Cayuga [27]marshes ought not to be endured in the line of canal: this new line of canal of about one hundred miles in length, could be constructed at much less expense than would at first be supposed ; the increased skill of the contractors, would enable them to perform the work for less sums, than on the original line. The canal would be constructed from the Utica and Rochester levels to the spot where the locks are to be built, and the materials transported there by water, along the new line of canal at a small expense. In some instances it will be cheaper to build and complete new locks, with more suitable stone and water lime cement, than to repair the old ; the same with respect to some of tbe aqueduts and culverts. The proposed additional width and depth of canal may be attended to, in the new line; and the dimensions attained at much less expense, than in the old line. If the recommendations of Mr. DeWitt Clinton, relative to retractile bridges and an additional towing path are to be adopted, they can also be contracted with much less expense, in a new line of canal, than in the old. By the proposed alteration of the route, the canal will pass more through the heart of the State, and be nearer to Canandaigua, Geneva, Waterloo, Auburn, and other inportant towns.
If the canal should pass the Cayuga outlet with an embankment of fifty feet ; it may be worthy of inquiry whether the level may not be pursued on the side of the Lake to Ithaca. If it be found practicable to construct a canal from thence to Owego, 100 feet of lockage will then be saved between that place and the Erie canal. Boats will proceed from Ithaca to Utica without passing a lock, and the Ithaca voyagers may start with their boats and horses, for the tide water of the Hudson, without applying to the captain of the steam boat for a tow on the Lake. The canal may pass through the quarries of gypsum, boats may be loaded without land carriage, and farmers may receive the article on the canal, at one half the present price. By approaching the Seneca Lake, a new trade will be opened with the branches of the Tioga ; the inhabitants of that country will make im-[28]provements to enable them to resort to the Erie canal, instead of descending the Susquehanna for a market, and if any citizens of New-York prefer bituminous coal to anthracite, they may be gratified with a selection.
While enumerating the advantages, which will result from the proposed alterations of the canal, we ought also to notice that there will be an entire command of the water of the great lakes, and of almost every stream crossing the line of canal ; and as there will be no discharge of lockage water, except at the Hudson, there will be an abundant supply along the line of canal for grist-mills, saw-mills, factories, and other hydraulic machines. The sites to be let by the State in aid of the revenue : the irrigations while supplying the farmer, will likewise enrich the treasury*.
In giving scope to the imagination many things occur, which though they may appear visionary at present may not be thought so hereafter. Who will say that at a future day Lake Erie will not supply New-York with pure and wholesome water! When the canal has received its alterations, and the water of the lake shall be received on the banks of the Hudson pure and limpid, and no longer turbid from the narrow shallow passage, a canal or aqueduct will, at the expense of a million or a million and a half of dollars, deliver the water in the city of New-York, which will then be supplied like Philadelphia, where the water is taken from the Schuylkill canal of one hundred miles in length, and like London from the New river and the Thames. If this aqueduct should be a navigable canal, through one of the cloves of the mountains, thousands of families whose knowledge of the country extends only a short distance, would, as in China, become temporary inhabitants of the water. They would visit the ocean, the most populous city of the United States, and the emporium of the commerce of the Western Hemisphere. This voyage would be performed [29]in boats, which they will procure for the trip on the canal, and with their own horses taken from wagons, bringing their provisions, produce, and manufactures from the interior. If a failure of the crop of any particular article should take place, from any unpropitious cause near the Atlantic, farmers would immediately supply the deficiency by proceeding to the canal with their wagons, putting their horses to canal-boats, and delivering in the city the articles in demand. Produce also arriving at maturity earlier or later, than that raisaed in the vicinity of New-York, would be brought from other places, and a continued and equable supply thus ensured to the city.
While we dwell on the great benefits which may be derived from the proposed alterations, let us not omit minor advantages; the delicate fish of the great lakes will be introduced into the small lakes and the waters of the Mohawk and Hudson, and a prolific supply obtained for the inhabitants to ensure plenty, variety, and good living.
