Accounts of property first cleared and left at Boonville on the Black River Canal

Arranged chronologically by year and therein by type of account.

Although no specific legislation authorizing the compilation of these "Accounts of Property" could be located, Section 188 in the Ninth Article of Title IX, Revised Statutes of 1827 does mandate that the comptroller "shall prepare the forms of all clearances, bills of lading, statements and other papers necessary to be used under the provisions of this title." Among the provisions covered by this law were the regulations and procedures for the weighing of all property carried on the state's canals.

This series consists of oversized volumes containing statistical data on property first cleared and left at the collector's office in Boonville on the Black River Canal. The accounts consist of two sets per year, the first set (Account No. 1) deals with all the property on which tolls were paid at the Boonville office and on which tolls were not paid at any other office. The second set (Account No. 2) pertains to property left at the Boonville office; property passing Boonville either way, and to be left short of the next office; and property shipped and to be left between the offices on either side of Boonville, and on which tolls were paid, until 1882, at Boonville. It should be noted that there are gaps in this series.

Data within both sets of accounts are arranged by month and were entered daily by the collector. The types of property are arranged under seven broad categories entitled "The Forest," Product of Animals," "Agriculture, " "All Other Agricultural Products," "Manufacturers," "Merchandize" (sic) and "Other Articles." The quantities provided for each type of property listed under the broad category are either weight (in pounds) feet, cords, barrels, bushels or gallons. At the end of each account appears an "Annual Account of Property" that provides not only yearly summary data on each of the properties listed above but biweekly and monthly summaries as well. Obviously the summaries do not pertain to each month of the year but only for the months the Black River Canal was open for use.

The following published annual reports contain similar information on nineteenth century canal shipping: Reports of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund of the Tolls, Trade and Tonnage of the New York Canals, 1832 - 1847

Reports of the Auditor of the Canal Department of the Tolls, Trade and Tonnage of the Canals, 1848 - 1882

Report of the Comptroller on the Tolls, Trade and Tonnage of the Canals for 1882 (Assembly document 1883, No. 142) and the Annual Reports of the Superintendent of Public Works, 1884-1900. These are available from the New York State Library.

Volume list.

B0249-05: This accession resulted from a project by State Archives staff in 2005 to identify, describe, and accession previously unaccessioned series.

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