New York State Engineer and Surveyor Barge Canal Contract Location Maps

Arranged roughly geographically and therein numerically.

The series consists of cut up sections of a printed U.S. Geological Survey topographic map of New York State that has been annotated to locate the areas covered by Barge Canal contracts. The map sections are undated but the series apparently complies with specific requirements of section four of the Barge Canal Law (Laws of 1903, Chapter 147).

This law directed that all authorized canal work be done by contract, and that before any contract could be made the State Engineer must divide the whole work into sections suitable for contracting, and make maps, plans, and specifications for the work to be done. These, along with all other papers relating to the work advertised and which might be necessary to identify the plan and extent of the work contracted, were required to be filed in the office of the State Engineer. No alterations could be made without the consent and approval of the Superintendent of Public Works and the State Engineer. The law also required the State Engineer to make public all plans and estimates for both material and labor.

Each of the three canal divisions and the separate canals on each division were divided into residencies, with work in each residency done under the direction of a resident engineer or an assistant engineer in charge. In 1904 the canal line was divided into 15 sections or residencies for conducting work in the field; the presence of residency numbers dates the series from approximately that time.

The base map shows features standard to state topographic maps, including city, village, town, and county names and boundaries, bodies of water, contour lines, and roads, highways and railroads. The standard U.S.G.S. scale is 1:62,500 and all other map symbols and colors apply. Annotations are by hand and in color, and were apparently made on a single topographic map of the entire state that was subsequently cut up. Contract numbers and the area covered by each contract are marked in red, with the names of respective contractors marked below them in black. Maps also give residency numbers and these areas are marked by bars of color that remain constant throughout all map sections.

Eighteen volumes of maps cover the following six areas, which apparently represent a work plan for mapping canal areas for which work was contracted: Albany to Whitehall; Albany to Utica; Geneva to Weedsport; Oswego to Syracuse; Utica to Montezuma; and Buffalo to Montezuma. Three volumes are devoted to each of these areas. The final (sometimes penultimate) map section in each volume has a pencilled identifier on the back giving the area covered (as above), its consecutive set number within the group (1 to 3), and a three-part numerical code (beginning with 70.79. and ending with a number from one to 18). While the final number may be a volume number, the exact meaning of the code is unknown.

Typical map sections measure 25 x 13 cm. They are pasted onto one continuous piece of cloth and fold vertically and/or horizontally into a volume size of 27 x 15 cm. The number of sections per volume varies, but some extend to as many as 22 sections measuring 320 cm in length. The initial section of each volume is pasted to the cardboard cover with the remaining sections accordion folded inward.

B0391-06: This accretion consists of one undated hand-colored linen blueprint map depicting the entire Barge Canal along with locations of contracts and residencies (administrative sections). The map measures circa 18 by 66 inches and the scale is 1 inch = 5 miles. The map shows the contracts that had been let as of ca. 1910, most of them in the Eastern Division.

Series B0213 Barge Canal and Other Contract Files contains related records.

List of Barge Canal lock numbers and contract numbers is available at the repository.

Described in: Whitford, Noble E., History of the Barge Canal of New York State. Albany: J.B. Lyon Co., printers, 1922.

B0391-06: This map was most likely transferred to the State Archives by the Division of Waterways Maintenance sometime in 1985 along with other Barge Canal related records, including those in accretion B0391-85, but somehow became estranged until it was identified and accessioned as part of the 11th floor renovation project.

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