again in 1817, was $190,000. The matter was at last settled in 1820 by the payment of $152,718.52.[1] There was a moment just here when the canal came near pausing in its swift rush to completion. A recasting of the estimates was essayed, and the New York legislature demanded of the commissioner what portion of the canal was most important in case only a part could be completed. The reply was, of course, that the Western Section should be finished whether the Eastern could be or not. The estimated expense of completing the canal 254 miles from Utica to Lake Erie was $2,845,561; the Eastern Section, only ninety-eight miles long, would cost only $800,000 less, and for this distance the Mohawk River could be made to answer the purpose of a canal if necessary.
But as if pushed forward by the very momentum of its greatness, the canal went forward. The advances made in 1820 were rapid and important. In the Western Section the fifty odd miles between the Genesee and Montezuma were completed with the exception of nine. The route of 1816 was
- ↑ Public Documents (1821), p. 403.
