The Great American Canals (Volume 2, The Erie Canal)

by Archer Butler Hulbert

This will require 62 locks of ten feet lift each. The expense of such locks as experimentally proved in several instances in this state would be about 620,000 dollars.

We have seen that on the Middlesex canal, there are 22 locks for 28 miles, which is a lock for somewhat less than every mile, whereas, 62 locks for 300 miles is but about one lock for every five miles; and the lockage of the Middlesex canal, would alone cost 220,000 dollars. It would, therefore, appear to be an allowance perhaps too liberal, to consider the cost of it as a fair criterion of the expense of canals in general in this country, and of this in particular. Reservoirs and tunnels, are the most expensive part of the operation, and none will be necessary in our whole route. The expense of the whole earth work of excavating a mile of canal on level ground fifty feet wide and five feet deep, at 18 cents per cubic yard, and allowing for the cost of forming and trimming the banks, puddling, etc. will not exceed 4000 dollars per mile, and the only considerable aqueduct on the whole line, will be over the Genesee river. From a deliberate consideration of these different estimates and actual expenditures, we are fully persuaded that this great work will not cost more than 20,000 dollars a mile, or six millions of dollars in the whole; but willing to make every possible allowance; and even conceding that it will cost double that sum, yet still we contend that there is nothing which ought to retard its execution. The canal cannot be made in a short time. It will be the work perhaps of 10 or 15 years.

The money will not be wanted at once. The expenditure, in order to be beneficial ought not to exceed 500,000 dollars a year, and the work may be accomplished in two ways, either by companies, incorporated for particular sections of the route, or by the state. If the first is resorted to, pecuniary sacrifices will still be necessary on the part of the public, and great care ought to be taken to guard against the high tolls, which will certainly injure, if not ruin the whole enterprise.

If the state shall see fit to achieve this great work, there can be no difficulty in providing funds. Stock can be created and sold at an advanced price. The ways and means of paying the interest will be only required. After the first year, supposing an annual expenditure of 500,000 dollars, thirty thousand dollars must be raised to pay an interest of six per cent; after the second year 60,000, and so on. At this rate of interest they will regularly increase with beneficial appropriation, and will be so little in amount that it may be raised in many shapes without being burdensome to the community. In all human probability, the augmented revenue proceeding from the public salt works, and the increased price of the state lands, in consequence of this undertaking, will more than extinguish the interest of the debt contracted for that purpose. We should also take into view, the land already subscribed by individuals for this work, amounting to 106,632 acres. These donations, together with those which may be confidently anticipated, will exceed in value a million of dollars, and it will be at all times in the power of the state to raise a revenue from the imposition of transit duties, which may be so light as scarcely to be felt, and yet the income may be so great, as in a short time to extinguish the debt, and this might take effect on the completion of every important section of the work.

If the legislature shall consider this important project in the same point of view, and shall unite with us in opinion, that the general prosperity is intimately and essentially involved in its prosecution, we are fully persuaded that now is the proper time for its commencement. Delays are the refuge of weak minds, and to procrastinate on this occasion is to show a culpable inattention to the bounties of Nature; a total insensibility to the blessings of Providence, and an inexcusable neglect of the interests of society. If it were intended to advance the views of individuals, or to foment the divisions of party; if it promoted the interests of a few, at the expense of the prosperity of many; if its benefits were limited as to place, or fugitive as to duration, then indeed it might be received with cold indifference, or treated with stern neglect; but the overflowing blessing from this great fountain of public good and national abundance, will be as extensive as our country, and as durable as time.

The considerations which now demand an immediate, and an undivided attention to this great object, are so obvious, so various, and so weighty, that we shall only attempt to glance at some of the most prominent.

In the first place, it must be evident, that no period could be adopted in which the work can be prosecuted with less expense. Every day augments the value of the land through which the canal will pass; and when we consider the surplus hands which have been recently dismissed from the army into the walks of private industry, and the facility with which an addition can be procured to the mass of our active labour, in consequence of the convulsions of Europe, it must be obvious that this is now the time to make those indispensable acquisitions.

2. The longer this work is delayed, the greater will be the difficulty in surmounting the interests that will rise up in opposition to it. Expedients on a contracted scale have already been adopted for the facilitations of intercourse. Turnpikes, locks, and short canals, have been resorted to, and in consequence of those establishments, villages have been laid out, and towns have been contemplated. To prevent injurious speculation, to avert violent opposition, and to exhibit dignified impartiality and fraternal affection to your fellow-citizens, it is proper that they should be notified at once of your intentions.

3. The experience of the late war has impressed every thinking man in the community, with the importance of this communication. The expenses of transportation frequently exceeded the original value of the article, and at all times operated with injurious pressure upon the finances of the nation. The money thus lost for the want of this communication, would have perhaps defrayed more than one half of its expense.

4. Events which are daily occurring on our frontiers, demonstrate the necessity of this work. Is it of importance that our honourable merchants should not be robbed of their legitimate profits; that the public revenues should not be seriously impaired by dishonest smuggling, and that the commerce of our cities should not be supplanted by the mercantile establishments of foreign countries? then it is essential that this sovereign remedy for maladies so destructive and ruinous should be applied. It is with inconceivable regret we record the well known fact, that merchandise from Montreal has been sold to an alarming extent in our borders, for 15 per cent below the New-York prices.