USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 12
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its surface contains 20,000 square miles .* Huron is situated between forty-three degrees and thirty minutes, and forty-six de -. grees of north latitude. St. Mary's river. and the outlet of lake Michigan connect it with Superior and Michigan lakes.
Lake Michigan communicates with Huron, by the straits of Michilimackinack, fifteen miles long. It is between forty-one degrees, forty minutes, and forty-five of north latitude. Its length is about 232+ miles from south to north.
The streams falling into it interlock with Ouisconsin and Illi- nois, which enter the Mississippi, and with some of the streams that fall into the Wabash.
Lake Ontario is about 230 feet above the tide waters of the Hudson. Lake Erie is 334 above the latter. Huron and' Michigan are estimated to be about 30 higher than Erie.
Lake Champlain is mostly in this State and Vermont. It is one hundred and ten miles long, computing its extent from -the. head of South bay, in the county of Washington, to La Cole's mill's, in Lower Canada, a little beyond latitude forty-five. Its breadth is from a quarter of a mile to twelve or thirteen miles. The broadest part is between Peru, in the county of Essex, and the village of Burlington, in Vermont, and the narrowest between Ticonderoga and South bay. Its surface is estimated at 440į square miles. It stretches from south to north. The Sorell is- sues out of its north end, and falls into the St. Lawrence, forty- five miles below the town of Montreal, in Lower Canada. Ves- sels of eighty or ninety tons burthen navigate its whole extent, including portions of its inlet and outlet. St. John's and White Hall are at the extremes of its navigation.
The navigation is interrupted by the ice four or five months in the year. It usually shuts up in December and opens in March, or the forepart of April.
" The sup :rfices of this lake, we su-per', are overrated. + Computed from its latitude.
The estimated superfices of this lake have hitherto been greatly overrated .- The same may be said of those of lake Ontario and Erie. The navigable part of the Hudson has also been overrated at least fifteen miles. The distance from New York to A bany, on the west side of that river, by actual measurement, is only [15 miles and some rods. The distance, by the latitude, is ten lexs. The length of lake Champlain, as well as the Hud-on, was originally computed by the progress of ves -. gels, a very uncertain mode of determning distances.
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Lake Champlain contains several islands, such as Valcour · and Schuyler islands, belonging to this State, and the two He- roes and La Motte, belonging to Vermont.
Valcour is on the coast of the county of Clinton, nearly equi- distant between the mouths of Saranack and Sable rivers. Its ex- tent from south to north is three or four miles, and its breadth one.
Schuyler's island is about five miles southerly, and has an extent of two miles.
The North Hero is eleven or twelve miles long and two broad.
The South Hero is thirteen miles long and from two to four broad. The Heroes are separated by a strait.
La Motte is six miles long and from one to two broad.
These islands are east of Clinton county.
Bays .- These are East and South bays at its head, Peru bay, Northwest bay, Cumberland bay, and Point au Ter bay, all in this State, and Burlington and Missisco bays in Vermont. - East bay is four miles long, and nearly a mile broad where broadest. Poultney river and Wood creek open into it. It is mostly in Washington county.
South bay, in the same county, a few miles westwardly, is seven miles long and one broad.
Cumberland bay, in the county of Clinton, is three or four miles long and two or three broad. Saranack river enters its bead-Plattsburgh is west of this bay.
Burlington bay, in Vermont, is five miles long and from one to two broad - its entrance is about a mile wide-the bay runs nearly from south to north.
Missisco bay is about twelve miles in length and from two to four and upwards in breadth-its form is very irregular.
The streams of most note, falling into Lake Champlain, are Wood creek, the outlet of Lake George, Boquet, Sable, Sa- ranack aud the Big Chazy, from this State, and Lamoille and Onion rivers, and Otter creek, from Vermont. Poultney is com- mon to both States.
The country around Lake Champlain exhibits a very diver-
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sified aspect. Between South bay and Ticonderoga, it is moun- tainous on both sides. From thence to near the borders of Clinton, it is mountainous on the west side, and hilly on the east. Here levels begin which extend northwardly into Canada.
Lake Champlain has an elevation of between ninety and one hundred feet above the ocean. The difference between the level of its surface, and that of tide water at Troy, on the Hud- son, is eighty-six feet. Its waters yearly rise from four to six feet. The rise commonly commences about the middle of March, and continues to increase to the first or middle of June, after which there is a gradual decrease.
