New York State Canal Board Petitions and Appeals to the Canal Board

Chronological by year, then numeric by document filing number.

The Canal Board was established by Chapter 314 of the laws of 1826. Appeals to the Canal Board from decisions of the Board of Appraisers, later the Canal Appraisers, were made pursuant to Chapter 368 of the Laws of 1829; the Board's decision in these cases was final. The Board was abolished by Laws of 1926, Chapter 348.

This series consists mostly of filed petitions and appeals to the Board with minutes of hearings, testimony, and other related documents and a few miscellaneous items. These records document the Board's responsibilities for hearing damage claims and appeals, directing special repairs, and other canal-related administrative matters. Petitions of individuals, firms, or local governments request leases of water rights and other canal property; extra allowances on contracts; abandonment (cancellation) of contracts; reimbursement for damages to land and other property; improvements such as new culverts, docks, bridges, and other structures; abandonment and sale of unused canal lands; refund of tolls; and other actions by the Board.

The series also contains appeals from decisions of the Board of Appraisers (1829-1857), Canal Appraisers (1857-1883), and Board of Claims (1883-1897), with accompanying exhibits, testimony, and correspondence; resignations of canal employees; complaints about the conduct of employees, including depositions charging corruption and fraud; construction proposals, maps, plans, and cost estimates from canal engineers, often with signed approvals of the Canal Commissioners; construction contracts; and check rolls and vouchers submitted by superintendents of repairs during the 1860s.

After 1900 most of the records concern construction of the Barge Canal and its terminals.

On the back of many documents is a brief summary of the contents of the document and/or a filing number. This filing number is used as a reference in the indexes to this series.

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through inter-library loan.

High resolution images of selected original documents in this series are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

A0856Series A0856, Rough Minutes of the Canal Board, 1832-1926 and

A0868Series A0868, Minutes of the Canal Board, 1833-1855, provide a record of the Canal Board's proceedings

A0859Series A0859, Index to Rough Minutes, Petitions, and Appeals, indexes this series

Series A1434, Index to Petitions and Appeals to the Canal Board, indexes this series from 1828-1832.

Series A0859, Index to Minutes of the Canal Board and to Petitions and Appeals to the Canal Board, indexes this series from 1845-1925.

Container list.

These records have been referred to as the "Canal Board Papers."

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