Tucked away in the back pocket of Nobel Whitford’s “1905 History of the Canal System of the State of New York” is found this map of all the canals of the North America. It is likely there are few others like it. If you are not familiar with Whitford’s book, the two volumes that made up the total work are considered to be the comprehensive work on the canals of New York. It also covers many other canals of North America, as to compare them with what New York had constructed.
In a letter from Nobel to someone asking for a copy of the book, he gave some great details about the who, what, and where of his work. But in short, there were 3500 copies made and distributed to law makers, libraries, other engineers, and those who had an interest in the canals. These are now highly collectible, and bring prices of $400 plus. They can be found on Google Books, although the maps and numerous other fold outs were not scanned.
Getting back to the map, it is a remarkable work and it captures those canals and navigation’s in use or which had been used, up till 1904.