Erie Water West: A History of the Erie Canal, 1792-1854

6. The Politics of Construction

6 The Politics of Construction IN THE popular mind, the Erie Canal was known more commonly as the "Grand Canal," the "Great Western Canal," or the "Big Ditch." And, as a matter of fact, legislative authorization for construction west of the Seneca was not yet given. The middle section had put the plans of the commissioners to the "touchstone of experiment," said Clinton in 1819, and there could not "exist a doubt of the feasibility of the work, or of the ability of the state" to complete them. When the middle section was nearly navigable, Clinton recommended to the legislature that a law should be passed "authorizing the completion of the whole work as soon as possible."l Clinton repeated his admonition that while it cost $100 a ton to carry goods from Buffalo to Albany, only onefourth of the expense would carry the same goods from Buffalo to Montreal. Again his goal was to bring the trade of the west to New York and to offer new markets to manufacturer and- farmer alike. He reemphasized the function of the canal as a bond of union and the key to the preservation of American liberty. A majority of the members of the legislature supported him and the completion of the canal was authorized in April of 1819.2 But which section would next be completed? Canal goods piled up at Utica and suffered spoilage for want of 102 Erie Water West transportation to Albany. On the other hand Robert Troup spoke for the people along the western section of the canal when he wrote to Clinton in 1818 urging the advantages of turning next to the west.3 In February of 1819 the Joint Committee on Canals in the legislature, acting on the advice of the commissioners, recommended the beginning of the western section. Since the eastern section was in many respects the most difficult it would be well to have additional experience in the west. Furthermore , the commissioners advised that the sooner the western section was completed the sooner commercial connections to Montreal would be severed and the tide of Western commerce would set towards New York.4 But a still more fundamental reason dictated the immediate beginning of construction west of the Seneca. Clinton was most concerned with the political opposition of those in New York who had long been unsympathetic to the interior route and who wished to see him down. And for Clinton, 1820 was an election year. In the face of this threat, the commissioners immediately let contracts for the sixty-three miles between the Seneca River and Rochester, and for the twenty-six miles between Utica and Little Falls.5 The governor made public his fears in his annual address to the legislature in January of 1820. He told of the "exertions of insidious enmity" which sought to combine 1 Laws, I, 394. Clinton wrote confidently to Rufus King in January, "Our Canal improvements will be prosecuted with vigor and the Legislature will pass favorable laws on the subject this session. . . . The opposition to internal navigation is entirely paralized [sic]." January 24, 1819, Rufus King Papers, NYHS. ~ Laws, I, 433-35. 3 Troup to Clinton, December 18, 1818, De Witt Clinton Papers, CUL. 4 Laws, I, 425. 5 Clinton to Joseph Ellicott, March 11, September 25, 1818, February 19, 23, 1819, HLC-WNY Canal Documents, pp. 130, 144, 157; Laws, 1,438. The Politics of Construction 103 an ever greater proportion of the population against the further extension of the canal as each locality strove to gain the advantage over western rivals. He told of the attempts being made to halt the canal at the Seneca River and he warned that similar attempts would be renewed when it reached the Genesee. In furthering their "selfish designs" the perpetrators of these acts of political sabotage would "destroy the great fabric of internal improvement." It was partly to forestall such attacks that the middle section of the canal had been constructed first. Now, promised Clinton, "By operating in both directions, a solemn pledge is given of our determination to finish the whole canal. ..."6 The political struggle of the years 1819 and 1820 over the completion of the western section of the canal was essentially a new phase of the struggle which had marked the inauguration of the canal in 1817. Opposition from the southern counties continued to deplore the improvement of a route...