USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 22
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48
sustain them in adopting any dimensions between those first suggested and the latter propositions. The extensive inter- est of our people in the transportation business of the Erie Canal-the practical familiarity of our forwarders with the details-imparted considerable weight to the opinions ex- pressed. The adjourned meeting at which these opinions were expressed occurred at the courthouse in Rochester on the 21st of September, 1835 ; when the mayor, Jacob Gould, presided, and E. Darwin Smith acted as secretary. "The committee of forty, selected at the previous meeting, to whom was referred the contemplated enlargement of the Erie Canal," says the account published at the time, " pre- sented the following memorial and resolutions (which had been reported to that committee by their sub-committee, com- posed of Myron Holley, Jesse Hawley, David S. Bates, Lyman B. Langworthy, and Henry O'Reilly) as their report -which, having been considered and adopted, was ordered to be presented to our citizens for signature, and then trans- mitted to the canal board previous to their meeting on the 20th October."
The memorial and resolutions were drawn with the usual terseness of Myron Holley, from whom, while a commis- sioner, proceeded many of the most valuable documents in- corporated in the " official history" of the Erie and Cham- plain Canals. It may be remarked, that on the same sub- committee there was associated with Mr. Holley two other persons who could have little imagined, in their early efforts for improvement, that they would live to see undertaken an enlargement more expensive than the original enterprise- Jesse Hawley, the author of the first essays in favour of the Erie Canal, and David S. Bates, one of the excellent engi- neers who arranged the work. A committee of publication and correspondence, appointed to further the views of the meeting, consisted of Jesse Hawley, Timothy Childs, Isaac Hills, Lyman B. Langworthy, Jacob Gould, and Thomas H. Rochester.
The memorial set forth that " the subscribers are resi- dents of this state near the line of the Erie Canal ; and many of us have long been, and still are, extensively engaged in the business of transportation upon it. We have habitually observed its effects and shared in its influences, and sup- pose no private members of the community have been more incited by interest, or had better opportunities to understand
231
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
all its bearings upon public and private prosperity. We were exceedingly gratified with that enlightened regard to one of the most important subjects of their care, which led the Legislature, in May last, to provide for the enlargement of this great work. And we congratulate each other upon the wisdom which placed the time, and mode, and measure of such enlargement at the almost unrestricted discretion of the canal board ; and more especially as the law to which we refer was passed, after dne reflection and deliberation, upon your report of 30th March preceding. That able doe- ument, with the scientific and satisfactory letter appended to it, addressed to your honourable body by three of your engi- neers, appears to us to indicate the most obvious and effi- cient means of giving the happiest development to the great system of internal improvement which this state has so long and so profitably pursued."
A few of the resolutions will exhibit the views expressed touching the canal policy past and present of the State of New-York :-
" 6th. Resolved, That it well becomes the policy of this state, as soon as it may be consistent with its constitutional charter, to complete the enlargement of her great artificial water-way ; and then to provide liberally for all the ramifi- cations from this spinal cord of her internal navigation.
" 7th. Resolved, That we view the construction of the Erie Canal on its present dimensions as a measure of econ- omy wisely adapted to the greater work which we now contemplate ; insomuch that, if our present views had been originally entertained by judicious and practical statesmen, they would have been amply justified in giving it such minor dimensions : first, as a large experiment to convince the in- credulous of the advantages of the work ; second, as the most useful engine which could have been devised to facili- tate the ulterior construction.
" 8th. Resolved, That, considering the natural advantages which the state of New-York possesses in her population, her wealth, her experience, her enterprise, and her reputa- tion, to obtain and secure the tratle of the western lakes and a portion of the valley of the Ohio, it belongs to her en- lightened statesmen to accomplish a work which will con- tribute so largely to the individual wealth and public pros- perity of her citizens, and merit the benedictions and grate itude of posterity."
232
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
At the session of the 20th October of the same year, the canal board, as already intimated, decided on increasing the dimensions ten feet in width and one in depth beyond the sixty by six proposed in the first plan of enlargement.
