The Western Section embraced the portion of the route between Lake Erie and the Seneca River; the Middle Section was that between the Seneca River and Rome on the Mohawk; the Eastern Section extended from Rome to Albany on the Hudson. The only point at which there was serious question as to the best route of the canal was between Lake Erie and the Genesee country; and the question was whether to pass south or north of the "mountain ridge" which lay south of the shore of Lake Ontario. Four engineers were sent to make an examination. Two commissioners and engineers were sent to inspect the Middlesex Canal in Massachusetts, "the best artificial navigation in the United States."
The commissioners met again July 15, after which three of them went to inspect the important portions of a canal route which was now being marked out by the corps of surveyors from Lake Erie to the Mohawk. The size of the canal proposed was forty feet wide on water surface, twenty-eight feet wide at the base and four feet deep—capable of handling boats
