Early Growth of America

1. Early Growth of America The Transformation of New York and the United States, 1790-1850

2. New Netherlands 1650

5. Clinton’s Ditch

6. DeWitt Clinton • THE LIFE AND WRITINGS OF • DE WITT CLINTON • ......................................... • WILLIAM W. CAMPBELL • The act authorizing the construction of the canals by the State was passed in 1817, and the work commenced on the 4th of July in that year. De Witt Clinton was first elected Governor in 1817, and on the 28th of January, 1818, delivered his first Message, of which the following is an extract: • "I congratulate you upon the auspicious commencement and successful progress of the contemplated water communication between the great western and northern lakes, and the Atlantic ocean. Near sixty miles of the Western Canal have been contracted for, to be finished within the present year; and it is probable that the whole of the Northern Canal will be disposed of in the same manner before the ensuing spring. • "Notwithstanding the unfavorable season, the inexperience of the contractors, and the late commencement of operations, it is understood that the work to the extent of fifteen miles has already been done on the Western Canal. And it is confidently believed that the aggregate expense will be within the estimates of the commissioners. The enhancement of the profits of agriculture, the excitement of manufacturing industry, the activity of internal trade, the benefits of lucrative traffic; the interchange of valuable commodities -- the commerce of fertile, remote, and wide-spread regions, and the approximation of the most distant parts of the Union, by the facility and rapidity of communication that will result from the completion of these stupendous works, will spread the blessings of plenty and opulence to an immeasurable extent. The resources of the State are fully adequate without extraneous aid; and when we consider that every portion of the nation will feel the animating spirit and vivifying influences of these great works; that they will receive the benediction of posterity and command the approbation of the civilized world; we are required to persevere by every dictate of interest, by every sentiment of honor, by every injunction of patriotism, and by every consideration which ought to influence the councils and govern the conduct of a free, high-minded, enlightened, and magnanimous people." • In his Message of 1826, he thus speaks of their completion: • "In 1818 I had the pleasure to congratulate the Legislature on the auspicious commencement and successful progress of the contemplated water communication between the great western and northern lakes and the Atlantic ocean, and I now have the peculiar gratification to felicitate you on their completion. On the 26th of October last, the Western Canal was in a navigable state, and vessels passed from Lake Erie to the Atlantic ocean. In about eight years, artificial communications, near 428 miles in length, have been opened to the Hudson River from Lake Champlain by the Northern Canal; to Lake Ontario by the Oswego River and the Western Canal; and to Lake Erie and the other western lakes by the latter Canal -- thus affording an extent of inland navigation unparalleled in the experience of mankind. The expense of these works and of some auxiliary, connected, and incidental operations, amounts to $9,130,373.80, exclusive of interest paid on loans." • Thus the vision of 1794 was substantially realized. The Caspian had not seen the Mediterranean, nor had the waters of the Pacific flowed into the Atlantic; but he had lived to see results equally important. The energies and resources of a single State, chiefly directed by his own far-seeing policy, had united the waters of our inland seas with those of the Atlantic. The writer remembers well the celebration of that event, for it was then that he first saw DE WITT CLINTON. He had just entered Union College at Schenectady, and in the fall of 1825, stood with his College companions upon the banks of the canal in that City, when Governor Clinton landed from the boat in which he had passed in triumph from Lake Erie. Allusion is made to this circumstance because it was at Schenectady, as the reader of the following journal will perceive, that Mr. Clinton and his associate Commissioners in July, 1810, set sail upon the dangerous Mohawk. • The most casual observer cannot fail to notice the mighty changes which the forty succeeding years have produced. The western wilderness has literally budded and blossomed, and brought forth much fruit. The State of New York has taken her proud position at the head of the Confederacy, and counts her population by millions. Her gigantic Internal Improvements have realized the most sanguine anticipations of their early projectors, and while they have proved sources of great wealth to us, have also furnished models for our sister States -- and have diffused their influence over vast regions, where in 1810 the wild beast made its lair, and the wandering savage found his home and his grave. • The traveler, as he now passes up the valley of the Mohawk with almost lightning’s speed, can hardly realize the slow and tedious journeyings of our fathers.