But the process of enlargement by means of the surplus tolls alone is too slow to suit the feelings or accord with the interests of the people or the character of the state. Vigor- ous efforts have been made in the western part of the state to procure a law for expediting the enlargement. A public meeting was held at the courthouse in Rochester on the 30th December, 1836, to consider the propriety of urging the adoption of means additional to those appropriated by the law of 1835 for effecting the improvement. As one ob- ject of this volume is to collect facts respecting the City of Rochester ; as the project of enlargement is second only in importance to the original scheme of the Erie Canal ; and as consequences of some note followed the stand taken by the people of Rochester, an outline of their proceedings on this occasion may be introduced as explanatory of the views which influenced them in recommending the proposed course of policy.
"ENLARGEMENT OF THE ERIE CANAL.
" Proposed Loan anticipating the Canal Revenue, for 1 expediting that magnificent work. :
" AT a meeting of the citizens of Rochester assembled at the courthouse on the 30th December, 1836, pursuant to public notice, to consider the subject of the enlargement of the Erie Canal, James Seymour, Esq., was called to the chair, and S. G. Andrews appointed secretary.
" The meeting was addressed by Doctor M. Brown, by General Gould, and by Henry O'Reilly, who introduced the following resolutions, which were unanimously adopted :
" Whereas, The Legislature of the State of New-York recently authorized the enlargement of the Erie Canal to such dimensions as the canal authorities should deem re- quisite for the commerce, already vast and rapidly increas- ing, through that immense thoroughfare between the Atlantic seaboard and the extensive inland navigation furnished by our mighty lakes and rivers-such enlargement to be ac- complished gradually, by an annual expenditure of the rev-
233
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
enue of the canals of the state, after discharging the many other burdens to which that revenue is subjected : and,
" Whereas, The canal commissioners, pursuant to the power with which they are thus intrusted, have taken all proper measures for prosecuting the great project as ener- getically as their limited means will allow-having previ- ously consulted and been sustained by public opinion in de- termining that the proposed enlargement should extend to 7 feet depth and 70 feet width-a capacity sufficient for float- ing vessels of thrice the present tonnage with nearly similar traction, and calculated greatly to encourage trade through this state by reducing the freight in a ratio somewhat simi- lar : and,
" Whereas, The cost of the enlargement will, at least, equal the original expense of constructing the Erie Canal-a sum which cannot probably be netted from the canal revenue and made applicable for effecting the enlargement in less than twelve or fifteen years-a period altogether too remote for accomplishing an improvement so well justified by suc- cessful results hitherto ; so loudly demanded by the true in- terests and fame of the state .; so imperatively required by the vast spread of population westward, needing improved facilities for trade and travel between the shores of their in- land seas and the coasts of the Atlantic : Be it therefore
" Resolved, By the citizens of Rochester, in general meet- ing assembled, That, in view of all these circumstances, and in consideration of the strenuous efforts now constantly made to divert trade and travel between east and west through canals and railroads in other quarters rival to those of this state, we feel it to be due alike to the welfare of this state and to our own interest to aid in arousing general at- tention to a subject of such vital consequence as the EN- LARGEMENT, with all practicable speed, of our GREAT NAVIGA- BLE HIGHWAY, the construction of which has shed lustre on the Empire State as the pioneer in the cause of internal im- provement ; while it has benefited not only this state, but a large portion of the confederacy, to a degree far transcend- ing the most sanguine calculations of its earliest and strong: est advocates.
" Resolved, That in the opinion of this assemblage, the same enlightened public opinion which warranted the raising of loans for effecting the original experiment of the Erie Ca- nal, and which recently imboldened the canal authorities to
20*
234
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
decide on enlarging that great work to nearly double its present capacity, will now triumphantly sustain the Legis- lature in authorizing a loan based on the canal revenuc, for hurrying to completion with all practicable speed the en- largement of that invaluable enterprise, which may always be continued the GREAT HIGHWAY, as it was the first, be- tween the waters of the Far West and of the ocean-the GRAND CONNECTING LINK between the people of the sea- board and their fellow-citizens of a vast interior-" The great highway," for the immense benefits which would re- sult to trade from its speedy enlargement would at once place it beyond injurious competition from any other chan- nel'which can be devised for intercourse between the Atlan- tic and much of the Mississippi Valley, as well as the vast chain of lakes-" The grand connecting link," for the influ- ence of the magnificent work thus speedily accomplished, before trade is much diverted into other channels now open- ing, would be felt through all time in the political and social relations of the wide-spread regions whose interests it would permanently cement.
