One of the aqueducts crosses the Genesee River at Rochester, and is 804 feet in length. Another aqueduct crosses the Mohawk at Little Falls, on three arches of 50 and 70 feet span; two others cross the same river, one 748 feet, and the other 1,188 feet in length. The sides of the canal are sometimes paved with stone, and sometimes covered with thick grass, to hinder the soil from washing away. A tow-path 4 feet above the surface of the water, and 10 feet wide, runs the whole length of the canal. number of side cuts branch off from the canal to different places; one of these, from Syracuse to Oswego, is 38 miles long; another, from Montezuma to Cayuga and Seneca Lake, 20 miles. The Chemung Canal, 23 miles, connect Lake

A

Crooked Lake Canal, 8 miles in length, and the Seneca with Crooked Lake and the Susquehanna. The canal boats for the conveyance of passengers are generally 80 feet in length and 14 in width, drawing from 1 to 2 feet of water. The cabin occupies nearly the whole length of the deck, and is 8 feet in height, with single berths on each side for 30 persons. They are drawn by 3 horses, and proceed day and night 4 miles an hour; relays are furnished every 8 or 10 miles. Boats with merchandise go about 55 miles in 24 hours; the passage boats make, including delays, 85 miles' progress in the same time. The navigation upon this great canal is prodigious, and the work does honor to the sagacity and enterprise of those who planned it.

The Chenango Canal, begun in 1833 and completed in 1837, extends from the Erie Canal at Utica up the valleys of the Saquoit and Oriskany Creeks, and down that of the Chenango to the Susquehanna at Binghampton, 97 miles; rise from Erie Canal to summit level, 706 feet, fall thence to the Susquehanna, 303; total lockage 1,009 feet by 116 locks; there are 19 aqueducts, 12 dams, 7 reservoirs, and 17 miles of feeders; cost 2,270,605 dollars. The Champlain Canal extends from the Erie Canal in Watervliet, on the south side of the Mohawk, up the valley of the Hudson, crossing that river in Saratoga, leaving it at Fort Edward, and passing down the valley of Wood Creek to Lake Champlain at Whitehall; length 64 miles, with a navigable feeder of 12 miles from the Hudson above Glenn's Falls; lockage 188 feet, by 21 locks. It was begun in October, 1817, and completed at the close of 1819; cost 1,257,604 dollars. Two other lateral canals are now in progress; one of these is the Genesee and Alleghany Canal, which extends from Rochester up the valley of the Genesee, and thence by that of Oil Creek to the Alleghany, at Olean, 107 miles, with a branch from Mount Morris to Danville, 15 miles; the summit level at Portage is 979 feet above the Erie Canal at Rochester, and 78 feet above Olean; total lockage 1,057 feet, by 132 locks; estimated cost 2,002,285 dollars. The northern branch or Black River Canal will extend from the main trunk at Rome to the foot of the High Falls in Leyden on Black River, 35 miles, with a navigable feeder of 11 miles from near Boonville to the upper streams of Black River; total lockage 1,083 feet, by 135 locks; estimated cost, including 20,000 dollars for improving the river navigation below, 1,068,437 dollars. The river is navigable 40 miles below Leyden to Carthage, whence its course is broken by falls and rapids.

The only work executed by individuals, with the exception of some local excavations, is the Delaware and Hudson Canal, which, beginning at Eddyville on the Roundout Creek, 3 miles from the Hudson, ascends the valley of the creek, and passing into that of the Nevisink, follows it down to the Delaware; it then runs up along the latter to the mouth of the Lackawaxen, and up this river to Honesdale in Pennsylvania; length 109 miles, depth 4 feet, width at surface 32 to 36 feet, locks 76 feet in length; lockage 950 feet, by 106 locks; cost 2,249,895 dollars; the chief object of this canal is the transportation of coal, and a railroad from Honesdale to Carbondale, 16 miles, affords access to the Wyoming coal-field; about 350 coal-boats are employed on the canal, bringing down upwards of 100,500 tons of coal annually; a good

deal of lumber and other articles are also brought to market by this channel; tolls about 50,000 dollars a year.

The total length of the artificial navigable channels of this State, including the two unfinished works, is about 950 miles, made at an expense of about 20,000,000 dollars; there are also about 500 miles of river and lake navigation within its borders, and a frontier line of navigable lakes and rivers of about 400 miles. Ship-canals have been projected round the falls of Niagara, from the river Seneca to Great Sodus Bay on Lake Ontario, and from Oswego by the Oswego and Oneida rivers, Lake Oneida, and the Mohawk to the Hudson.

Amount and Value of Goods cleared on the State Canals in 1836.

Although there have been several reductions of the rates of toll on the canal during the last four years, there has, nevertheless, been a considerable increase of the aggregate amount collected in that period, as appears from the following statement for four years at the old rates, and for four years since the reductions commenced.