It is presumed to be fully shown that the deviation from the plan of Mr. G. Morris, with bis subsequent modifications, occasions extra lockage, waste of water, slow motion, heavy draft, extra horses, caving banks, muddy water, loss of time, disease, and sometimes death!* The question is, whether it is proper to continue to labour under these disadvantages, or to obtain relief when it is in our power, by applying to the legislature to give the necessary autho-[30]ity to Mr. Stephen Van Rensaellaer and the other commissioners, to cause surveys, descents, and levels to be made, and alterations to be effected of such parts as are susceptible of improvement. It must be acknowledged by all, if the whole cannot be accomplished, that very material parts may be altered without great expense; but it is contended that it would be good economy to expend one or two millions in the immediate alteration and completion of the whole plan. The present canal commisaioners, being men of good sense and free from selfish prejudice, would immediately adopt such of the proposed alterations as they esteemed to be proper, and would prefer the work being done under their administration. They are fully competent to it, and it would be cheaper and better to continue them in the management of it, than to form a new commission. In the same way with respect to the engineera, architects, and contractors : and it is fortunate that the state has such an excellent corps to select from. It is not contemplated to construct the part proposed to be altered, of greater dimensions than fifty feet wide and five feet deep ; an attempt at more would mar the whole : but most assuredly the time will come when a canal from Erie to the Hudson, ninety feet wide and nine feet deep, will convey the Veasels of Michigan in safety to tide water.
[33]It may be urged by some that although the proposed alterations are expedient and will be attended with many beneficial effects, still there is no necessity for their immediate completion, but that they may with propriety be postponed, and the energies of the State directed to other objects. In reply, it is insisted that the alterations should be immediately made in preference to all other propositions. The many causes assigned for a change of the plan and route should not be disregarded, nor the citizens permitted to continue to labour under the losses and inconveniences they at present sustain; these may appear small to some, who contrast their present situation with what it was before the canal was constructed, but intelligent men, who are enabled to look forward to the additional benefits which may be so easily conferred on them, will see the propriety of immediately accomplishing the work.
In addition to these advantages, which will accrue to the citizens residing near the line of navigation, there are others of much greater importance in relation to the commerce of the State. The canal will then be in complete order to receive the trade of the western States, and the inhabitants of those States, gratified and delighted with the improved facilities and accommodations, will not seek other routes to the tide water, but cheerfully bend their course to the Hudson. The present consolation of those who are in favour of other routes, is, that the Erie canal will be preoccupied by the citizens of the State, that there will be no room for the inhabitants of other States, who must therefore seek tide water in other places. The advocates of the Welland canal, constructing with an expectation of cutting off the trade of the Hudson, and connecting the interior with the merchants of a foreign country beyond the control and fiscal regulations of the United States ; and the revivers of the project of the Niagara canal, to enable the sloops of Lake Erie to descend into Ontario, and thence on a destination unknown, all have their hopes and expectations, while many of our citizens are striving to direct the trade from the Hudson to the tide waters of the Delaware, Susquehannah, Potomac, James River, and the Mississippi.
