New York State Canal Commissioners Canal System Survey Maps

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Overview of the Records

Repository
New York State Archives
222 Madison Avenue
Albany, NY 12230
Summary
These survey maps of the canal system in New York State fulfilled a law requiring a complete map and field notes of every canal in the state. The maps show: survey stations for measuring length of the canal; courses and distances (linked by red lines); canal right-of-way (blue line); locks; aqueducts; basins; other hydraulic structures; bridges; mill races; buildings; streams, ponds, and lakes; steep grades; and adjacent county, town, and property lines.
Title
Canal Commissioners canal system survey maps
Quantity
21.5 cubic feet; 31 volumes; 25 unbound maps; 4 microfilm rolls 35mm
Inclusive Dates
Series Number
A0848
Creator
Scope and Content Note

Bound folio volumes contain ink, wash and charcoal maps of the canal system in New York State.

The maps show: survey stations for measuring length of the canal; courses and distances (linked by red lines); canal right-of-way (blue line); locks; aqueducts; basins; other hydraulic structures; bridges; mill races; buildings; streams, ponds, and lakes; steep grades; and adjacent county, town, and property lines. The scale is not given.

Volumes include maps for: Erie Canal, 1834; Chemung Canal and Feeder, 1843; Crooked Lake Canal and Cayuga and Seneca Canal, 1834; Cayuga and Seneca Canal, n.d.; Chenango Canal, 1838; Seneca River Improvement, 1840; Champlain Canal, 1830; and Genesee Valley Canal, 1841, 1850, n.d. There is also a single volume of maps and several unbound maps depicting portions of the canal in Wayne County in accretion A0848-06.

These surveys were made pursuant to legislation of 1827 requiring a complete manuscript map and field notes of every canal to be completed.

A0848-17: This accretion consists of the following volumes duplicated from the original series: "Erie Canal No. 7. Jordan to Kirkville," (with pencil annotations of abandonments as late as 1985); "Erie Canal No. 8. Kirkville to Rome,"; "Cayuga & Seneca Canals Survey," with attached certification and signatures by the Canal Board, pages 1-34, surveys the existing route from Geneva to Montezuma; and "Oswego Canal in Onondaga County from Syracuse to Three River Point."

Alternate Formats Available

Microfilm is available for use at the New York State Archives or through interlibrary loan.

Most maps in this series have been digitized and are available in State Archives Digital Collections.

Color slides of original maps of the Chenango Canal (vols 1 and 2) available in series B1520, Images of Chenango Canal Survey Maps.

A1078Series A1078, Engineer's Field Notes for State Canals, may have been used in the production of the maps in this series.

Custodial History

Accretion A0848-06 was transferred to the State Archives from the New York State Museum. These maps are a fragment of one of the several original map sets created and distributed to members of the Canal Commission. Whereabouts of the other sets is unknown.

Access Restrictions

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

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