Amount of Tolls from 1829 to 1833, and from 1833 to 1836.

3. Railroads. The railroads in this State are wholly the work of incorporated companies, but the State has lent its credit in aid of one great work of general interest, the connexion of the Hudson and Lake Erie by a railroad through the southern counties. Upwards of 350 miles of railroad are completed, and about 500 more are in progress. The Long Island Railroad, which is to extend from Brooklyn to Greenport, 98 miles, has been completed as far as Hicksville, 27 miles; a ferry of 25 miles from Greenport to Stonington, will connect this road with the Stonington and Boston Railroad. The Rensselaer and Saratoga Railroad extends from Troy to Ballston Spa, 24 miles. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad runs from Albany to Schenectady, 15 miles, and is continued by the Schenectady and Saratoga Railroad, running from the former place to Saratoga Spring, 21 miles. The Utica and Schenectady Railroad, running along the northern bank of the Mohawk, connects those two places, 78 miles. The Utica and Syracuse Railroad, 50 miles, is also finished, and now (1840,) forms the connecting link between Albany and Auburn, a distance of 139 miles, by means of the Auburn and Syracuse Railroad, of 25 miles, which extends from Syracuse to Auburn. The Tonawanda Railroad extends from Rochester through Batavia to Attica, 47 miles, and is connected with Lake Ontario by the Rochester Railroad, of 8 miles. The Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad connects those two points, 20 miles. The Buffalo and Niagara Falls Railroad runs from Buffalo to the Falls, 23 miles. The Ithaca and Owego Railroad connects Lake Cayuga with the Susquehanna, 29 miles. The Hudson and Berkshire Railroad extends from the city of Hudson to the Massachusetts line towards West Stockbridge, 32 miles, and the Catskill and Canajoharie Road continues this route. from the former place on the Hudson to the latter on the Mohawk, 70 miles. The Harlæm Railroad, from New York to Harlæm, although but a few miles long, is remarkable for its

solid and costly viaducts, and its tunnel of 600 feet in length, cut through a hard granite rock. The proposed New York and Albany Railroad is to follow the route of this work. The New York and Erie Railroad, the greatest undertaking of the kind in the world, if we except the Charleston and Cincinnati Railroad, is to extend from Tappan on the Hudson, 24 miles above New York, through the southern border counties to Dunkirk on Lake Erie, 350 miles; the cost of the work is estimated at 5,473,000 dollars, and beside numerous valuable donations of land in the most important villages and town-sites, the company has received a loan of 3,000,000 dollars from the State. Several sections of the road are already in a forward condition.

4. Cities and Towns. The city of New York occupies the first rank among the cities of the western world for population, wealth, and trade.

Situated upon a noble harbor, at the mouth of one of the finest navigable rivers in the world, it enjoys a monopoly of the trade of a large and wealthy district of the interior. Hence the increase of the city has kept pace with the developement of trade and industry in the neighboring States. The rapid augmentation of population, commerce, and every material of prosperity which New York has witnessed in recent years, is almost without a parallel. Founded by the Dutch, in 1614, by the name of New Amsterdam, it did not for a century exceed Boston in point of numbers; but with the settlement of the interior of the State, and the opening of the navigation of the great lakes, New York has received an impulse, which, added to other advantages, has established its present and secured its future preeminence. In respect to commerce, it is already the second city in the world. It stands on the southern point of an island at the mouth of the Hudson; on the east, the shore of this island is watered by a deep channel, called East River, which separates it from Long Island, and affords a navigable communication between New York harbor and Long Island Sound. The harbor extends 8 miles south of the city to the Narrows. The ground on which the city is built rises with a moderate ascent from both rivers, which gives it a more imposing exterior than the uniform level of Philadelphia, although it by no means equals the bold and commanding aspect of Boston. The view of New York in approaching it by the Narrows from the sea is particularly fine. The bay contains many small islands, with forts and

The City Hall.

castles upon them, and the lofty spires of the city are visible at a great distance. The bay is everywhere deep, and the current rapid; it has not been frozen over for 50 years. The first settlement was made at the southern extremity, consequently that portion of the city is composed of narrow, crooked, inconvenient streets, and unsightly old buildings; but the more modern parts, and especially those which have grown up within 20 years, are regular and commodious. The finest street is Broadway, which traverses the whole city in a straight line from north to south, being 3 miles in length and 80 feet in breadth. It is occupied by shops, elegant houses,

