USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 19
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Among some manuscripts in our possession, for use, per- haps, in another work, there is a statement by General Brooks concerning other early movements on the canal question, from which we may quote here a few passages illustrative of the exertions of Jesse Hawley and Joseph Ellicott in origi- nating and supporting the canal policy, and the coldness with which that policy was viewed at the time by some of the most prominent men who afterward rendered essential service in carrying it into effect :
" In addition to the statements of Judge Howell and Mr. Myron Holley respecting the authorship of the numbers of ' Hercules' which first proposed the overland route for the canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson," says General Brooks, " I may state that it was while Mr. Jesse Hawley was cor- recting the proof-sheet of one of those numbers in the Gen- esee Messenger Office in Canandaigua in 1807, that I was introduced to him, and learned that he was the author of those important essays. The subject produced some con- versation between us, and thenceforward I took a decided interest in favour of the mighty enterprise. In the fall of 1808, when about to leave Ontario county for Albany, to take a seat in the assembly, I borrowed from Mr. Hawley a file of the Genesee Messenger, containing the essays un- der the signature of ' Hercules,' as mentioned in his letter to Dr. Hosack ; and in conversation with Mr. H., agreed to call during the winter on Governor Tompkins, De Witt Clinton, John Taylor, Simeon De Witt, and others, for the purpose of inviting their attention to the project boldly ad- vanced in those papers.
" On my arrival in Albany, I lost no time in executing my intentions. I called on Gov. Tompkins with the papers, and explained the object : he expressed a strong desire to investigate the subject, but remarked that his executive du- ties would not allow him time for the purpose during the session of the legislature. I next called on Mr. Clinton and Mr. Taylor, neither of whom took any interest in the sub- ject or expressed a desire to peruse the papers which were proffered for their consideration. This was a time of much political excitement, in which the feelings of Mr. Clinton were deeply involved. I next called on Simeon De Witt,
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the surveyor-general, who requested me to leave the essays with him, saying that he would examine them at his earliest leisure. In conversation with Mr. De Witt concerning the projected canal route, he told me that he had received a number of letters from Mr. Joseph Ellicott, agent of the Holland Land Company ; and that Mr. E. had gone so far as to trace a practicable route from Lake Erie to Genesee River, with the assurance likewise that it could be extended through Ontario county to the Seneca River-Mr. De Witt meanwhile tracing on a map the line proposed by Mr. Elli- cott for the canal. Mr. De Witt further stated that, at that time, Mr. Geddes was engaged in exploring the route through the county of Ontario. I left the essays of Mr. Hawley with the surveyor-general. * * Anxious to render myself familiar with further information from one so well qualified to impart it-qualified alike by his abilities as a surveyor, by his particular knowledge of the country, and by his powerful intellect, I went to see Mr. Ellicott at Batavia, soon after my return from Albany, for the sole pur- pose of inquiring on a subject wherein my feelings were ac- tively enlisted. 'The practicability of the plan is with me beyond doubt,' he said, adding, in his usual emphatic man- ner, ' I know the fact.' He farther added that the cost of the whole route of the canal could easily be calculated, and at the same time named a sum that it would probably cost. * * Thus, simultaneously with the labours of Mr. Hawley through the press, we find that Mr. Ellicott (the enterprising pioneer of the forest, the able engineer, and the practical operator) was zealously engaged in bringing to view the then undiscovered part of the proposed canal route. The exertions of this bold spirit did not stop here ; and we are to presume that it was his influence that obtained the donation from the Holland Land Company (as early as 1813) of the 100,000 acres of land to aid the state in effect- ing the contemplated improvements."
