New York State Engineer and Surveyor Record of Land Appropriations and Damage Awards Relating to the Genesee Valley Canal

This series consists of a ledger documenting money awarded to claimants for land appropriated by New York State for use in the construction of Genesee Valley Canal. Throughout the construction of the Genesee Valley Canal, the state often needed to appropriate land from private landowners, either permanently or temporarily. This volume tracks the costs associated with these land appropriations.

Each record states the name of the claimant, the date that the award was made, a description of the property, a list of reasons for granting the award, the amount being awarded, interest, and any deductions.

Awards were mainly given due to damage caused to the land or buildings owned by the landowner, inconveniences caused by canal work, and/or the destruction of water sources. The monetary value of the awards were sometimes mitigated by any benefits that the canal brought to the property owners.

B0664Series B0664, Description of Lands Appropriated for Genesee Valley Canal, contains similar types of records and

B0379Series B0379, Maps, Plans, Details, and Drawings of Structures and Locations for work on the Erie, Genesee Valley, Chemung, and Oswego Canals, contains maps that relate to the land appropriations documented in Series B0656.

This series was transferred by the Department of Transportation Division of Waterways Maintenance.

There are no restrictions regarding access to or use of this material.