and public buildings, and few streets in the world equal it for the splendor, bustle, and fashion it exhibits. The Battery is an enclosed promenade on the shore at the southern extremity of the city; it is planted with trees, and though not extensive, is pleasant, much frequented, and offers a delightful view of the harbor. There are several other parks or squares. That called the Park is a triangular enclosure of 11 acres in the centre of the city; upon one side of this stands the City Hall, an elegant structure, with a front of white marble; it is 216 feet long and 105 broad, and is one of the finest buildings in the country. The Merchants' Exchange is

splendid edifice of granite, situated in Wall Street. St. Paul's Chapel is esteemed one of the finest buildings in the city; its spire is 234 feet high. St. John's Chapel has a spire 240 feet in height, and is the most costly church in the city, having been built at the expense of 200,000 dollars. St. Patrick's Cathedral, a Roman Catholic edifice, is the largest of all the churches, and is of stone, 120 feet long and 80 wide. There are more than 150 additional churches, some of them very costly. Trinity Church is now (1840,) rebuilding, and belongs to the oldest and richest episcopal establishment in America, possessing a property to the amount of several millions of dollars. The Unitarian Church of the Messiah, recently erected, is one of the handsomest churches in the country. The Custom-house, in Wall Street,

is a massive and costly structure, 177 feet long, with a Doric portico on each front; the Halls of Justice, a fine building in the Egyptian style; the University Hall, an elegant structure in the collegiate style, with a front of 190 feet; the halls of Columbia. College; the New York Hospital; Astor House, a hotel of Quincy granite, containing 390 rooms; the Almshouse at Bellevue; the Penitentiary on Blackwell's Island, in East River, &c., are among the other public buildings. Numerous benevolent and charitable institutions and socie

ties provide for the suffering and ine poor, among which are institutions for the blind, and the deaf and dumb, the city hospital, the hospital for insane paupers, orphan asylums, relief societies, &c. The Historical Society, with a library of 10,000 volumes; the Society Library, with 30,000; the Mercantile Library Association, with 14,000; the Lyceum of Natural History, with a good museum and library; the American Institute, for the promotion of domestic industry; the Academy of Fine Arts; the University: Columbia College; the Episcopal Theological Seminary; the New York Theological Seminary; the Medical College, &c. are indications of intellectual taste; and not less than 70 periodicals, including daily newspapers, monthly magazines, and quarterlies, are published here. There are 50 free schools in the city, with about 15,000 pupils, supported at a charge of 120,000 dollars a year. But it is chiefly as the great mart of foreign commerce and inland trade, that New York is known. The annual value of imports from foreign countries is from 70 to 80,000,000 dollars, of exports about 20,000,000. The inland and coasting trade of New York is immense, but of its actual value we have no account. The amount of shipping owned in this port is nearly 400,000 tons, or about one fifth of the whole shipping of the United States. There are about 2,000 arrivals annually from foreign countries, and nearly 5,000 coastwise arrivals. Regular lines of commodious packets keep up a connexion with the principal Atlantic ports of Europe and America; 20 ships of the finest class constitute the Liverpool line, one sailing every week from each port; the London line consists of 12 similar vessels, sailing once every ten days; and the Havre line of 15, sailing weekly. There are also lines to Belfast in Ireland, Greenock, Carthagena in New Grenada, Vera Cruz in Mexico, Havana, and all the principal ports in the United States. Several large steam-packets also ply regularly between New York and Bristol, and other British ports.

Astor House.

The population, including the suburbs, exceeds 300,000; at different periods it was as follows:

1790, 1810, 1820,

33,131 1830, 96,373 1835, 124,706

202,589 270,089

The island of Manhattan, on which New York stands, is 133 miles long and from 1 to 3 miles broad. The strait which separates it from Long Island is narrow. On the opposite side of the island, the Hudson offers a very wide channel, but all the large shipping lies at the wharves on the east side; and the immense forest of masts which opens upon the view as the spectator enters the East River from Long Island Sound, gives some adequate idea of the vast commerce of the city. The neighborhood presents many interesting objects and much fine scenery. The Long Island shore is adorned with handsome villas and farm-houses. The Jersey shore is deficient in that picturesque variety of hill and dale, which is the charm of New England scenery, but affords many pleasant sites.

The municipal government of New York is vested in a Mayor and Common Council, consisting of two chambers, the Board of Aldermen and the Board of Assistant Aldermen, chosen annually by the citizens. The Dutch had a factory on the present site of New York as early as 1612, and about ten years later they formed a permanent settlement here, which acquired the name of New Amsterdam, and afterwards took the name of New York, when it passed into the hands of the Duke of York, in 1664. In 1765, New York was the seat of a continental congress, and in 1776 it was occupied by the British forces, who retained possession until November 25, 1783. The number of inhabitants had been diminished by this hostile occupancy, and many of the public buildings were much injured, but many of the citizens returned soon after the evacuation of the town by the enemy. In 1785, the first Congress after the peace met here, and in 1789 the first Congress under the new constitution