The examinations of Mr. Geddes were, in accordance with his instructions, chiefly devoted to the Oswego or On- tario route-the course indicated by Messrs. Hawley and Ellicott, and contemplated by Judge Forman, being consid- ered of a secondary character, although its practicability was pretty well established by the information from Mr. El- licott introduced in the report of Mr. G. along with his own actual survey of the Irondequoit Valley. Speaking of " an
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interior route without passing through Lake Ontario," Mr. Geddes said, in the third branch of his Report in 1809, " This route is proposed from the Oneida Lake along the track at present pursued by the navigation to the Cayuga Marshes ; thence up the valley of Mud Creek, and across the country to the Genesee River ; thence up Black Creek to the Tonnewanta Swamp, and down the Tonnewanta Creek to Niagara River, and up the same to Lake Erie." [Mr. Geddes here noticed only the route proposed by Mr. Elli- cott between Genesee River and Lake Erie. ] " If the fer- tile country around these lakes and rivers, which would be immediately benefited by this work," he added, "should alone be of sufficient importance to cause it to be done in a complete and perfect manner as far west as the Cayuga, then the continuance of the interior route and the route through Lake Ontario may be more easily compared by considering the Ontario route to start at Three-river Point, and the interior route from the Cayuga Marshes"-the route between Three-river Point (on the Oswego River) and the Hudson River being common to the trade to and from the two routes reaching towards the great lakes. " From the Cayuga Marshes to Black-Rock," at the foot of Lake Erie, says Mr. Geddes in his report, " is 109 miles, meas- ured in a direct line on a map. Almost everything respect- ing this space has been supplied by conjectures formed from appearances on the map. The summit between Tonne- wanta Creek and Black Creek [which creeks interlock be- tween Genesee River and Lake Erie -- the first running westward and the other eastward], is an extensive level of wet land called the 'Tonnewanta Swamp ; and is estimated by Judge Ellicott at only 20 feet or so above the level of the mouth of the Tonnewanta Creek [at Niagara River]. If so, the said summit is scarcely ten feet above the level of Lake Erie. It is stated that, by means of Oak Orchard Creek and other streams that can be commanded, there will be a sufficient supply of water for said summit, and that a canal the greater part of the way may be made almost straight, and the cutting very easy."
The Report of Mr. Geddes, from which these extracts are taken, was submitted to the Legislature by the surveyor- general in 1809. The language above quoted shows that Mr. G. relied mainly on the testimony of Mr. Ellicott re- specting the practicability of canalling between Lake Erie
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and the Genesee River, not having then examined that por- tion of the proposed route. But from Genesee River east- ward to the waters of Mud Creek running into Seneca River, Mr. Geddes made some important surveys and ob- servations, touching the practicability of overcoming the for- midable obstacles presented by the Irondequoit Valley, &c. " After spending the money and summer of that year (1808) in examinations between Lakes Erie and Ontario, Mud Creek and Sodus Bay, Oneida Lake and Ontario, &c., the spot of great difficulty and uncertainty respecting our inland route remained unexamined, to wit : the tract between Gen- esee River and Palmyra, or head waters of Mnd Creek, and the hopes from a view of the maps discouraging indeed," says Mr. Geddes in a letter written in 1822. " Where was the water to be got for locking over the high land that was supposed to rise between Genesee River and Mud Creek ? All knowledge of an interior route was incomplete while this piece of country remained unknown. In December of that year (1808) I again left home for the above object ; and after discovering at the west end of Palmyra that sin- gular brook which divides, running part to Oswego and part to Irondequoit Bay, I levelled from this spot to the Genesee River, and to my great joy and surprise found the level of the river far elevated above the spot where the brooks part- ed, and no high land between. But to make the Genesee River run down Mud Creek, it must be got over the Ironde- quoit Valley. After levelling from my first line 1} miles up the valley, I found the place where the canal is taken [by an embankment and culvert] across that stream. This for- midable obstruction I examined, levelling over where the canal is now made. * The passage of the Iron- dequoit Valley is on a surface not surpassed perhaps in the world for singularity," &c. " While traversing these snowy hills in December, 1808, I little thought of ever seeing the Genesee waters crossing the valley on the embankment," &c.
