1795. Jay becomes Governor. 1796. Fitch's steamboat tried at New York. 66 Canal at Little Falls completed. John Lawrence elected U. S. Senator. 1797. Office of Controller created. Philip Schuyler chosen U. S. Senator. Albany made the state capital. 1798. Company created to build canal from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. "" Jay re-elected Governor. Clinton and Spencer elected U. S. Senators. 1799. Partial abolition of slavery. 1800. Watertown settled. 66 Morris and Armstrong chosen U. S. Senators. 66 Clinton elected U. S. Senator. 1801. Common-school system organized. 66 Clinton elected Governor again. Constitutional Convention meets. 1802. Ambrose Spencer appointed Attorney-General. 1804. Lewis becomes Governor. Clinton chosen Vice-President. 1805. School fund begun. 66 "Free School Society of the City of New York" incor The embargo laid. 1807. Fulton's "Clermont" on the Hudson. 1808. Canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson favored. 66 Clinton re-elected Vice-President. 1809. German made U. S. Senator. 1810. Board of Commissioners to survey route for Erie Canal. Tompkins re-chosen Governor. 1811. Canal authorized. 66 Commissioners named to establish common schools. 1812. Common-school system organized. Vice-President Clinton dies. 66 Bank of America chartered. War with England. II. PERIOD OF INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS CHAPTER XXVI. BEGINNINGS OF THE ERIE CANAL Need of Canals.-The people of western New York found it very difficult to communicate with the eastern part of the state. The lakes and rivers formed a fine system of inland waterways, but there were numerous shoals, windings, and tiresome carries that made a trip from one end of the state to the other a task of weeks. The rising western civilization demanded that these excellent natural water routes be connected by artificial means. Cadwallader Colden (1724), Governor George Moore (1768), Captain Joseph Carver (1776), Gouverneur Morris (1777), and Washington, who made a trip to western New York with Clinton in 1783, all had visions of a canal system connecting the western waters with the Atlantic. Canals before the Erie.-As early as 1772 a plan had been presented to the legislature for the improvement of the Mohawk for navigation. In 1784 Christopher Colles was given a monopoly of the navigation of the Mohawk for removing the obstructions. Elkanah Watson, who had studied the canals of England and Holland, discussed the subject with Washington (1785), traveled in western New York, and proposed to join the Great Lakes to the Hudson (1788). In 1791 Watson The sent a letter to the legislature on the subject. same year that body appointed a committee on surveys and incorporated two companies, one to open a lock passage from the Hudson to Lake Ontario and Seneca Lake, the other to construct a waterway from the Hudson to Lake Champlain. The first company built three small canals and locks at a cost of $400,000, so that by 1796 boats of sixteen tons were running from Schenectady to Seneca Falls and Lake Ontario. But the expenses were so great and the tolls so high that it was cheaper to convey freight and passengers by land. The Champlain enterprise failed. First Suggestions. In 1800 Gouverneur Morris predicted that ships would sail" from London through the Hudson's River into Lake Erie." From 1800 to 1808 the project was thoroughly discussed. It was denounced as too expensive and sneered at as visionary, yet was favored by many. Jesse Hawley, a prisoner for debt at Canandaigua, wrote a series of essays in the Genesee Messenger in its favor (Oct. 27, 1807). In 1808 Judge Benjamin Wright of Oneida county and Joshua Forman of Onondaga county induced the legislature to vote $600 for a survey of the Erie route. James Geddes made the survey and reported favorably in 1809. The next year seven commissioners, with Gouverneur Morris at their head, were appointed to examine the route. They approved of the Erie route and estimated the cost at $5,000,000. On April 8, 1811, two more commissioners were appointed, and the nine were authorized to accept gifts and borrow money to build the canal. The War of 1812, however, stopped further work for five years. Steamboats. Before the canal was begun steamboats were going up and down the Hudson. Various experi ventor, wrote of the trip: "The signal was given, the boat moved a short distance and then stopped. I went below, examined the machinery, and discovered that the cause was a slight mal-adjustment of the works. In a short period it was obviated. The boat was again put in motion. She continued to move on. We left the fair city of New York; we passed through the romantic and ever-varying scenery of the Highlands; we descried the clustering homes of Albany; we reached its shores. It was then doubted if the trip could be done again, or, if done, it could be made of any great value." 66 Fulton and Livingston's Monopoly. Next year the Clermont," enlarged and with a new name, made regular trips to Albany. The "Car of Neptune " (1807), the "Raritan " (1808), the "Paragon " (1811), the "Camden," and the "Fire-Fly" (1812) were soon put on the Hudson, and other vessels on Long Island Sound. In 1811 Robert R. Livingston and Fulton, who held a monopoly of steamboat navigation for the state, began to build boats for Lake Champlain, but they were forced to give up their rights on that body of water. The monopoly died with Fulton in 1815. The "Phoenix," built by John Stevens and his son Robert, first sailed the ocean from New York to the Delaware River (1808). The "Savannah," built at New York, went to Savannah, then across the ocean to England, Sweden, and Russia (1819), and in twenty-five days returned to New York directly from St. Petersburg. Other Vessels.-Sail-ferries had been used for years at New York, on the Hudson, on Cayuga Lake (1791), at Buffalo (1804), and on the Genesee River (1805). Steam-ferries, called the "Jersey," "York," and "Nassau," connected New York with Long Island and with New Jersey (1814). The first steamboat on Lake Ontario was the "Ontario," built at Sacketts Harbor (1816), and the first on Lake Erie was the "Walk-in-theWater," built at Black Rock (1818). Soon a boat was sailing the Genesee River (1824). In 1823 a New York City paper noted the arrival of the first western boat in |