New York State Contracting Board Proposals and Bonds for Canal Enlargement and Repairs

Numerical.

A Contracting Board was set up by Chapter 329, Laws of 1854, to receive proposals for enlargement of the Erie Canal. Proposals were submitted to the Canal Commissioners. Most of the proposals in this series come from the enlargement, carried out between 1854 and 1862.

Proposals were bids submitted by persons wishing to obtain contracts for construction or repair of canals. Included are printed forms for locks, culverts, waste weirs, aqueducts, bridge abutments, reservoirs, iron superstructure, and general excavation. Proposals specify the cost of clearing, excavation, masonry, carpentry, lumber, stone, iron, cement, and other labor or materials necessary to perform the work.

Each proposal gives the contractor's costs for each category of expenditure and includes a bond for performance of the work. Each proposal includes the lock and section number of the proposed work and an affidavit stating that this is the only proposal submitted. Proposals are numbered and labeled on the outside and are usually bundled in numerical order (though many are out of order). All contracts in accretion A1127-08 appear to be for projects in the Eastern Division of the canal system.

Name index at fore of volume.

A1127-08: This volume was transferred to the New York State Archives from the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse in 1985, and is labeled as #78 on the transfer inventory.

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