Judge Forman, in consequence of (though not in full ac- cordance with) whose resolution the surveys or examinations were undertaken, says, under date of 1828, in reviewing the canal operations, " The Report of Judge Geddes in Canal Documents, vol. i., p. 13 to 38, proving beyond a doubt the practicability of a canal on the interior route, and put- ting at rest all farther question of the one through Lake On-
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tario, came in during the session of 1808-9, and rendered the project of such a canal, as a feasible one, familiar to a great body of the men of intelligence in the state. The Board of Commissioners appointed under Gen. Platt's resolution of the ensuing session, took this report from the office of the surveyor-general,* and with it in their hands explored the route there designated ; and satisfied with his examination, never caused any surveys with a view to the Ontario route -and the surveys and plans of the Boyle [Penfield] summit and Gerundegut embankment, comparing exactly with the canal as now excavated, establish incontestibly its identity as the first stage of that splendid work which reflects so much credit upon the state and nation. Judge, then, my surprise (when, after the middle section was completed, all opposition having ceased, both parties were contending which should gain popularity by forwarding the canal policy, and a scram- ble had commenced for the credit of originating the measure) to see it stated by Ferris Pell in his Review, p. 177, that a resolution introduced by me in 1808, ' was adopted and re- sulted in nothing.' "
Nothing further was done by the legislature in reference to the proposed connexion between the Hudson and the lakes until the following year (1810), when Thomas Eddy, the indefatigable friend of improvement, whose exertions are already noticed in connexion with the Inland Lock Naviga- tion Companies, had a consultation with Jonas Platt of the Senate, which resulted in a determination of the latter to propose a resolution (which passed both branches of the legislature) for appointing seven " commissioners to explore the whole route for inland navigation from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario and to Lake Erie." Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, De Witt Clinton, Simeon De Witt, William North, Thomas Eddy, and Peter B. Porter were the commissioners appointed.
It was in support of this measure that De Witt Clinton, then a Senator, first publicly advocated the canal policy, Judge Platt and Mr. Eddy having previously called upon him to solicit his support for the proposition. Some remarks
* The commissioners likewise had with them the essays of Mr. Haw- ley and the letters of Mr. Ellicott; and, as before stated, it was the calculations of Mr. Ellicott that Mr. Geddes and Surveyor-General De Witt mainly relied on for all their calculations west of Genesec River, as shown in their own statements.
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made by Judge Platt upon this interesting portion of our canal history are worthy of notice in this connexion. Re- ferring to the consultation between Mr. Eddy and himself, in which they planned the resolution just mentioned, Judge P. says :
" Mr. Eddy and myself then designated for commission- ers Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, Stephen Van Rens- selaer, Simeon De Witt, Benjamin Walker, Peter B. Porter, and 'Thomas Eddy. Our object was to balance the oppo- sing political parties as nearly as possible, and to combine talents, influence, and wealth in constituting this board ; and as De Witt Clinton was then a member of the Senate, pos- sessing a powerful influence over the dominant party in the state, it was considered by Mr. Eddy and myself of primary importance to obtain his co-operation. We accordingly re- quested an interview with Mr. Clinton, and unfolded to him our plan, and the prominent facts and considerations in sup- port of it ; and I distinctly remember that, in showing him the names of the persons we had proposed as commission- ers, I stated to Mr. Clinton that we had selected men of wealth and public spirit, with an expectation that they would bestow their time and services without compensation ; so that we might then only ask an appropriation for the expenses of the engineers and surveyors who were to be employed by the commissioners.
" Mr. Clinton listened to us with intense interest and deep agitation of mind. He then said that he was in a great measure a stranger to the western interior of our state ; that he had given but little attention to the subject of canal navi- gation, but that the exposition of our plan struck his mind with great force ; that he was then prepared to say that it was an object worthy of thorough examination ; and that if I would move the resolution in blank (without the names of the commissioners), he would second and support it.
"Stephen Van Rensselaer and Abraham Van Vechten were then members of the House of Assembly. I immedi- ately called on them, and showed them the proposed resolu- tion, and the names intended to be inserted in it as commis- sioners. They heartily assented to it, and promised to aid its passage in the Assembly ; but Mr. Van Rensselaer re- quested that his friend William North might be added as a commissioner, or substituted for one of the others. I then went to the senate chamber, and moved the resolution of the
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12th March, 1810 (as the journal will show), with an intro- ductory speech. Mr. Clinton seconded and supported it ; and the resolution (in blank) was unanimously agreed to. Next morning, I moved to insert the names of Gouverneur Morris, De Witt Clinton, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Simeon De Witt, William North, Peter B. Porter, and Thomas Ed- dy,* who were unanimously agreed to in the Senate, and the concurrent resolution was, on the same day, unanimously adopted in the Assembly."
