The total rise and fall is 692 feet. The towpath is elevated 4 feet
above the level of the water, and is 10 feet in breadth. At Lockport the
canal descends 60 feet by means of 5 locks excavated in solid rock, and
afterward proceeds on a uniform level for a distance of 63 miles to the
Genesee River, over which it is carried on an aqueduct having 9 arches
of 50 feet span each. Eight and a half miles from this point it passes
over the Cayuga marsh, on an embankment 2 miles in length, and in some
places 70 feet in height. At Syracuse, the "long level" commences, which
extends for a distance of 691/2 miles to Frankfort, without an intervening
lock. After leaving Frankfort, the canal crosses the river Mohawk, first
by an aqueduct 748 feet in length, supported on 16 piers, elevated 25
feet above the surface of the river, and afterward by another aqueduct
1,188 feet in length, and emerges into the Hudson at Albany.

This great work was finished in 1825, and its completion was the
occasion of great public rejoicing. The same year that the Erie Canal
was begun, ground was broken for a canal from Lake Champlain to the
Hudson, sixty-three miles in length. This work was completed in 1823.

The construction of these two water ways was attended with the most
interesting consequences. Even before they were completed their value
had become clearly apparent. Boats were placed upon the Erie Canal as
fast as the different levels were ready for use, and set to work in
active transportation. They were small affairs compared with those of
the present day, being about 50 or 60 tons burden, the modern canal boat
being 180 or 200 tons. Small as they were, they reduced the cost of
transportation immediately to one-tenth what it had been before. A ton
of freight by land from Buffalo to Albany cost at that time $100. When
the canal was open its entire length, the cost of freight fell from
fifteen to twenty-five dollars a ton, according to the class of article