Lake Champlain, taken in connection with the Northern canal and the Sorell, forms a very important chain of water communi. cation between the navigable parts of the Hudson and St. Lawrence rivers-the uninterrupted extent is 260 miles.
Jts waters are stored with salmon, pike, pickerel, bass, sal- mon trout, yellow and white perch, sturgeon, shiners, chub, dace, · trout, suckers, eels, &c.
Like many other lakes, Champlain has decreased both in ex- tent and elevation. Its ancient shores are yet visible in many places, and are thirty, forty, and even fifty feet higher than its present. Fossil shells, and the trunks of trees are found buried fifteen or twenty feet beneath the surface, in the vicinity of its shores, and thence back two or three miles. In the flat country the soil is often alluvial, and bears the appearance of having been recently formed.
SEAS, BAYS, &c.
The Alantic Ocean washes the southeasterly part of this State. Long Island, Staten Island, &c. are embosomed in it. .
Long Island Sound, a kind of inland sea, commences at Montauk Point, at the east end of the island, and extends west- wardly, inclining to the southwest, to near Hell-Gate, where it contracts into a narrow strait, called East River. It is rather over one hundred miles in length, and has a breadth of from three to twenty-four miles. The broadest part is opposite New-
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Haven, in Connecticut-it lies between Long Island and Con- necricut-its shores are generally rocky and abound with little bays, inlets'and coves.
-. East River, a contraction of the Sound, is about thirteen miles long, with a medial breadth of one mile. Its shores are bounded by granitic rocks. It separates Long Island from Westchester county and Manhattan Island. Hell-Gate,* a nar- row crooked and dangerous pass is on this river, eight miles northeasterly of the City of New-York. The water, when the tide is rising and falling, rushes through with great velocity, forming in its way several cataracts and vortices which would swallow up or dash to pieces the largest ship were it to come within their reach. The best times for passing it are at high and low water. East River unites with the Hudson at the south- westerly end of Manhattan Island. The Mohiccons had a tra- dition, that in ancient times, their progenitors could cross Hell-Gate by stepping from rock to rock.
New-York bay is a mere dilatation of Hudson and East rivers. It is eight miles long, and from one to four broad, stretching southwardly from the city of New-York to the ter- mination of the Narrows, between Long Island and Staten Is- land. Arthur-kull sound, lying between Bergen Point, in New- Jersey, and Staten Island, joins it to Newark bay. It has Long Island on the east-Staten Island, Arthur-kull sound, and Ber- gen Point on the west; these form its sides-the City of New- York and the mouths of the rivers are on the north, and Sandy Hook bay on the south. It is a beautiful sheet of water, diver- sified with several small islands, such as Govornor's, Bedlow's, Ellis and Gibbet's islands.
New-York bay affords a sufficient depth of water for the largest ships. It is a very safe and secure harbour, and is rarely obstructed with ice.
Newark bay, which is connected with New-York bay by Arthur-kull sound, is six miles long, and one or two broad. Hackensack and Passaick rivers open into its head. It extends
* Het Helle Gat, that is Hell Gut, or the Gut of Hell. This is the literal translation of the Dutch words.
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from northeast to southwest, and narrows into Staten Island sound. Newark bay is mostly in New-Jersey.
* Arthur-kull sound is three miles in length, and from half a mile, to one mile or upwards in breadth. Staten Island lies south of it. Small vessels navigate it.
Staten Island sound begins at the foot of Newark bay, and ends in Amboy bay. It is about twelve miles long, with a breadth of from half a mile to one mile. Its course is from northeast to southwest, inclining some to the south. It divides Staten Island from New-Jersey.
Sandy Hook bay is in New-Jersey, and is about five miles in length from northwest to southeast, and five broad at its mouth. Its form is somewhat triangular. A narrow strip of land di- vides it from the ocean. Sandy Hook Light-house is at the northern extremity of this point of land, and is eight miles and a-half south southeasterly from the Narrows, and seventeen from the City of New-York, and about in the same direction. The Highlands of Neversink, about five miles south southeast of the Light-house, are the first lands seen from the ocean. Point Comfort is six miles west of the Light-house. Romer Shoals are about one mile north, and extend northerly almost two miles and a-half, with a breadth of from a mile to a mile and three-quarters. They have not depth of water for sloops. The ship channel is between Sandy Hook Light-house and these shoals. Ships, after they have passed the Light-house, turned the Point and entered the bay, are secure from all winds but the northwest The bottom is free from rocks, and the anchor- age good. Small craft, and ordinary vessels, may pass to the north of Romer's Shoals.
