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 canal was open for use; the cost for this portion was $3,685,438. The total cost of enlargement contracted for prior to April 1, 1842, was $9,361,442. By 1850 the cost had run up to fifteen millions, which was distributed by years as follows:

This enlargement was completed in 1862 and is legally known as the "enlargement of 1862." When completed the canal was 350½ miles long; it had seventy-two locks, measuring 110 x 18 feet, of which fifty-seven were double and fifteen single. The building of double locks did not cease until 1875.

Further enlargement of the Erie Canal has been almost constantly under discussion. In 1863 State Engineer Taylor suggested gunboat locks twenty-six feet wide