USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 17
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After returning from a journey westward as far as Pitts- burgh, in the same year, Washington inimediately appealed to the Virginians to embark in an enterprise for improving the water-courses, so as to connect the east and west as in-
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timately as possible-a matter which he deemed not more important in a commercial view than in a political aspect, seeing that the Spaniards then swayed the regions beyond the Mississippi, and controlled the outlet of that river. He urged the appointment of commissioners to report the best means for improving the James and Potomac Rivers, and to designate the best portages between those waters and the streams capable of improvement which run-into the Ohio. The navigable waters west of the Ohio towards the. great lakes were also to be traced to their sources, and those which empty into the lakes to be followed to their mouths. " These things being done, and an accurate map of the whole presented to the public," he " was persuaded that reason would dictate what was right and proper." He looked to Congress for encouragement to the portion of the project which concerned the streams in the territory northwest of the Ohio- urging the benefits to be derived from the en- hanced value of lands as a sufficient inducement, independ- ent of the: many advantages incident to the enterprise. " Nature had made such an ample display of her bounties in those regions," he said, " that, the more the country was explored, the more it would rise in estimation."
The influence of Washington was strenuously exerted to arouse Maryland to co-operate with Virginia in improving the navigation of the Potomac. He predicted the exertions which would doubtless be made by New-York and Penn- sylvania for securing the monopoly of the western trade, and the difficulty which would be found by Virginia in diverting it from the channel it had once taken. " I am not for dis- couraging the exertions of any state to draw the commerce of the western country to its seaports," said the illustrious patriot. "The more communications'we open to it, the closer we bind THAT RISING WORLD (for indeed it may be so called) to our interests, and the greater strength shall we acquire by it. Those to whom nature affords the best communications will, if they are wise, enjoy the greatest share of the trade." All I would be understood to mean, therefore, is, that the gifts of Providence may not be neglect- ed." After enforcing the political necessity for improving the intercourse between the west and east, so as to prevent the flow of trade from the western states to the mouth of the Mississippi, then held by the Spaniards, or through the St. Lawrence, controlled at its outlet by the British, he said, " If
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then the trade of that country should flow through the Mis- sissippi or the St. Lawrence-if the inhabitants thereof should form commercial connexions, which we know lead to intercourses of other kinds, they would in a few years be as unconnected with us as are those of South America. It may be asked, How are we to prevent this ? Happily for us, the way is plain. Our immediate interests, as well as re- mote political advantages, point to it ; while a combination of circumstances render the present time more favourable than any other to accomplish it. Extend the inland naviga- tion of the eastern waters-connect them as near as possi- ble with those which run westward-open these to the Ohio -open also such as extend from the Ohio towards Lake Erie, and we shall not only draw the produce of the west- ern settlers, but the peliry and fur-trade of the lakes also, to our ports-thus adding an immense increase to our ex- ports, and binding those people to us by a chain which can never be broken."
Virginia and Maryland concurred in chartering a canal company, of which Washington accepted the presidency, the design of which was not only to open a free navigation of the Potomac, but eventually to remove obstructions in such branches of the Ohio as point towards Lake Erie-so as not only to give a direction to the fur-trade from Detroit to Alex- andria, but also to attract the produce of those vast interve- ning countries which lay then in a state of nature. " To de- monstrate the practicability of this, and the policy of preserv- ing a commercial intercourse with those extended regions, especially should the Mississippi be opened [it was at that time closed by the Spaniards against the Americans], was his constant and favourite theme," says Elkanah Watson, under date of 1785. " To establish also the probability that the fur- trade from Detroit will take this direction, General Washington produced to me the following estimate, which I copied from his manuscript in his presence, and with his aid, viz., ' From Detroit at the head of Lake Erie, via Fort Pitt (now Pitts- burgh), and Fort Cumberland at the head of the Potomac, is 607 miles-to Richmond, 840 miles-to Philadelphia, 741 miles-to Albany, 943-to Montreal, 955 miles.' Thus it appears that Alexandria is 348 miles nearer Detroit than Montreal, with only two carrying-places of about 40 miles."