+ Amboy bay is northwest of Sandy Hook bay. It is eight or nine miles long from west to east, and about five miles broad, where it opens into Sandy Hook bay. Its termination, on the west, is Rariton river and Staten Island strait. It is nearly triangular. Staten Island constitutes one of its sides, New- Jersey another, and the ocean the third.
* Arthur kull is derived from Achter Cut, the Dutch naine.
t Amboy is derived from the Lenni-Lenape word, Amb), signifying a point
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Great kills, on the southeast side of Staten Island, is an inlet of Amboy bay. It is nearly two miles long, and one broad at its opening.
Sandy Hook bay, Amboy bay, and the Narrows, open into each other, and these again into the ocean. The three ought to be called Sandy Hook bay, since they, in fact, constitute but a single expause of water. The three, including the opening into the ocean, have a circuit of about forty-four miles, exclusive of roves, indentations, &c. and form an irregular triangle. The head of Amboy bay is at one angle, the Narrows at another, and the head of Sandy Hook,* at the third.
Staten Island is on one side, the coast of New-Jersey on an- other, and Sandy Hook point, the entrance of the ocean, Coney and Long Island, are on a third.
Gardner's bay, at the east end of Long Island, extends west southwestwardly about twenty-eight miles. It is twelve miles broad at its entrance, but narrows down to less than a mile, and ends in Peconick inlet. Properly speaking, it is divided into two bays, Gardner's bay and Peconick bay. Large ships navigate Gardner's bay, but Peconick bay only allows small vessels. Sagg Harbour is near the head of Gardner's bay, and is a commodious station for ships.
Gardner's bay contains Shelter island, Little Hog Neck is- land, and Robins island. Gardner's island is at the entrance, and extends nearly lengthwise across its mouth. It is seven miles long and from one to three broad. Plumb island is three miles long and one, broad. It is distant from the preced- ing about two miles.
Shelter island is six miles long and five broad where broadest.
Gardner's bay has from five to ten fathoms of water. A strait nearly two miles broad lies between it and Peconick bay.
Peconick bay is twelve miles long, and from three to five broad.
. Huntington, Cold Spring, Hamsted, Cow, Frog and Flush- ing bays are on the north side of the island. Jamaica bay is on the south side, in King's and Queen's counties.
* The Dutch called Sandy Hook, Sondt Punt, also Sandt Hoeck.
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CHAPTER VII.
CANALS.
THE banks of rivers, and the shores of lakes, seas and oceans, were first frequented by men in the earliest periods of society. Then a tree, a raft, or the hollow trunk of a tree, served for vehicles to pass rivers, lakes and bays. Between then and the time when ships were constructed, an immense period must have elapsed. The substitution of a canoe for a raft or float, of the latter for a boat with sails and a mast, and this again for a deck- .e'd vessel, were all great improvements, and the works of count- less ages. A great difference must be seen in each advance, but how vast is that between the raft and ship. The one is an' essay in the very infancy of society, the other is an accomplish- ment in its manhood. Floats, rafts and canoes were the highest attainments of man, in the savage state. The aborigines of this continent, the savages of Africa, Asia, New-Holland, and the is- lands in the Pacific Ocean, have advanced no farther. Man, even after he had quitted this state and cultivated the ground, still used the canoe. But in the lapse of time, as society expanded and the useful arts came into existance, his views expanded: . His occupations became more varied. Agriculture advanced, manu= factories sprung up, these begat commerce. Men travelled from' home, to dispose of their surplus commodities. At first the journies were short, being from town to town, or from one small community or state' to another These were made by land. By and by distant places attracted notice. These were visited, but the journies became more tedious, and more difficult. Re- course was had to water conveyance, but this had its disadvan- tages. Few commodities could be transported in a canoe. It afforded no shelter from the inclemency of the weather. The mind of man being ever elastic, and always intent on something
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new, sought out improvements. A boat, a vessel of larger di- mensions, and constructed of pieces of wood, and partly decked or covered, occurred to his mind. This was one advance from a canve towards a ship. Longer and more difficult voyages could be performed in this species of vessel, and more commo- dities carried than in the canoe. Afterwards the single mast was erected and hung with canvass, perhaps with the skins of beasts. This was spread before the wind, in order to aid the oars and propel the vessel. The single mast and the single sail were followed by double masts and double sails ; to these suc- ceeded triple masts, many sails, and whole decked vessels. Then oars were abandoned in the management of a ship.
