Note 38 — Buttrick’s Voyages, Travels, and Discoveries 1812–1819 (continued 2)

The Erie Canal was constructed in three sections; the middle section, extending from Seneca River to Utica, being completed by 1820. The history of the construction of this canal is most interesting. As early as 1808 the legislature ordered a survey of a feasible route. Two years later a board of canal commissioners was established. Unsuccessful in appealing to the national government for aid, DeWitt Clinton presented an elaborate memorial to the legislature (1816), signed also by the other commissioners. The bill authorizing its construction was passed in April, 1817, and work was begun at Rome on July 4 following. It was completed in 1825 and opened with much ceremony.—Ed.