Almost contemporaneously with the personal inspection of some of our watercourses by General Washington, the
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question of internal improvement was presented to the Legis- lature of this state by an individual to whose exertions in the great cause voluntary testimony was borne by De Witt Clinton and Cadwallader D. Colden-by the former in the essays published under the signature of " Tacitus," and by the latter in his memoir prepared for the great Canal Cele- bration. Governor Clinton, in the essays just mentioned, declared that " Mr. Christopher Colles, a native of Ireland, who settled in New-York, and who had before the revolu- tionary war proposed a plan for supplying that city with good water ['and who had in 1772 given public lectures in Philadelphia on the subject of lock navigation,' says Colden], was the first person who suggested to the govern- ment of the state the canals and improvements on the On- tario route. Colles was a man of good character, an inge- nious mechanician, and well skilled in the mathematics. Un- fortunately for him, and perhaps for the public, he was gen- erally considered a visionary projector, and his plans were sometimes treated with ridicule, and frequently viewed with distrust.
" In the session of the Legislature of 1784," continues Governor Clinton, " Mr. Adgate, from the committee to whom was referred tlie memorial of Christopher Colles, proposing some interesting improvements in inland navigation, reported, ' That it is the opinion of the committee that the laudable proposals of Mr. Colles for removing the obstructions in the Mohawk River, so that boats of burden may pass the same, merit the encouragement of the public ; but that it would be inexpedient for the Legislature to cause that business to be undertaken at the public expense : That as the performing such a work will be very expensive, it is therefore the opinion of the committee, that if Mr. Colles, with a number of ad- venturers (as by him proposed), should undertake it, they ought to be encouraged by a law giving and securing unto them, their heirs, and assigns for ever, the profits that may arise from transportation, under such restrictions and regu- lations as shall appear to the Legislature necessary for that purpose ; and authorizing them to execute that work through any lands or improvements, on payment of the damages to the proprietors, as the same shall be assessed by a jury ;' " and it appears that this report was sanctioned by the house.
" At the next meeting of the Legislature, Mr. Colles again presented a memorial ; and on the 5th of April, 1785, a fa-
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vourable report was made by the committee to whom it was referred ; and one hundred and twenty-five dollars was ap- propriated in the supply bill ' for the purpose of enabling him to make an essay towards removing certain obstructions in the Mohawk River, and to exhibit a plan thereof to the Legislature at their next meeting.'
" In pursuance of this arrangement, Mr. Colles visited the country to be affected by the intended improvements, and took an actual survey of the principal obstructions upon the Mohawk River as far as Wood Creek. The results of this journey of observation and survey were published by him in a pamphlet entitled ' Proposals for the Speedy Settle- ment of the Waste and Unappropriated Lands on the Western Frontier of the State of New-York, and for the Improvement of the Inland Navigation between Albany and Oswego. Printed at New-York by Samuel Loudon, 1785.'"
In this pamphlet Mr. Colles enters into certain calcula- tions illustrative of his proposed design. He observes : " From the foregoing views, the importance of the proposed design will appear sufficiently evident. By this the internal trade will be increased ; by this also the foreign trade will be promoted; by this the country will be settled; by this the frontiers will be secured ; by this a variety of articles, as masts, yards, and ship-timber, may be brought to New- York, which will not bear the expense of land-carriage, and which, notwithstanding, will be a considerable remittance to Europe. By this, in time of war, provisions and military stores may be moved with facility in sufficient quantities to answer any emergency ; and by this, in time of peace, all the necessaries, conveniences, and, if we please, the luxuries of life, may be distributed to the remotest parts of the great lakes, which so beautifully diversify the face of this extensive continent, and to the smallest branches of the numerous riv- ers which shoot from these lakes upon every point of the compass.
"' Providence indced appears to favour this design; for the Allegany Mountains, which pass through all the states, scem to die away as they approach the Mohawk River ; and the ground between the upper part of this river and Wood Creek is perfectly level, as if designedly to permit us to pass through this channel into this extensive inland country.