As society advanced, and as improvements were made, (for men seldom retrograde,) it became necessary to drain the waters from some lands, and to prevent inundations on others. At first small ditches were drawn, with easy declivities, to carry off the water, and embankn ents were raised to keep off inunda- tions. These processes were at first carried on, upon small scales, on the borders of small streams, or at some distance from large ones: Pre-ently the ditches were lengthened, wien- ed and deepened ; the embankments were also extended and eularged. By and by canals succeeded these ditches, and even small rivers. These were used by boats. Such seems to have been the origin of canals. At first a simple ditch, then a canal, and lastly, an artificial river. Whoever considers the subject will readily perceive this. The simple drain, or ditch, bears the same analogy to a canal. that a canoe does to a ship. Both are the infantile efforts of society.
The ancient Egyptians inhabited the country along the Nile. This river, at present, after entering Egypt, receives no acces- sions. Egypt has no brooks, no rivers, no streams, but the Nile. There nature dors not moisten and steepen the earth with rains, as she does with us, but contents herself with per- mitting the Nile to overspread its banks once a-year. Vegetation therefore, in that country, does not, as it does with us, depend . on rains and copious dews, but upon the moisture which the earth imbibes, at these annual overflowings. In that country, VOL. I.
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we first hear of canals. Ancient historians speak of them with admiration, but all they say is general. They have mentioned no particulars. These canals were constructed at a very early period, in the history of that country, for the purpose of draining the lands, carrying off the waters of the inundation, and for the purpose of spreading them to a greater distance. Embankments were also raised for the retention, exclusion and diffusion of the waters. By these embankments the waters were separated into fields, the one rising above another, or one having a different level from another. These were connected by canals, gates and sluices, and the waters were carried from level to level. By these means large tracts of land were put under tillage, which had formerly been wastes. Upon the retiring of the waters, within the banks, the inhabitants of one city or village, visited those of another in boats, which navigated these canals. Every section of Egypt abounded with these useful structures. The inhabitants of distant parts, by means of these and the river, could visit one, another, and interchange their commodities. -
About six hundred and sixteen years before the Christian era, according to Herodotus, the Egyptians under Necos, made a canal from the Nile to the Red Sea. It is said to have been one hundred cubits broad. The Macedonian Kings of Egypt, and after them the Emperors of Rome, repaired it. Owing, however, to the revolutions, which have happened in that ill-fated country, this splendid work has disappeared long ago.
The Chinese seem to have been acquainted with canals, at a very early period. About two centuries before our era, mentior. is made of their constructing canals. Since then great atten- tion has been paid in that empire to this subject. No country, at this day, has so many canals and upon so large a scale. Some resemble rivers. The Grand Canal is upwards of nine hundred miles in lengthi, and from one hundred to two hundred feet in breadth. The Chinese canals are made upon inclined plains, and have no locks.
In Hindostan, canals are of very ancient date. The coun- tries along the Indus, the Ganges, the Godavery, the Kistna, the Nerbudda, &c. are filled with canals, Some have considerable
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length, and are extensively used for commercial purposes. There are many other parts of Hindostan which have canals. In some instances, they extend from one river to another. The . Hiudoo canals are often used for irrigation, as well as naviga- tion.
In Europe, canals may be dated back to the time of the Ro- mans. We read of the Pontine and other canals. The Ro- man canals were not numerous, nor considerable as to extent. The conquest of that people, by the barbarians, and the destruc- tion of their empire, suspended internal improvements. -
Between the eleventh and sixteenth centuries, the Italians made some progress in the structure of canals. Their first essays were directed to the draining of the marshes along the Po, and around its mouths. Hitherto canals have not been constructed upon a large scale in this country. None of the Italian canals is over forty miles in length. The divided state of the country has opposed formidable obstacles to great na- tional improvements-the Italians are supposed to have invent- ed locks.
