New York State Department of Public Works Records Relating to Diverse Parts of the State's Canal System

The series consists of a mixture of materials produced from work done on the state's canal system over several decades. It is not known why or by whom the materials were brought together. The records pertain to several different areas of the Barge Canal system, including the Cayuga and Seneca Canal, the Auburn Extension, and the Erie, Oswego, and Champlain Canals. The relationship among records, if any, is unclear.

Records include: information for proposers, preliminary estimates, forms, and specifications relating to public notification of contracts M-35 and M-67 let for maintenance of terminals (under Chapter 75, Laws of 1928) in 1928 and 1930; blueprint copies of maps of land to be appropriated for canal use in Cayuga County (Montezuma); daily journal of work on the Auburn Extension Survey (1917-1918) and eight field books of data (Cayuga County); various sheets of unidentified computations and data (e.g. blueline offset measurements; elevations of canal bed); rough notes of estimates (Baldwinsville) and draft survey descriptions and notes on assessed property values; copies of the two volume published report of the State Engineer and Surveyor for year ended June 30, 1921; field notes on Contract I for the Cayuga and Seneca Canal ("Book 2"); contract estimates for improvement of the Erie, Oswego and Champlain Canals (Chapter 147, Laws of 1903; Chapter 740, Laws of 1905) under Contract No. 14, 1912; and postcard forms (ca. 1,200) reporting weekly observations (ca. 1907-1913) of river heights made at gauging stations of the Seneca, Oswego and Hudson Rivers, Lake Champlain, and Irondequoit and Wood Creeks, among others.

A4431-15: This accretion contains various records relating to state canals, including an accounting ledger for materials purchased for construction of a lock and dam at Waterloo for the Cayuga and Seneca Canal (1913); correspondence of the Special Examiner and Appraiser about parcels appropriated for the Barge Canal (1923-1924); report on suggestions for improving the efficient and economical administration of the Barge Canal (1925); gazetteer of lakes, ponds, and reservoirs of the State of New York (1926); list of benchmarks in Queens County (1933); list of materials shipped by tonnage over state canals (1942); correspondence with the State Senate about adding Cayuga and Seneca lake outlets to the Barge Canal; list of route distances on the Barge Canal from each lock to every other; and file plan for general departmental correspondence.

A4431-15: This accretion was identified and transferred by principal engineer William Schollenberger of the New York State Canal Corporation in April 2014.

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