Colonel John L. Sullivan one of the most experienced civil engineers of the United States, who is now in the em-[34]ploy of the central government as a member of the board of internal improvement, says, in a report dated February 3d, 1825,
the apprehension of a want of income proportionate to the cost of public works, is dissipated by the success of the Erie canal, thronged with navigation even before it has reached the lake. And although the capacity of that canal for business may be increased by parallel locks and other means, there are limitations to its power, set by the command of water it possesses. Ever since the commencement of that work, the western counties of New-York have been increasing greatly in population; and there will be no necessity for business from Ohio and Michigan to ensure a competent revenue from the Erie canal. The very facts which show the wisdom of that undertaking, prove that the western States may find it preoccupied. The nearest customers must always have the preference - the are in possession.In a review on Baltimore, published as late as January 1825, it is said,
If a water communication is opened from the Western to the Atlantic States, nearly the whole trade of Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana will flow in this direction. The New-York canal will draw through the lake, for the present, the produce of the northern parts of Ohio and Indiana, but when the magnificent project of threading the Alleghanies with a canal, and uniting the Ohio, nay, the great lakes themselves with the Chesapeake, shall be put in execution, which, since the recent surveys would seem to prove it practicable, may he expected at no distant day ; then the entire trade of these three states will flow into this channel, as being the shortest and most expeditious route to the tide waters of the Atlantic. In this event Baltimore will inevitably become become the chief mart of western produce, and possess an almost exclusive privilege of sending over the mountains, supplies of home manufacturcs and foreign products. Georgetown, Washington, and Alexandria will doubtless be greatly benefitted by such a communication to the west, but the local situation of these towns is not such as to enable any one or all of them to gain the ascendancy already held by Baltimore.In a report of a committee of the House of Representatives of Pennsylvania, on inland navigation made in February 1825, [35] they say that,
from her position, Philadelphia under a wise policy will ever a great commercial city and the real centre of the manufactures and wealth of the union.These are some of the latest sentiments which have been expressed on the effects of the canals from the tide water to the interior, and on the positions and future Importance of the commercial cities, and are founded on the facts which have been lately developed. The citizens of New-York ought not to disregard them, on the contrary, they should carefully examine the probable results of the proposed plans of improvement, and take every prudent precaution, and adopt every active measure which which may be necessary to enable them to preserve the advantages which they derive from their highly favourable position. It is conceived that it is in their power to invite to their port, through the Erie canal, not only the trade of their own State, but also part of the trade of Kentucky, Ohio, and Indiana, of disricts of Pennsylvania, Virginia and Illinois, and of Michigan and the Northwest Territory. It has been ascertained the surveys of the U. S. engineers, and is stated in their report of February, 1825, that there is a practicable route for a canal, from the Ohio River to Lake Erie, by the valleys of the Big Beaver Creek and the Astabula which will be only 104 miles in length, and with a lockage of only 557 feet, thus making the lockage from Pittsburgh to the tide water of the Hudson, if the proposed alterations in the Erie canal are effected, only 1095 feet ; of which 330 feet will be descending lockage, while the route from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia by the Susquehanna, will have 3358 feet lockage, and to Baltimore and Alexandria by the Potomac, 3837 feet. These considerations will give the Lake Erie and Hudson route a decided superiority, provided there are no limitations set to its power by the command of water it possesses, and "the western States do not find it preoccupied, as the nearest customers must have the preference, they being in possession." The wary miller, who finds that there will be shortly more grist brought to his mill, than one run of stones can grind, does not wait until the fact proved, his customers turned away, and other mills erected in opposition to him, but he immediatefy projects further improvements, to prevent the loss, competition, and disappointment [36] which would otherwise ensue ; be increases his command of water, he husbands and prevents waste of it and constructs additional runs of stones, communsurate with his means and the demand for employment. This course of proceeding, it is suggested, should be the policy of the Legislature of New-York, and immediate measures by adopting the proposed improvements, to be prepared to forward without delay and with increased velocity the passage of every boat, which may hereafter applyfor admission on the Erie canal.
We hope that our readers are by this time convinced, that it is the duty and policy of the people of New-York, to provide for the contingencies which have been mentioned before they occur; and that it is in their power to prevent the transit of articles from being arrested and diverted into other channels. By careful provisions, the State of New-York may enjoy the whole of the intercourse between the Atlantic and western States, and the vast advantage of being the entrepot of the commerce of the union.
When the canal is completed in the manner proposed it may then be worthy of the consideration of the Legislature, whether it would not be expedient to renew the offer of making it the property of the United States, in the manner originally intended. The general government reimbursing with interest the sums which have been expended in the construction of it, and engaging to demand no more toll, than will be sufficient to pay the interest of the expenditure, the cost of the superintendance, and the repairs uf tbe work. The sums to be received from the United States over and above the payment of the canal debt, may then be applied to the construction of branch canals connecting with the Erie and Champlain canals, and with the tide waters in other jplaces; but the transfer of the canal is a subject of such magnitude in its various ramifications and different bearings, and of such vast importance to the State, and the United States, that it will require a separate discussion, distinct from this essay, and is therefore most respectfully referred to abler hands. Being confident if they have the good of their country at heart, and are govenered by the principles of Washington, that they will not be long in determining on the policy which out to be adopted.