Mr.  Geddes,  who,  from  the  beginning,  has  had  so  large  and  active  a  part
in  planning  ai:id  executing  the  Canals,  in  the  year  eighteen  hundred  and


MKMOIK.  33

eight,  intimated,  that  it  tvas  the  opinion  of  iflany,  that  a  Canal  might  be
made  from  Erie  to  Rome.  Mr.  Elliot,  who  was  afterwards  one  of  the
conrmiissioners,  in  a  letter  to  the  Surveyor  General,  written  in  July,
eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  very  strongly  recommends  a  communication
to  Lake  Erie,  in  preference  to  the  Ontario  route.
In  the  Session  of  eighteen  hundred  and  eight,  Mr.  Joshua  Forman,  a
Member  of  the  Assembly  from  Onondaga  county,  proposed,  iii  that  body,
a  concurrent  resolution  to  direct  a  survey  to  be  made  •'  of  the  most  eligible
and  direct  route  of  a  Canal,  to  open  a  communication  between  the  tide
waters  of  the  Hudson  River  and  Lake  Erie."  This  is  the  first  Legislative
proceeding,  of  which  there  is  any  trace,  that  had  reference  to  a  Canal
from  the  Hudson  to  Lake  Erie.
This  resolution  was  adopted,  and  subsequently,  by  a  joint  resolution  pro-
posed by  Mr.  Gould,  in  the  Senate,  the  Surveyor  General  was  directed  to
cause  the  survey,  contemplated  by  Mr  Forman's  resolution,  to  be  made;
but  BO  limited  were  the  views  the  Legislature,  at  this  time,  had  of
the  great  work  in  which  they  were  about  to  engage,  that  they  appropriated
for  the  object  of  the  resolution,  no  more  than  the  sum  of  six  hundred
dollars.
The  Surveyor  General  employed  Mr.  Geddes,  who  has  been  before
mentioned,  to  make  this  survey.  He  performed  the  duty  with  great  intel-
ligence ;  and  in  January,  eighteen  hundred  and  nine,  made  a  report  in
favour  of  the  practicability  of  a  route,  directly  from  Lake  Erie,  which
evinces  how  fortunately  the  agent  had  been  selected.