" Resolved, That however important the proposed en- largement may be to Rochester and to Western New-York, we should grossly wrong our fellow-citizens by ascribing to a sense of mere personal or local interest the animated feel- ing which pervades the community respecting it-as, though fully alive to the great stake which we all have in its speedy accomplishment, the emotions of pride and patriotism with which the subject is discussed through this region invests it with a character more elevated than can be reached by any calculation of dollars and cents."
[About half of the resolutions are omitted-one of which proposed a convention of the people of Western New-York, to be held at Rochester on the 18th January, 1837, to urge upon the Legislature the policy of borrowing money, in an- ticipation of the canal revenue, for speedily completing the enlargement.]
" The following gentlemen were appointed a committee, under one of the foregoing resolutions, to carry out the ob- jects of the meeting : Henry O'Reilly, J. Child, M. Brown, Jacob Gould, A. M. Schermerhorn, S. G. Andrews, J. K. Livingston, Joseph Field, E. Darwin Smith, Silas O. Smith, Thomas Kempshall, Joseph Strong, Hervey Ely.
" JAMES SEYMOUR, Chairman. "S. G. ANDREWS, Secretary."
235
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
Pursuant to the arrangements made at this meeting, one of the largest Conventions ever held in Western New-York met in the courthouse in Rochester on the day proposed, and continued the session till the following afternoon. Na- than Dayton, of Lockport, now Circuit Judge, presided on the occasion, assisted by James Seymour, of Rochester, Jesse Hawley, of Niagara county, Josiah Trowbridge, of Buffalo, and Allen Ayrault, of Geneseo. Jas. L. Barton, of Erie, Saml. G. Andrews, of Rochester, Theron R. Strong, of Wayne, and A. H. M.Kinstry, of Orleans, were secretaries.
The Convention was addressed by various gentlemen from different sections ; by Seth C. Hawley, John L. Kimberly, R. W. Haskins, W. K. Scott, James R. Barton, Bela D. Coe, Wm. Ketchum, Mr. Douglass, and others among the large and spirited delegation from Buffalo ; by Jesse Hawley, Washington Hunt, Orsamus Turner, Robert H. Stevens, and others from Lockport; by Truman Hart, formerly a canal commissioner, J. W. Cuyler, and others from Palmyra ; by Micah Brooks, of Mount Morris, Mr. Bennett, of Lima, and others from Livingston county ; by Hiram M.Collum, of New-York ; by Matthew Brown, F. Whittlesey, E. D. Smith, H. L. Stevens, Orlando Hastings, Elisha B. Strong, Joseph Strong, Alexander Kelsey, S. G. Andrews, and other citizens of Rochester. An address to the people of the state, reported by Orsamus Turner, and a series of resolu- tions submitted by the chairman of the committee raised for the purpose, expressive of the views entertained of the great question of State Policy which the convention had assem- bled to promote, were adopted, after animated and satisfac- tory remarks indicating the strong interest felt by the large assemblage. The proceedings were in full accordance with the views expressed by the Rochester meeting which called the Convention. One of the speakers noticed the fact, as re- markable in the history of our internal improvements, that some of the earliest projectors and advocates of our canal system were present and participated in this convention-a convention assembled to promote the speedy enlargement of the Grand Canal-to urge the original construction of which canal some of the same persons had assembled in a similar convention at Canandaigua in January, 1817 -- precisely twenty years before. After a session which was marked with very gratifying evidences of harmonious co-operation in the cause for which it was convened, the convention con- cluded its business by appointing the following persons as a
236
SKETCHIES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
Central Executive Committee at Rochester, to take all proper measures for placing the subject fully before the people, and by memorials before the Legislature, viz. : Henry O'Reilly, James Seymour, Jonathan Child, E. Darwin Smith, Samuel G. Andrews, Thomas H. Rochester, Horace Gay, Frederic Whittlesey, Orlando Hastings, Everard Peck, Abraham M. Schermerhorn, Thomas Kempshall, Joseph Field. The committee thus constituted adopted energetic measures for fulfilling their trust, in connexion with a spirited committee appointed by the citizens of Buffalo. A bill authorizing an appropriation of half a million of dollars per annum, in addi- tion to the surplus canal tolls, for the purposes of the enlarge- ment, was started in the Legislature, then in session, but failed to become a law. Farther efforts were made to ad- vance the enterprise by presenting the subject by memorials to the present Legislature (1838) ; and a bill proposing an appropriation, larger than that offered last year ($3,000,000 annually, besides surplus tolls), must meet its fate in the Senate, favourable or otherwise, within a few days after this sheet passes through the press.
