New York State Department of Transportation Division of Waterways Maintenance Maps of Lands Permanently Appropriated by the…

Roughly numerical by parcel number, then contract number.

This series documents the appropriation of lands for canal use by the State Engineer and Surveyor and, later the Division of Canals and Waterways. The Laws of 1903, Chapter 147 authorized the State Engineer to appropriate lands, structures and waters for the use of the improved canals, or as it is commonly referred to, the Barge Canal. In accordance with the law the State Engineer was authorized to create accurate surveys and maps of any appropriated lands.

This series consists of the original linen and paper maps created and maintained by the State Engineer and Surveyor and its succeeding agencies. Each map includes the names of property owners (or reputed owners) and often the names of adjoining property owners; a detailed narrative description of the lands to be appropriated, written directly onto each map; book and page numbers of deeds filed with the appropriate County Clerk; a standard title that includes the town and county of the land to be appropriated; a scale equating inches to feet; the direction of true north; and a signature block of persons who made, traced, and checked the maps, sometimes dated.

In addition the maps sometimes include land acreage; statements relating parcels to numbered line stations; an indication of iron pipes (from which parcel measurements were taken, as mentioned in the narrative description); the monumented base line (a line parallel to the center of the improved Erie Canal); and lines designating proposed pipe lines, the old Erie Canal, the improved Erie Canal and other features, such as railroad lines. Functions of maps and reasons for appropriations (whether easement, conveyance, retention/ reservation (where land is conveyed to an individual but the state reserves the right to convey goods, supplies, or electricity), and flowage/ flooding rights) are often noted in the upper right hand corner of the map.

Lots and parcels only are indicated on the maps; no buildings, dwellings, or structures appear on the maps. Contract and parcel numbers are filled in on preprinted lines found in the upper right corner of each map. Maps and accompanying documents are held together by string or metal studs passed through punched holes, and thus bound between cardboard covers. Maps typically measure 9x40 inches.

The bound volumes constitute a five-volume set of maps showing land appropriations made pursuant to Chapter 79 of the Laws of 1895. Surveys were conducted by the office of the State Engineer and Surveyor in response to this law, which appropriated nine million dollars for canal improvements. The maps include some or all of the following features: narrative survey descriptions of appropriated land; standard title indicating that the land is to be appropriated by the State of New York for the use of the canals; name of property owner(s); town and county in which the land is located; scale (frequently 1 inch = 100 feet); acreage; cultivation and condition of land; base lines (lines parallel to the center of the improved Erie Canal); blue lines (state owned land); towing path; offset lines (for measuring distances along the length of the canal); appropriation lines; spoil lines; line of the old canal; measurements of magnetic bearings;

highways, railways, outlines of certain buildings (e.g., houses, sheds, barns), and the names of some businesses (e.g., cooperage, cement and fertilizer companies); canal-related structures (e.g., bridges, aqueducts); location of gas pipe monuments (from which parcel measurements were taken); penciled annotations referring to field notes or other maps (e.g., "same as 743"); directional symbols and notes on the magnetic bearings (e.g., from what point the bearings were taken); references, usually found in the lower left corner, to field books by book and page numbers; sequential stamped map number in the upper right corner; name of preparer, often with date, usually found in the lower right corner; and a standard certification block, signed and dated by the Superintendent of Public Works, including certification of accuracy signed by Resident/Division Engineer and certification of correctness signed by the State Engineer and Surveyor.

Aperture cards are available at the New York State Canal Corporation.

B0293Series B0293, Index to Map and Plan Books of the Location and Construction of the State's Canal System, indexes the five bound volumes of appropriation maps in this series by county in which land is located and therein by last name of property owner and

B0214Series B0214, Blueprint Copies of Maps of Lands Permanently Appropriated by the State of New York for the Use of the Barge Canal, 1905-1925, contains copies of the maps included in this series.

B1808-02: Container list is available at the repository.

B1808-04: Item list is available at the repository.

B1808-04: These volumes were transferred to the State Archives by the Department of Transportation in 1985. They were originally accessioned as part of Series B0292, Map and Plan Books of the Location and Construction of the State's Canal System. The volumes were removed and accessioned as an accretion to Series B1808 in conjunction with a facility renovation project undertaken in 2004.

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