Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume III.djvu/695

 CANAL 685 The Erie canal, 363 m. long, connecting the Hudson river at Albany and Troy with Lake Erie at Buffalo, was commenced in 1817, and opened in 1825, costing $7,602,000. It is to the efforts of De Witt Clinton principally that its construction is due. From the interest which he took in the subject as early as 1812, he was deputed with others to submit to the general government the project of connecting Lakes Erie and Champlain with the tide waters of the Hudson. This project failed, but he suc- ceeded while for most of the time governor of New York in carrying through the enterprise as a state work. It was constructed through a region which was then for the greater part a wilderness, and was the most extensive public work that had been undertaken in the United States up to that time. It has since been en- larged, and has now a breadth of 70 ft. at the surface and 56 ft. at the bottom, and the depth has been increased to 7 ft. The locks have been made 110 ft. long and 18 ft. wide. It is carried over several large streams by stone aqueducts of great magnitude. There are 72 locks, 57 of which are double and 15 single. It rises 20 ft. at Albany by two double locks 110 by 18 ft., and is taken to West Troy, a distance of 6 m., where it is carried over a ridge of slate rock by 16 double lift locks to a height of 188J ft. above tide water to Crescent, 6 m. ; thence to lock No. 19, 9 m. ; thence to Schoharie aqueduct by 11 locks, 30 m.; thence to Spra- kers, 14 m. ; thence to Frankfort, 36 in. ; thence to Utica, 9 m., where by a lock of 3 ft. lift it reaches the summit, or long level, extending 53 m. from Utica to Lodi, a mile E. of Syracuse. At Lodi the canal falls 27 ft. by three double locks into the Syracuse level, where it is joined by the Oswego canal and united with the wa- ters of Lake Ontario at Oswego, distant 38 m., by 18 single locks, each 110 by 18 ft. At Ged- des, 2 in. W. of Syracuse, the canal rises 7 ft., and is carried thence to Jordan, 15 m., where it falls 8 ft. into the Port Byron level, and is car- ried to Port Byron, 9 m. Falling at this place 11 ft. to Cayuga marsh level, it is carried 16 m. to Clyde ; thence to Arcadia, 14 m., it rises through 7 locks; thence to Macedon, 12 m., where it again rises by 2 locks ; thence to Pittsford on a level of 15 m. ; and thence 5 m. to Brighton, rising by 4 locks. From Brighton, 3 m. E. of Rochester, to Lockport, there is a con- tinuous level of 65 m. Commencing at Roches- ter, the canal increases in size as it proceeds west. At Lockport it is 98 ft. wide at the sur- face, 79 ft. at the bottom, and 7J ft. deep. Here there are 5 double locks with a total lift of 56 ft. From Lockport to Buffalo there is a level of 31 m., for 3 of which it is cut through rock, with a width at the surface of 62 ft., at the bottom 60 ft., and 9 ft. depth of water. The canal is supplied with water from Lake Erie to the Seneca river, 142 m. E. of Buffalo. Thus most of the flow of water is from west to east, there being a fall through only five locks from east to west, between Lodi and the Seneca river. At Rome, 15 m. W. of Utica, the canal receives a large supply of water from the Black River canal, which falls toward Albany. The west- ern part of the level between Utica and Syra- cuse receives water from Cazenovia lake and several other reservoirs, which falls westward- ly, and at Syracuse supplies water to the Os- wego canal. The level between Lockport and Buffalo is 568 ft. above the mean level of the Hudson river at Albany. The tolls received on all the New York canals for the year 1872 amounted to $3,072,411. The value of prop- erty transported on the Erie canal was $167,- 951,307; on the Champlain, $28,590,107; on the Oswego, $18,602,162; on the Chemung, $1,- 275,236; and on the Chenango, $165,801. The total value of property transported on the Erie canal from 1837 to 1872 inclusive was $4,795,- 215,078. The following table gives the dimen- sions and capacity of the New York state canals : NAME. When authorized. When completed. a t 1 SIZE OP CANAL. LOCKS. Average bur- den of boatt. Max'tn bur- den of bcati. 3 * r-i N t| 4 s H ^2" M f !l Erie Canal (original) 1817 1885 1825 1847 1826 W> 1817 1822 1822 1886 1849 1826 1838 1829 1889 1882 1888 1889 1825 1862 1828 1862 1828 1862 1822 1887 1887 1849 1861 1861 1836 1881 1850 1886 1889 Ib83 863 850K 88 88 21 28 66 12 8 50 42 124Ji 97 89 20 i* 40 70 40 70 40 70 50 50 42 42 40 42 80 40 40 42 28 56 24 56 24 56 85 86 26 26 24 26 60 24 24 26 4 7 4 7 4 7 6 6 4 4 4
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4 4 88 72 18 18 10 11 20 12 1 109 1 112 116 58 2 7 1 27 90 110 90 110 90 110 100 100 90 110 90 90 90 120 90 90 90 15 IS 15 18 15 18 18 18 is 18 15 15 15 80 15 15 15 654-80 154-85 76'-6i 179-50 132-00 1,082-25 1,045-89 1,015-83 604-88 7-85 62-00 8-00 277-88 70 210 70 210 70 210 80 80 70 70 70 71 85 70 70 70 70 76 240 76 240 76 240 85 85 76 76 76 76 90 76 76 76 76 Cayuga and Seneca Canal (original) Cayuga and Seneca Canal (enlargement) " Glenn's Falls feeder. . " Pond above Troy dam Black River Canal (improvement) Oneida Lake Canal The following table shows the total expendi- tures upon and receipts from the New York state canals to the close of 1866, each canal being cred- ited with the amount of tolls upon the tonnage contributed to the Erie, and charged with its proportion of cost of repairs and maintenance :