" From that period Mr. Clinton devoted the best powers. of his vigorous and capacious mind to this subject ; and he appeared to grasp and realize it as an object of the highest public utility, and worthy of his noblest ambition."
The commissioners explored the proposed route from the Hudson to Lake Erie in the summer of 1810; and made their first report to the legislature in 1811. This document was prepared by Mr. Morris, as president of the board ; and " proposed a project which, although the signatures of all the commissioners were attached, was entertained seriously by no other member of the board." This project, proposed originally by Jesse Hawley, " was to bring the waters of the lake, on one continued uninterrupted plane, with an inclina- tion of six inches in every mile, to a basin to be formed near the margin of the Hudson, from whence there was to be a descent by a great number of locks. This project was thought by many to be impracticable ; and its having been presented as a plan which the commissioners recommended, was calculated to retard the enterprise ; but the report bears testimony to the genius and the eloquence of the writer."- (Colden.)
This report was promptly followed by the passage of a bill increasing the number of commissioners by adding Rob- ert R. Livingston and Robert Fulton ; referring to them all matters concerning the navigation between the Hudson and the lakes ; authorizing them to apply to other states and to the national government for co-operation and aid ; to ascertain whether loans could be procured, and to negotiate
* Such was the excellent character of this unostentatious Friend, that his biographer (for Colonel Knapp has lately published a volume about Thomas Eddy) considers his exertions for the physical improvement of the state-and they were sufficient to merit the lasting gratitude of his countrymen-as of minor importance when compared with his efforts for the moral welfare of the human race ; efforts which rendered him well worthy of the name of "the Howard of America."
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with the Inland Lock Navigation Companies for a surrender of their rights and interests. This bill was introduced by Mr. Clinton, and gave earnest of the zeal with which he af- terward laboured in the cause of internal improvement.
" In the Report of 1811," says Mr. Jesse Hawley, the canal commissioners " embraced several leading points which I had advanced in my essays, viz. : of its being a national work, and proposing to construct it on an inclined plane. The former they applied to Congress for, but failed to obtain. The latter, as from Buffalo to Albany, was found impracti- cable, owing to the great elevation of the hills at the Little Falls on the Mohawk River. I never heard that, under these circumstances, Mr. Morris made any claim to the original idea of the overland route. I believe Mr. Morris, if alive, would say for himself that his first idea was the Lake Route, and the locking up of the falls of Niagara into Lake Erie. Such was decidedly the idea of Messrs. Gal- latin, Porter, and Woodward, who wrote on the subject after I had written ; and in which Judge Woodward (of Michi- gan) was very tenacious, terming the overland route, then under discussion, a short-sighted and selfish policy in New- York."
Pursuant to the law, and in accordance with feelings ex- cited by the language of Mr. Jefferson and Mr. Gallatin in 1807-8, respecting appropriations from the national revenue for encouraging internal improvements, the canal commis- sioners promptly applied to the federal government for as- sistance. In December, 1811, President Madison transmit- ted to Congress the application, accompanied by these among other remarks :-
" The utility of canal navigation is universally admitted. It is no less certain that scarcely any country offers more extensive opportunities for that branch of improvement than the United States ; and none, perhaps, inducements equally persuasive to make the most of them. The particular un- dertaking contemplated by the State of New-York, which marks an honourable spirit of enterprise, and comprises ob- jects of national as well as more limited importance, will recall the attention of Congress to the signal advantages to be derived to the United States from a general system of in- ternal communication and conveyance, and suggest to their consideration whatever steps may be proper on their part towards its introduction and accomplishment. As some of those advantages have an intimate connexion with the ar-
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rangements and exertions for the general security, it is at a period (the eve of war) calling for those that the merits of such a system will be seen in the strongest lights."
Gouverneur Morris and De Witt Clinton, who were depu- ted by the Canal Commissioners, attended at the seat of the general government for the purpose of procuring its aid. In the month of January, 1812, they appeared before a com- mittee of the House of Representatives, consisting of a mem- ber from each state; and " Mr. Morris made a grand and luminous exposition of his views in relation to the Erie Canal and several other similar projects in various parts of the United States," says Hermanus Bleecker. But this ap- peal to Congress, like another at a subsequent period, was wholly fruitless.
