Archer Butler Hulbert

“ 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. ”

“ With steamers fitted out with low pressure engines it is estimated that freight can be transported profitably on the Ohio at an astonishingly low rate with which no land method of transportation can ever dare hope to compete. The new project of New York, therefore, brings back all the old-time dreams of early American promoters—of Washington's for the Potomac, of Morris's for the Mohawk, and of Robert Morris's for the Susquehanna. If modern engineering can make the canalization of one river a success, it can of hundreds of rivers. ”

“ Great manufacturing establishments will spring up; agriculture will establish its granaries, and commerce its warehouses in all directions. Villages, towns, and cities, will line the banks of the canal, and the shore of the Hudson from Erie to New-York. "The wilderness and the solitary place will become glad, and the desert will rejoice and blossom as the rose." ”

“ Connected with the Hudson, it might be considered as a navigable stream that extends 450 miles through a fertile country, embracing a great population, and abounding with all the productions of industry. If we were to suppose all the rivers and canals in England and Wales, combined into one, and discharged into the ocean at a great city, after passing through the heart of that country, then we can form a distinct idea of the importance of the projected canal; but it indeed comprehends within its influence a greater extent of territory, which will in time embrace a greater population. ”

“ Five lines of stakes were now driven into the ground from the eastern to the western boundaries of the state of New York—a circumstance which must be considered epoch-making in the history of America. For, look at it as you will, the beginning of the Erie Canal must be considered a greater marvel than the building of it. It would be difficult now to propose an engineering feat that is within the range of sanity that would provoke so much ridicule and debate as did the plan to build the Erie Canal through those hundreds of miles of dense forests and reeking swamps in 1816. ”

“ The commerce of the ocean, and the trade of the lakes, passing through one channel, supplying the wants, increasing the wealth, and reciprocating the benefits of each great section of the empire, will form an imperishable cement of connexion, and an indissoluble bond of union. New-York is both atlantic and western, and the only state in which this union of interest can be formed and perpetuated, and in which this great centripetal power can be energetically applied. ”

“ The general arguments in favor of inland navigation, apply with peculiar force to the United States, and most emphatically to this state. A geographical view of the country, will at once demonstrate the unexampled prosperity that will arise from our cultivating the advantages which nature has dispensed with so liberal a hand. A great chain of mountains passes through the United States, and divides them into eastern and western America. In various places, rivers break through those mountains, and are finally discharged into the ocean. ”

“ The most serious objection against the Ontario route, is, that it will inevitably enrich the territory of a foreign power, at the expense of the United States. If a canal is cut around the falls of Niagara, and no countervailing nor counteracting system is adopted in relation to lake Erie, the commerce of the west is lost to us for ever. When a vessel once descends into Ontario, she will pursue the course ordained by Nature. The British Government are fully aware of this, and are now taking the most active measures to facilitate the passage down the St Lawrence. ”

“ This solemnity, at this place, on the first arrival of vessels from Lake Erie, is intended to indicate and commemorate the navigable communication, which has been accomplished between our Mediterranean Seas and the Atlantic Ocean, in about eight years, to the extent of more than four hundred and twenty-five miles, by the wisdom, public spirit, and energy of the people of the state of New York; and may the God of the Heavens and the Earth smile most propitiously on this work, and render it subservient to the best interests of the human race. ”

“ Should your noble but stupendous plan of uniting Lake Erie with the Hudson, be carried into effect, you have to fear no rivalry. The commerce of the immense extent of country, bordering on the upper lakes, is yours for ever, and to such an incalculable amount as would baffle all conjecture to conceive. ”

“ It remains for a free state to create a new era in history, and to erect a work, more stupendous, more magnificent, and more beneficial, than has hitherto been achieved by the human race. Character is as important to nations as to individuals, and the glory of a republic, founded on the promotion of the general good, is the common property of all its citizens. ”

“ We are so fully persuaded of the superiority of the Erie canal, that although we should greatly regret so useless an expenditure of public money as making a canal round the cataract of Niagara, yet we should not apprehend any danger from the competition of Montreal, if the former were established. ”

“ The improvement of the means of intercourse between different parts of the same country, has always been considered the first duty and the most noble employment of government. If it be important that the inhabitants of the same country should be bound together by a community of interests, and a reciprocation of benefits; that agriculture should find a sale for its productions, manufacturers a vent for their fabrics; and commerce a market for its commodities; it is your incumbent duty, to open, facilitate, and improve internal navigation. ”

“ THIS second monograph on the great American canals which played the part of important highways westward, is devoted to an outline of the Erie Canal. In the comparatively short space at our disposal for so great a theme, it has been possible only to sketch some of the leading features of our subject, namely, the early history of the Mohawk Valley route, the origin of the canal idea, its building, the celebration of its completion, a catalogue of its finances and enlargements, and its effect. ”

“ While we do not pretend that all the trade of our western world, will centre in any given place, (nor indeed would it be desirable if it were practicable, because we sincerely wish the prosperity of all the states,) yet we contend, that our natural advantages are so transcendant, that it is in our power to obtain the greater part, and put successful competition at defiance. As all the other communications are impeded by mountains, the only formidable rivals of New-York for this great prize, are New-Orleans and Montreal, the former relying on the Mississippi, and the latter on the St Lawrence. ”

“ However serious the fears which have been entertained of a dismemberment of the Union by collisions between the north and the south, it is to be apprehended that the most imminent danger lies in another direction, and that a line of separation may be eventually drawn between the atlantic and the western states, unless they are cemented by a common, an ever acting and a powerful interest. ”

“ This increase of property is not confined within the six mile limit, but extends much farther away from the route than it does in an old well-settled region having previously felt the influence of a commercial route. Thus the extension of a waterway into new fields is beneficial to the region along the banks of the old waterway, but affects the territory a distance from the route little or none at all; while a waterway extended into a new region is of very great benefit to the region immediately along the route and it is also beneficial, to a less degree, to the remote regions. ”

“ The liberality of Nature has created the great ducts and arteries, and the ingenuities of art can easily provide the connecting veins. The general physiognomy of the country is champaign, and exhibits abundance of water: a gentle rising from the Hudson to the lake; a soil well adapted for such operations: no impassable hills, and no insurmountable waters. As to distance, it is not to be considered in relation to practicability. If a canal can be made for fifty miles, it can be made for three hundred, provided there is no essential variance in the face of the country ”

“ The widening and deepening of the Erie Canal means continued prosperity to the manufacturing industries of this State. It means that the raw material will come to our different towns, villages, and cities at an extremely low cost, and that we will then be able to compete with the manufacturing industries of the great Middle West. Unless this is done, there is but one alternative, that this great State lose its commercial supremacy, which would also mean a great loss in population. People must be employed. ”

“ The importance of the Hudson river to the old settled parts of the state, may be observed in the immense wealth which is daily borne on its waters, in the flourishing villages and cities on its banks, and in the opulence and prosperity of all the country connected with it, either remotely or immediately. ”