Extract from the Albany Daily Advertiser
(1819)
The last two days have presented in this village, a scene of the
liveliest interest; and I consider it among the privileges of my life
to have been present to witness it. On Friday afternoon I walked to
the head of the grand canal, the eastern extremity of which reaches
within a very short distance of the village, and from one of the
slight and airy bridges which crossed it, I had a sight that could not
but exhilirate and elevate the mind. The waters were rushing in from
the westward, and coming down their untried channel towards the sea.
Their course, owing to the absorption of the new banks of the canal,
and the distance they had to run from where the stream entered it, was
much slower than I had anticipated; they continued gradually to steal
along from bridge to bridge, and at first only spreading over the bed
of the canal, imperceptibly rose and washed its sides with a gentle
wave. It was dark before they reached the eastern extremity; but at
sunrise next morning, they were on a level, two feet and a half deep
throughout the whole distance of thirteen miles. The interest
manifested by the whole country, as this new internal river rolled its
first waves through the state, cannot be described. You might see the
people running across the fields, climbing on trees and fences, and
crowding the bank of the canal to gaze upon the welcome sight. A boat
had been prepared at Rome, and as the waters came down the canal, you
might mark their progress by that of this new Argo, which floated
triumphantly along the Hellespont of the west, accompanied by the
shouts of the peasantry, and having on her deck a military band. At
nine the next morning, the bells began a merry peal, and the
commissioners in carriages, proceeded from Bagg's hotel, to the place
of embarkation.
The governor, accompanied by Gen. Van Rensselaer, Rev. Mr.
Stansbury, of Albany, Rev. Dr. Blatchford, of Lansingburgh, Judge
Miller, of Utica, Mr. Holly, Mr. Seymour, Judge Wright, Col. Lansing,
Mr. Childs, Mr. Clark, Mr. Bunner, and a large company of their
friends, embarked, at a quarter past nine, and were received with the
roll of the drum, and the shouts of a large multitude of spectators.
The boat, which received them, is built for passengers;--is sixty-one
feet in length, and seven and an half feet in width;--having two
rising cabins, of fourteen feet each, with a flat deck between them.
In forty minutes the company reached Whitesborough, a distance of two
miles and three quarters; the boat being drawn by a single horse,
which walked on the towing path, attached to a tow rope, of about
sixty feet long. The horse travelled, apparently, with the utmost
ease. The boat, though literally loaded with passengers, drew but
fourteen inches water. A military band played patriotic airs.
From bridge to bridge, from village to village, the procession was
saluted with cannon, and every bell whose sound could reach the canal,
swung, as with instinctive life, as it passed by. At Whitesborough, a
number of ladies embarked, and heightened, by their smiles, a scene
which wanted but this to make it complete.