The commissioners likewise addressed the several states. Favourable answers were received from Massachusetts and Tennessee ; New-Jersey was indifferent to the project, hav- ing projects more connected with her own interests ; Con- necticut deemed the measure inexpedient, but left her dele- gates in Congress to act at their discretion ; Vermont approved the proposed measure. The territorial government of Mich- igan, by the then secretary, Mr. Woodward, made a long re- ply, objecting to the route, and urging adherence to the lake navigation by a lockage of the Niagara and Oswego Falls; pre- ferring on all accounts the natural instead of an artificial route.
In replying to the inquiry whether Ohio would participate - in the expense, as she would enjoy the benefits of the pro- posed communication between the lakes and the seaboard, the Legislature of that state answered by resolution, substan- tially, that " we had her best wishes; that she knew very well she would be greatly benefited if our enterprise should be executed, but that she was well assured we could do it ourselves ; that she was very young, and not rich : she, how- ever, testified her disposition to serve us as far as her re- sources would justify, if she approved, when made known to her, the plan we proposed to adopt. Fortunately," continues Colden, " we have had no occasion to remind Ohio of this engagement ; and every friend of internal improvements must rejoice that no part of her resources have been diverted from the great works in which she is so nobly engaged. When it is considered that the population of her territory in 1790 did not exceed 3000 souls, her canals are stronger ev- idence than the world has yet afforded of what can be done by the moral energies of a free people, guided by wise,
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enterprising, and magnanimous counsellors. By opening a channel between Lake Erie and the trans-Allegany navigable waters, Ohio renders us infinitely greater service than she could have done by any contribution to our funds. She will not lay out a dollar on her canals that will not be nearly of as much advantage to us as to herself. It would be to our interest to open the communication through Ohio at our own expense, and to let it be a free passage rather than it should not be done."
The commissioners made a second report to the Legisla- ture in 1812, when a law was made, authorizing them to borrow five millions of dollars for the construction of the canals. But nothing important occurred on the subject till after the war with Great Britain was terminated, although the commissioners made a report in 1814, strongly urging the practicability of the canals, the competency of the state to undertake them, and the expediency of employing ener- getic measures to accomplish the proposed works.
" The attention of the Legislature, however, was engrossed by the then existing war. In consequence of the disarrange- ment of the national finances," says Colden, " the State of New-York was obliged to employ its funds on objects which properly belonged to the general government ; and besides, a very considerable opposition had arisen to the improvement of our inland navigation upon the great scale which the com- missioners had proposed. Many believed in the imprac- ticability of the project ; others, who admitted that it might be accomplished, thought the work too mighty for the power and resources of the state. It was also unpropitious to the adoption of the great design, that the friends of im- provements in internal navigation differed in opinion as to the course which ought to be pursued ; some thinking that the Ontario route (which has been before explained) should be preferred to carrying the canal directly to Lake Erie. Under the influence of these feelings and opinions, the Le- gislature, in the session of 1814, repealed that part of the then existing law which empowered the commissioners to borrow five millions of dollars. However dissatisfied the friends of the canals were with this repeal, it has turned out to be one of those measures which, though they appeared unpropitious at the time, we now see were most fortunate. "The war prevented the employment of a foreign engineer, and the repeal in question prevented our making loans abroad.
18*
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The consequence of this last measure has been, that every cent borrowed on account of the canals was obtained of our own citizens, and the interest paid to them or to foreign- ers who purchased the stock at an advance. Perhaps the war itself, discouraging as were its immediate effects, may be set down as one of those events which finally had a ten- dency to promote the commencement and execution of the canals. The want of a practicable communication for the conveyance of materials of war from the seabord to the west- ern frontier was grievously felt. It has been said that the expense of transporting cannon from Albany to the lakes was at one time more than double what the pieces cost. The postponement of the project for a few years was also for- tunate, inasmuch as it brought the commencement and exe- cution of it to a time when money could be more easily ob- tained, and on better terms than it could have been at per- haps any prior or hitherto subsequent period."
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