a few years) presents to the mind—a scene unequalled in any other part of the globe; offering to the enterprising and adventurous, sources of trade, rapidly advancing to an incalculable amount, ensuring a certain recompence to the individuals, who promote, and the state, that patronizes their important undertakings." Thus Mr. Weston concluded his report.
Yet the projectors of this work were men ahead of their days; in a great measure public sympathy was not in favor of the undertaking, especially along the line of operation. Here the strongest objections were raised, some of them of a curious nature. One petition to the legislature read that the operations on the Hudson "will Cause the Fish to wit Shad, Herrin &c Totally to Abandon the North River, a circumstance which would be felt not only by Your Petitioners but by thousands Residing between Fort Edward and as far Southward as the River Extends."[1]
It was found to be all the company could do to keep things going on the eastern
- ↑ MS. Letters on Canals by Philip Schuyler and Simeon De Witt, 1793–94, Lenox Library.
