that year boats could go about Little Falls in the canal. It was opened November seventeenth and on that day nine boats passed through gratis. In the next thirty days "eight large boats, and one hundred and two small boats, passed the little falls on the Mohawk, and paid toll in the aggregate of £80.10."[1]
This famous little canal, for in its day it was a very significant piece of work, was 4,752 feet long; it contained five locks, each having a lift of about nine feet; the total rise of boats ascending was forty-four feet and seven inches. The locks were located at the lower end of the canal; "the pits, in which they are placed, have been excavated out of solid rock, of the hardest kind. The area of the chambers was 74 x 12 feet, admitting boats drawing 3½ feet; the depth of water in the canal above the locks was three feet and would float boats carrying 32 tons; the time of the passage was three quarters of an hour. Nearly one-half of the canal (2550 feet) was cut through solid rock and its total original cost was about $50,000."
- ↑ Id., p. 9, note.