""" The amazing extent of the five great lakes to which the proposed navigation will communicate, will be found to have
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five times as much coast as all England ; and the country wa- tered by the numerous rivers which fall into these lakes, full seven or eight times as great as that valuable island. If the fer- tility of the soil be the object of our attention, we will find it at an average equal to Britain. Of late years, the policy of that island has been to promote inland navigation ; and the advan- tages, gained both by the public and individuals, have been at- tended with such happy consequences, that it is intersected in all manner of directions by these valuable water-ways, by which the inhabitants receive reciprocally the comforts of the respective productions, whether flowing from the bounty of Providence or the effects of industry ; and, by an exchange of commodities, render partial and particular improvements the source of universal abundance.'" At the next session Mr. Colles renewed his application ; and on the 8th of March, 1786, a committee reported favourably on a " memorial of Christopher Colles and his associates," and leave was given to bring in a bill to compensate them for the purposes spe- cified in the memorial. It does not appear that any further steps were taken on the part of Mr. Colles. His operations probably failed for the want of subscribers to the contempla- ted association. It is not a little remarkable," says Tacitus, in conclusion, " that this project commenced so soon after the termination of the revolutionary war, and that contem- poraneous efforts were made in some of the Southern States."
Col. Robert Troup, who was an assemblyman in 1786, remarks, " That on reviewing the journals of the assembly, he finds that, on the Ist of February, 1786, ' a petition from Christopher Colles, with a report of the practicability of rendering the Mohawk River navigable, was referred to Jeffrey Smith and others ;' and adds, that it is therefore very possible that Mr. Colles may have furnished Mr. Smith with the idea of ' extending the navigation to Lake Erie.'"
" Notwithstanding what has been said of the suggestions made by General Schuyler in 1797, and by Gouverneur Mor- ris in 1800, relative to the extension of the navigation to Lake Erie," observes Dr. Hosack, "the journals of the Legislature, as early as 1786, show that Mr. Jeffrey Smith, and, probably, Christopher Colles, must have preceded them in this view of the measure."
In the Canal memoir, Colden remarks, that " the difficul- ties which Mr. Colles met with seem to have subdued his enterprise. Though his plan for connecting the northern
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and southern, and eastern and western waters was revived in 1791, it does not appear that Mr. Colles had any connex- ion with it." He was " the projector and attendant of the telegraph erected during the last war on Castle Clinton," in the harbour of New-York. " Genius and talents, much above the sphere in which he seems to have moved in the latter part of his life, could not rescue him from obscurity and poverty ; but it would be ungrateful to forget him at this time," says Mr. Colden, with reference to the great Canal Celebration at New-York commemorative of the union of the Atlantic with the Lakes. "No one can say how far we owe this occasion to the ability with which he developed the great advantages that would result from opening the com- munications with the lakes-to the clear views he presented of the facility with which these communications might be made-and to the activity with which he for some time pur- sued this object His contemporaries have not been insen- sible of his merits, and have preserved a portrait of him, by Jarvis, in the gallery of the New-York Historical Society." The testimony of Clinton and Colden is thus quoted respecting the projects and character of one of the earliest advocates of internal improvement, inasmuch as efforts* have been made to deprive him of the credit due to his early and earnest efforts to arouse adequate attention at the time to the cause of in- ternal improvement.
The Legislature of 1791 had the subject of improvement warmly pressed upon their attention by Governor George Clinton. "Our frontier settlements, freed from apprehen- sions of danger," said the governor, " are rapidly increas- ing, and must soon yield extensive resources for profitable commerce. This consideration forcibly recommends the policy of continuing to facilitate the means of communication with them, as well to strengthen the bonds of society, as to prevent the produce of those fertile districts from being di- verted to other markets."
The recommendations of the governor were answered by the passage of a law " concerning roads and inland navi-
* In a book published to prove that Mr. Elkanah Watson originated the canal system, Mr. Colles is spoken of as " a man who arrived from Ireland in New-York prior to our Revolutionary War"-" a visionary projector"-who " was never in the western country"-" an obscure man of no consideration"-" wholly incompetent to conceive such a project," &c.