Since the completion of the Erie and Champlain Canals, the canal policy has been extended so as to embrace within its invigorating influences nearly all sections of the state. A brief notice of these ramifications of the system may be added here :
1. The Oswego Canal, 38 miles long, extends from Syra- cuse to Lake Ontario, nearly half the distance being slack- water navigation, by means of Oswego River. The lock- age is 123 feet on canal and dam, there being 14 lift locks and 6 guard locks. It was commenced in 1826 and com- pleted in 1828.
2. The Cayuga and Seneca Canal, begun in 1827 and finished in 1829, extends from Geneva eastwardly along the north end of Seneca Lake to the outlet, about two miles ; and thence down the outlet to Montezuma, nineteen miles, one quarter of which is through the marshes. It connects with the Cayuga Lake by a short side-cut, making the whole line of canalling twenty-three miles, for about half of which the river is used. But the whole line of navigation connected with the Erie Canal by this improvement, com- prehending the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, is about 100 miles, or 139 miles, including the Chemung Canal and its feeder.
3. The Chemung Canal, constructed between 1830 and
237
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
1833, forms part of the communication between Seneca Lake and the Susquehanna River. It runs from the head of Seneca Lake through the valley of Catharine Creek to the village of Horseheads; thence along Marsh Creek to Elmira, on Chemung River, a tributary of the Susquehan- na. A navigable feeder, sixteen miles long, from Chemung River at Knoxville to the summit level at Horseheads, makes, with the main canal, a total navigation of 39 miles. It has 53 wooden locks, with 488 feet lockage on the main line, and 28 on the feeder, making a total of 516 feet lock- age. From Elmira to Albany by this canal, Seneca Lake, Cayuga and Seneca, and Erie Canals, is 326 miles, more than one third longer than a direct route.
4. The Crooked Lake Canal is about eight miles long from the foot of Crooked Lake, near Penn-Yan, to Dresden on Cayuga Lake, with a lockage of 269 feet, overcome by 27 wooden locks. With Crooked Lake, 20 miles long, and a branch of seven miles, a navigation of 35 miles is thus opened. Commenced in 1830, finished in 1833.
5. The Chenango Canal, completed between 1833 and 1837, extends from the Erie Canal at Utica to the Susque- hanna River at Binghamton, Broome county-length 97 miles, with a total lockage of 1009 feet ; the rise from the Erie Canal to the summit level being 706 feet, and the fall thence to the Susquehanna 303 feet. Commencing at Utica, it passes through the valleys of Oriskany and Sau- quoit Creek and Chenango River, and by the villages of New-Hartford, Clinton, Madison, Hamilton, Sherburne, Nor- wich, Oxford, Greene, and Chenango Forks, and ending at Binghamton.
6. The Delaware and Hudson Canal was constructed under acts of the New-York and Pennsylvania Legislatures between 1825 and 1829. The chief object of this canal is to supply the New-York, Albany, and other markets with coal, although the company have, besides a loan of the credit of this state for $800,000, the privilege of using one third of their capital ($1,500,000) in banking. Rondout, a mile from the Hudson, is the eastern depôt of this com- pany-90 miles from New-York, and 60 from Albany. Its western termination is at Honesdale, Penn., 108 miles dis- tant from the Hudson depôt. The amount of lockage is 950 feet, the number of locks 107. From Honesdale, the company have a railroad of 16 miles, on which their coal is transported from Carbondale to Honesdale.
238
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
7. The Black River Canal and Erie Canal Feeder. This canal is to extend from the foot of the High Falls on Black River to the Erie Canal at Rome. A feeder is to be made (navigable) from the Black River to the summit level near Boonville, 11 miles ; and the Black River to be made navi- gable for steamboats drawing four feet, from the northern termination of the canal to Carthage in Jefferson county, forty miles. 'The lockage up from the Erie Canal is 696 feet, and down to Black River, 387-total 1053 feet, re- quiring 135 locks. The estimated cost of the whole im- provements here named is $1,068,437. This enterprise is for the accommodation of the northern part of Oneida, all of Lewis, and part of Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties.
