lic or private, tending towards this great enterprize, till the 27th October, 1807, when an anonymous publication, under the signature of Hercules, appeared in the Genesee Messenger of Canandaigua, which is attributed to Jesse Hawley, Esq. now [1820] collector of the port of Rochester."[1] It is affirmed that these communications were not inspired by the prophetic words of Morris;[2] they were fourteen in number,
- ↑ History of the . . Western Canals in the State of New York, p. 67.
- ↑ M. S. Hawley, Origin of the Erie Canal, p. 20. Clinton gave Hawley great credit for his part in promoting the Erie Canal idea—p. 21.
"He [Hawley] was at Colonel Mynderse's office in 1805, attending to the shipment of some flour to market, by the circuitous and uncertain route then in use. Himself and Colonel Mynderse conversing upon the necessities for better facilities, Mr. Hawley said: 'Why not have a canal extend direct into our country, and benefit all—merchants, millers, and farmers.'" Hawley then pointed out on a map that Lake Erie could be made a head of water. "A change having occurred in Mr. Hawley's business, he spent the winter of 1806 and 1807 in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, and not knowing when he would return to Ontario county, he sketched the first essay, and to preserve it from oblivion, as he said, he procured it to be published there, on the fourteenth day of January, 1807, in the newspaper called the Commonwealth."—Origin of the Erie Canal, pp. 23–24.