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gation," which authorized surveys of the lands between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek, in what was then Herki- mer county, and between Hudson River and Wood Creek, in Washington county. The routes were promptly surveyed by direction of the commissioners of the land-office, and at the next session charters were granted to the Western In- land Lock Navigation Company and the Northen Inland Lock Navigation Company.
General Schuyler was chosen president of the Western Company, which consisted of about fifty influential citizens, among whom Elkanah Watson, Thos. Eddy, Jeremiah Van Rensselaer, Robert Bowne, and Barent Bleecker, were dis- tinguished for their zeal in co-operating with their indefati- gable president. This company aimed to improve the natu- ral water-courses, and to open communications by canals to the Seneca Lake and Lake Ontario ; and fifteen years were allowed for the accomplishment of the work, though the requisite canalling extended but a few miles-so great was the task considered ! The improvement undertaken by this company was, however, almost completed in 1796-7, four or five years after the law was passed. The canal at Lit- tle Falls extended nearly three miles, with five locks; that at the German Flats one mile and a quarter ; and the canal from the Mohawk to Wood Creek one mile and three quar- ters-making an aggregate of about six miles of canalling. Such works, important as they were then thought, could now be accomplished in a single month, as indicated by the speed with which the Erie Canal. and other similar undertakings have since been executed. After their principal works had been constructed and once rebuilt, it was found they must be again reconstructed ; and the company employed Mr. Weston, an eminent engineer from England, to superintend the enter- prise. But when the improvements were so far completed as to permit the passage of boats between Schenectady and Oneida Lake, the amount of the expenditures (upward of $400,000) caused such heavy charges for toll that "the canals were but little used-land-carriage and the natural rivers being generally preferred." The old locks at Little Falls, the ruins of which are yet visible, served for a while to form a connexion between the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River.
. The Northern Inland Lock Navigation Company made some improvement in the watercourses on the route between the Hudson and Champlain, but was dissolved without hav-
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ing made any canal, or fulfilled the expectations which caused the incorporation.
Some of the prominent advocates of Internal Improve- ments about this period should be noticed in connexion with the above-mentioned undertakings. " Gen. Schuyler de- serves to be first mentioned," says Colden. " Distinguished by the force and energy of his character-for his abilities, acquirements, and enterprise-he was one of the earliest, most strenuous, and most able supporters of improvements in our internal navigation. It has been justly said that he was the master-spirit which infused life and vigour into the whole undertaking. Mr. Elkanah Watson had, as early as 1788, attended an Indian treaty at Fort Stanwix. The view which he at that time obtained of the country impressed him with the practicability and advantages of the water-communica- tions which Mr. Colles had several years previously ex- plored and described in his publication above noticed. Of Mr. Colles's proceedings, Mr. Watson appears to have had no knowledge. Mr. Watson transcribed the ideas he enter- tained on this subject in a journal he kept at the time-ex- traets from which he published in 1820, in a work entitled ' A History of the Rise, Progress, and Existing Condition of the Western Canals.' This publication is avowedly made by Mr. Watson with a view to vindicate his claims . to the exclusive honour of projecting the canal policy' of the State of New-York. In the same year that the act of the 21st of March, 1791, was passed for surveying the contemplated routes, Mr. Watson made a journey in the western part of the state. All his views of the water-communications (which had been previously proposed by Mr. Colles) were confirmed and strengthened, and he employed his pen in writing and publishing essays, which, no doubt, had an im- portant influence on public opinion in favour of the canals. He also published, in the work last referred to, his journal of this tour. These private journals of Mr. Watson, by some means unknown to him, as he states in the preliminary re- marks to his History of the Canals, were obtained by the London booksellers, and published by them previously to 1795-and were, to the astonishment of Mr. Watson, refer- red to by Mr. Philips in his History of Canals, the first edi- tion of which was published about 1796."