8. Last, but not least-The Genesee Valley Canal, to connect the Erie Canal at Rochester with the Allegany River at Olean in Cattaraugus county. This may properly be termed the southwest termination of the Grand Canal, as by it the main trunk will be directly connected with the wa- ters of the Mississippi Valley, a matter which must prove of great consequence to the trade of the state. This was a favourite project with some of those who were most efficient in promoting the construction of the Erie Canal. It was recommended to the Legislature by Gov. Clinton on various occasions. The route underwent several examinations be- tween 1825 and 1836, in which latter year the law passed for its construction. The length of the route from Ro- chester to Allegany River at Olean is 107 miles-which, with the side-cut between the flourishing villages of Mount Morris and Dansville, will make a total of 122 miles. About one third of the route was placed under contract in the fall and winter of 1837; the remainder will be put in hand as speedily as practicable, and the whole work will be completed probably by the close of 1840. The summit level is 112 miles long, and 979 feet above the Erie Canal at Rochester ; and the whole lockage on canal and feeders, ascending and descending, will be 1059 feet, overcome by 132 locks, of which the greatest number in a short distance will occur in Mount Morris, where there will be 450 feet of lockage in four miles. 'The proportion of lockage to the length of this canal is about the same as on the Chenango. Passing through a country rich as the Genesee Valley ; connecting the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario at Rochester with the Allegany River, and through it with the Ohio and
239
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
Mississippi ; affording opportunities for exchanging our pro- ducts for the coal and iron of Pennsylvania, and other com- modities of different states ; the importance of the Genesee Valley Canal to the permanent welfare of the City of Ro- chester, as well as to that of the trade of the state, may be readily conjectured by the intelligent examiner. Farther notice of this canal is taken in connexion with the trade of Rochester.
Thus much for the " progress of improvement" as indi- cated by the principal canals authorized to be constructed in this state. A few words now for the two principal lines of railroads.
The " New-York and Erie Railroad," through the south- ern tier of counties, was undertaken by a company chartered in 1832. The proposed route, some sections of which have been placed under contract, passes through the counties of Rockland, Orange, Sullivan, Delaware, Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Chemung, Steuben, Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Cha- tauque. It is to commence at a point on the Hudson con- venient to New-York, and terminate on Lake Erie, west of Cattaraugus Creek, in Chatauque county. A law of 1835 promised the loan of the credit of the state for three millions of dollars, state stock for which to be issued in certain por- tions as the company should complete different sections. Ten years are allowed by the charter for finishing the first quarter, fifteen for finishing one half, and twenty years for completing the undertaking. Benj. Wright, Jas. Seymour, and Charles Ellet, surveyed the route in 1834, and their calculations of its feasibility have been approved by various engineers. Some sections of the route may be made pro- ductive as soon as completed, and thus make returns upon the investments, which will aid much in encouraging those concerned to an early completion of the route. Gordon, in his Gazetteer of New-York, marks the following points on the line of this proposed communication :
" The valleys traversed by the route distribute it into six great divisions :.
" 1. Hudson, from the west bank of the Hudson Miles.
River, 24 miles north of New-York City, to the Deer- park gap of the Shawangunk mountain, . 733
"2. Delaware, from Deerpark gap, through the val- ley of the Delaware and its tributaries, to a summit 12 miles northwest of Deposit, Delaware county, . . 115
" 3. Susquehanna, from that summit, through the
240
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
valley of the Susquehanna, &c., to a summit 13 miles southwest of Hornellsville, Steuben county, . 163}
Miles.
" 4. Genesee, from the last-mentioned summit, over the Genesee Valley, to a summit 3 miles east of the village of Cuba, Allegany county, ·
. 37
" 5. Allegany, along the valley of the Allegany River and tributaries, on a line to the head of an in- clined plane, proposed upon the dividing ridge at Lake Erie, . 83
"6. Lake Erie, comprising the short and rapid de- scent to the lake, and including the inclined plane, and two branches, one to Portland, 9, and the other to Dunkirk, 8} miles, 9
" Add the distance to New-York from the point of departure on the Hudson, 24 · " And the whole will be . 505
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.