8. The Erie Canal

10. Elevation Map

14. “The American System”

15. Henry Clay

16. Erie Canal Chronology 1 • Erie Canal Chronology • 1699 • French Engineer Vauban suggests canal between Lakes Erie and Ontario. • 1724 • Cadwallader Colden proposes canal linking Lake Erie and Hudson River. • 1768 • Letter from H. Moore to the Earl of Hillsborough containing suggestions for a canal and locks around Canajoharie Falls on the Mohawk river. • 1784 • Christopher Colles proposes improving navigation of Mohawk River. • 1785 • Proposals for the speedy settlement of the waste and unappropriated lands of the western frontiers of New York, and for the improvement of the inland navigation between Albany and Oswego by Christopher Colles. • 1786 • An act for improving the navigation of the Mohawk river, Wood creek, and the Onondaga river, with a view to opening an inland navigation to Oswego and for extending the same, if practicable, to Lake Erie. Bill defeated. • 1791 • March 21, act authorizing survey and estimates for Mohawk and Hudson rivers and Wood creek. • 1792 • General History of Inland Navigation Foreign and Domestic by J.A. Phillips. • A forecaste of the Erie canal, July 13, 1792 by Francis Adrian Vanderkemp. • March 30, NY legislature passes "an act for establishing and opening lock navigation within the state."

17. Erie Canal 2 • 1796 • A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation by Robert Fulton. • First Report of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company. • 1797 • February 5, Letter from Robert Fulton to President Washington referring to potential canal improvements, including a canal to Lake Erie. • 1798 • Niagara Canal Company incorporated to build a canal between Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. • Second Report of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company. • 1807 • July 12, Letter from Jesse Hawley to Erastus Granger projection of Erie Canal. • 1808 • Report of the Secretary of the Treasury on the subject of Public Roads and Canals made in pursuance of a resolution of Senate on March 2, 1807 by Albert Gallatin. • 1811 • February, Report of the Commissioners appointed to explore the route of inland navigation from Hudson's river to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie. • 1816 • February 16, Memorial of the Citizens of New York, in Favour of a Canal Navigation between the Great Western Lakes and the Tide-waters of the Hudson. Drafted by De Witt Clinton and signed by many citizens, it made a deep impression on the Legislature. • April 17, NY Legislature passes a canal law. • De Witt Clinton's Canal Visit to Buffalo in 1816.

18. Erie Canal 3 • 1817 • Reminiscences of Surveys of the Erie Canal in 1816-17 by William C. Young, a rodman on two of the engineering and surveying parties. • July 4, Canal construction began at Rome, NY. • 1818 • A Southern Route Proposed for the Canal • 1819 • Essay on "Canals" in Abraham Rees's Cyclopedia, became the basic textbook for American canal engineers. • 23 October, middle section of canal opened from Utica to Rome, 96 miles. • 24 November, Champlain Canal opened. • 1820 • History of the western canals in the state of New York, 1788-1819 by Elkanah Watson. • The Buffalo Memorial of 1820. • A Tour from Rochester to Utica in 1820 by John Howison. • 1822 • 2 July, river boats began using canal section from Genesee river to Pittsford, with overland connection for several miles during Irondequoit valley embankment completed in October. • October, 180 miles of canal open from Rochester to Little Falls. • 1823 • October 1, eastern section of Canal completed, continuous navigation possible from Genesee River to Albany and Lake Champlain. • October 6, 802 foot stone aqueduct over Genesee river opened in Rochester. • 1824 • April, Brockport - Rochester section opened. • 1825 • October 26, Opening of The Erie Canal: first passage through canal from Lake Erie to New York City. • 363 miles in length, 40 feet wide, 4 feet deep, max displacement 75 tons • 77 locks, 90 feet by 15 feet • Total lockage 655 feet

19. Erie Canal 4 • 1826 • Journal of a Tour from Albany to Lake Erie, by the Erie Canal, in 1826 by George W. Clinton. • 1828 • An Immigrant Couple in Oswego County, 1828 by Thomas and Hanna Boots. • 1829 • From New York to Niagara--Journal of a Tour, in part by Canal, in 1829 by Col. William Leete Stone. • Memoir of DeWitt Clinton, with an appendix containing numerous documents illustrative of the principal events of his life and of the early history of the canals by David Hosack. • 1831 • Historical Account of the Navigable Rivers, Canals and Railways throughout Great Britain by J. Priestly. • 1833 • A Journey West of Utica in the Mid-1830s by Richard Weston. • 1834 • A Canal Journey in 1834 by David Wilkie.