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 of one hundred tons. The locks were to be ninety feet long, twelve feet in width in the clear. These would accommodate any lumber that was then being shipped from the regions tapped by the canal. The route of the canal survey was being marked by "bench marks, level pegs, and other fixtures; Shafts have been sunk into the earth in various places, to ascertain its nature, with a view to a just estimation of the labour required, and of the expense to be incurred." The point of junction with Lake Erie, forever a doubtful point until the very last, was now planned at the mouth of Buffalo Creek; the water was higher there, of course, than at any point in the Niagara River, "and every inch gained in elevation will produce a large saving in the expense of excavation throughout the Lake Erie level."

The Western Section, from Buffalo to the eastern line of the Holland Purchase, was explored by Engineer William Peacock and Joseph Ellicott, commissioner. Their estimate for the sixty-two miles from Buffalo to the east end of the summit level west of the Genesee River, east of the