In Holland, a country mostly conquered from the ocean and Rhine, canals and embankments may be carried back to the time of the Roman conquest. Of their progress and extent, very little is known before the tenth century. Since then the Dutch have been at infinite pains in constructing canals and raising embaukments. Every part of their country abounds with these useful structures-Holland may be said to be a country of canals and dykes. -
Belgium, which borders on Holland, has also many canals- in both countries canals have been subservient to commercial purposes, time out of mind. Holland owes her existence to em- bankments and canals-without these she would be a quagmire. .
In the seventeenth century the French turned their attention to canals. Louis Fourteenth caused the canal of Languedoc to be made-it is one hundred and forty-eight miles long. Four- teen years were spent in constructing it. Its breadth, at the surface, is sixty-four feet, and its depth about six feet. Boats of one hundred tons navigate it. The structure of the Languedoc
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canal, has rendered this monarch more famous than all his vic- tories. There are several other canals in France, but they have less extent.
The subjects of the Prussian monarchy, have paid some at- tention to canals.
During the reign of the Emperor Peter the First, the Rus- sians then just emerging from the barbarous state, embarked in canals. The canal of Ladoga is the longest-it is a work wor- thy of its illustrious projector.
The canal of Kiel, in Holstein, is twenty-two miles long, and has a depth of ten feet of water-it admits vessels of one hun- dred and twenty tous. Its extensions are about twenty-eight miles, making in all about fifty miles-it is a Danish work.
The English, the most renowned among the commercial na- tions of modern time, paid very little attention to canals before the year 1755 or 1756. About this time the Duke of Bridge- water began a canal, which he completed at his own expense. The extent of this canal is inconsiderable-the singular and un- expected success of this enlightened and enterprising individual, induced others to embark in similar enterprises. Since then the English have constructed many canals-at present, the length of the different canals in Great Britain and Ireland ex- ceed three thousand miles. England is so intersected with ca- nals, that boats traverse the kingdom, in almost all directions- most of her inland towns are transformed, as it were, to the , shores of the seas, which nearly surround her.
Having taken a rapid view of the origin and progress of canals in Africa, Asia and Europe, we shall direct our attention to canals in America. Very soon after the termination of the revolutionary war, the views of certain individuals, in several of the United States, were directed towards canals, and other in- ternal improvements. It is not our intention to go over all the States-Massachusetts, the cradle of our independence, has the merit of having opened the way, in large enterprises of this nature. The Middlesex canal is twenty-seven miles long, and connects the tide water in Boston harbour, at Charlestown, with the Merrimack river. The water in the canal is thirty feet
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wide at its surface, twenty feet at its bottom, and three feet deep. The Concord, or Sudbury river, crosses the line of the canal on the summit level, twenty-two miles from Charlestown, and five miles from the junction of the canal, with Merrimack river, and supplies it with water for locking down each way- from tide water to the summit level, there is an ascent of one hemdred and four feet, aud from thence to the Merrimack, a descent of thirty-two feet. There are in all twenty locks, which are severally seventy-five feet long in the clear, and e even feet in width. Boats carrying fourteen tons, and drawn by a single horse, move at the rate of three miles an hour-the towing path is eight feet broad. This canal was commenced in 1790, and opened for use in 1804. The levels were taken by Mr. Weston, whom we shall have occasion hereafter to mention, as concerned in New-York. . Its cost exceeded five hundred thousand dollars. The natural obstacles were formidable.
lo New- York, Major General Phillip Schuyler seems to have been the first who originated canals. On the fifteenth day of February, 1791, a committee from the senate and assembly were appointed to enquire what obstructions there were in the Hudson and Mohawk rivers and how they might be removed- General Schuyler was on this committee.
The American people seem never to have duly appreciated the talents and merits of General Schuyler. To this distinguish- ed man we owe the capture of Burgoyne, and the saving of states, then bursting into existence. He is the General who obstructed the enemy in his march, re-organized the defeated, dispirited, and dispersed army of the northern States, placed it in an attitude of victory, and assumed offensive operations ; but envy snatched the palm out of his hand, and bestowed it upon another. Time, however, will do him that justice which his co-temporaries have refused. He is also the person who in- troduced the canal policy, and other polices which have elevated this State, and in some measure, given to it that exalted rank which it now holds in the confederation.
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