The scheme of improvement between the Hudson and Lake Ontario was succeeded by a project to connect that lake with Erie by a canal around the Falls of Niagara. For
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this purpose the "Niagara Company" was chartered in 1798, and some movements were made (though nothing ef- fectual was accomplished) towards the execution of the plan -among the most sanguine supporters of which was Capt. Williamson, who was agent of the Pulteney Estate, and one of the most enterprising pioneers of Western New-York.
"This project, in preference to that [the great Erie Ca- nal] which has been executed," said Mr. Colden in 1826, " has had its advocates till a very late day. It is impossible to say, when we are looking for the dawnings of the idea of an artificial water-communication between Lake Erie and the Hudson, whether those who first anticipated such a con- nexion, and have mentioned it in their writings, did not con- template this as the route by which the communication would be effected, rather than that it would be made on the line occupied by the canal which now exists." The language as well as the date shows that this was written before the construction of the Oswego Canal. "But this act of 1798, and the project of locking around the Great Falls, to which it was intended to give effect, seem very convincing proof that up to this time no person had thought of an inland lock navigation directly from Lake Erie to the Hudson. Indeed, I may say that, up to the time when this act was passed, I have not found, in anything written upon the subject, a sin- gle syllable intimating that the idea of such a canal had been conceived by any human being. It unquestionably had not entered into the minds of either of the companies incor- porated in 1792. The views of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company certainly extended no farther than to improve the natural watercourses between the mouth of the Oswego River and the Mohawk, and to connect them by the short cuts which were necessary for that purpose." To use Mr. Watson's own expressions, who was one of the Western Company, " The utmost stretch of their views was to follow the track of nature's canal, and to remove natural or artifi- cial obstructions ; but they never entertained the most dis- tant conception of a canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson. They would not have considered it" (continues Mr. Watson) " much more extravagant to have suggested the possibility of a canal to the moon." " The efforts of this company on the Mohawk had proved so expensive and so little encouraging, that they shrunk from an attempt to complete their original design by extending their work to Lake Ontario. In 1808 they surrendered so much of their grant as gave them any
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privileges beyond Oneida Lake; and subsequently, when the Legislature had determined on executing the northern and western canals, they ceded to the state, for a sum much less than they had expended, all their privileges and works. But, although those who were connected with these naviga- tion companies, and who encouraged and promoted the ob- jects of these associations, cannot justly claim, indeed never have claimed, the merit of projecting the great canals, we should do them great injustice did we not acknowledge that we owe a great deal to their genius and enterprise. Their ill success, it is true, for some time damped the spirit of im- provement ; yet their efforts roused the public attention, and induced inquiries and investigations which have led to the great works," &c.
Gouverneur Morris was among the earliest of those whose minds grasped, with zealous energy, the magnificent subject of internal improvements. The extraordinary adap- tation of the country for canalling between the Hudson and the western lakes, with the political as well as commer- cial advantages to be derived from extensive inland water- communication, were early and enthusiastically proclaimed by that gifted man. While on a tour to Niagara Falls in 1800, his language to a European correspondent indicated that he comprehended well the vast navigable capacities of the country, even though he had then no conception of a communication like the Erie Canal. " Hundreds of large ships will, in no distant period, bound on the billows of these inland seas," was the language of Mr. Morris to his foreign correspondent. " Shall I lead your astonishment up to the verge of incredulity ? I will. Know, then, that one tenth part of the expense borne by Britain in the last campaign would enable ships to sail from London through the Hudson River into Lake Erie. As yet, we only crawl along the outer shell of our country. The interior excels the part we in- habit in soil, in climate, in everything. The proudest em- pire of Europe is but a bawble compared to what America may be-must be." In the following year, through a letter to Mr. Lee, Mr. Morris mentioned Lake Ontario as the point to which he thought it was practicable to open a canal. In 1803, while conversing with Simeon De Witt, the late surveyor-general of the state, Mr. Morris noticed the possi- bility of " tapping Lake Erie." "But yet it is very uncer- tain," says Mr. Colden, " whether Mr. M.'s idea was at these times that a canal might be made directly from the
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