Transcript of a manuscript letter bound in with the Cornell University copy of Whitford’s History of the Canal System of the State of New York.
Syracuse, Jan 16, 1941
Mrs. A.M. Goodman, Forest Home Drive, Ithaca, NY
Dear Madam:
Your letter of Dec. 13 reached me promptly, although it lacked definite address, but it caught me at a time when I was working night and day to finish a certain task before Christmas…(The duration of this paragraph and the next explain his delay in getting the letter to Mrs. Goodman.)
I am sorry I cannot tell you where you can get a copy of the history of the New York canals. It is nearly 14 years since I left the State Engineering Department (circa 1928) and, as I remember, the supply of these volumes had been exhausted for a considerable time then. A few years ago, when I happened to visit the department, I was told about somebody who wanted the history, and of course had failed to get one from the State, and later had found a copy through a second-hand book dealer. It was said he had paid ten dollars for it- whether for one or both volumes I do not know. While the supply lasted the State had sent the books out free of charge. (reprints are selling for over $100 and original copies are well over $400)
In writing this history I had to work largely in the State Library in Albany. I learned there, better than I had known before, the importance of placing any such work of general interest in libraries. Accordingly, when it came to distributing the volumes, since the edition was ample and I had sufficient authority to do it, I saw to it that a goodly number of the books went to the libraries in the State. There they are available for those who wish to see them, but I doubt whether any library would sell these books. Here in Syracuse the public library keeps this history, along with other irreplaceable books, in a locked case, where it can be consulted only through the librarian. Probably, however, there are many individuals who would be willing to sell their copies. Such person, I think, will have to be found through book dealers. The edition consisted of 3500 of each volume. The State printer seemed to see the wisdom of a larger edition and kept the type standing for a year or more, but the Legislature failed to make an appropriation for its printing.
You say that mine has been recommended to you as the best history of the State canals. I think I can agree with this opinion, and with due modesty, since there is no other history with which it has to compete, for it is the only canal history which has any claim to be considered at all comprehensive in the treatment of its subject. Before its appearance there were two publications which with some propriety may be called canal histories. In 1825, a little before the completion of the first two State canals, the Erie and the Champlain, there was printed a volume known as Canal Laws. This recorded the facts concerning the canals and in its way was entirely complete, being documentary in its character and consisting of a compilation of canal laws up to that time and official reports of surveys which had been made and construction work which had been done. In 1863 there was published as a part of the State Engineer’s annual report a “Documentary Sketch of the New York State Canals”, which was compiled by Sylvanus H Sweet, who in 1874 and 75 was State Engineer. It occupied 390 pages. I doubt whether this history had very wide reading beyond those persons who had something to do with canals. I understand that only three months were spent in its preparation. It had no literary style to make it appealing to the public, and perhaps most unfortunate of all for its use as a work of reference it had no index. (This is interesting as the review of Whitford also made this claim about Whitford)
In comparison, especially with Sweet’s history, it may be said that three years were spent in writing our 1905 history and at times I had from three or four to a dozen assistants helping me. The volume of the material available for its writing may be judged from the bibliography included in the second volume. It is printed in small type, which a printer call six point, and it occupies nearly 200 pages, listing simply the books then in the State Library on the subject.
Let me go a little into detail in telling what was put in this history. Sufficient time was spent to write quite complete stories of all the canals- 18 main canals, or 28, if branches and extensions and navigable feeders are counted, and there had to be included accounts of a enlargements of several of them. Then there were three chapters on the canals as a whole- one dealing with the abandonment of several lateral canals, one on the “Canals as a School of Engineering,” and one a supreme interest, a chapter of nearly a hundred and fifty pages, which dealt thoroughly with its very important subject, “The Influence of the Erie Canal,” and was undertaken in order to ascertain how well founded were the many early attestations of this influence. There were included also statistical tables and diagrams, giving facts concerning lengths, dimensions, costs, channel cross-section, tonnage carried, tolls collected and like information, including tables quite in detail of the nearly sixteen hundred structures on the canals. Then there was a chronological resume of laws and events which were important but not important enough to receive extended comment. Also there was the bibliography, of which I have spoken already, and several other features of less importance. All this might have been considered enough to complete our work, but to make it more useful there were added brief histories of all the canals of the United States and Canada, accompanied by large statistical tables of the nearly 250 of them counting branches and enlargements.
After the publication of this history there appeared in 1908, as a Buffalo Historical Society Publication, a volume, entitled, “Waterways and Canal Construction in New York State,” by Henry W. Hill. Senator Hill was long in the State Legislature and always was an ardent supported of canals. Then in 1909 A. Barton Hepburn published a volume called “Artificial Waterways and Commercial Development.” This book stressed the commercial aspect. Mr. Hepburn, I think, was a banker. The five histories I have mentioned thus far, with one I shall speak of presently, may be considered as the chief general histories of the New York canals.
Besides our 1905 history there have been other State canal publications which are of interest to the engineer. Let me tell about them. Before our history was printed and ready for distribution the State Engineer’s Department was well along in its new and perhaps its greatest work, the Barge Canal. Rather early in that work the State Engineer, following the lead of a Panama Canal publication, began issuing monthly what was call “The Barge Canal Bulletin.” This ran for eleven years. While it dealt largely with current affairs there was always at least one article in each number of general engineering interest. At the completion of the Barge Canal a history of that project was written. This is the sixth history I spoke of a moment ago. While this volume does not have the wealth of material that is contained in the 1905 history, which has been used as a book of reference by several State departments ever since it was issued, the Barge Canal History has a much better claim to literary merit than the earlier history and also to being what a real history should be. By that time I had learned better how to write such a book. Both this history and the monthly bulletin fell to my lot. This history I had to do all by myself and I was given only a year to do it- only a year because the man who had been State Engineer longest during Barge Canal construction, 10 years, and who had directed me to write this history wanted it printed before his term of office should end. Fortunately I had been so closely in touch with the whole project that I could do this, and the book was ready for distributing a month ahead of time, and in that month the edition of 2000 was virtually exhausted, a lot, however, going to libraries.
There is one other volume, published during Barge Canal construction, which I want to speak of. It is a “Book of Barge Canal Plans” and unlike the other books I have mentioned it is entirely technical. It contains 156 plates of structural plans on sheets 12 ½ by 18 ½ inches in size, together with eight pages devoted to tilte, index and a little reading matter. Every kind of structure used on the canal is included in these plans and sufficient details are shown to give an engineer a true and workable understanding of the structure. An edition of 1000 copies was printed and as one may easily imagine the cost was large. The printer’s bill alone was $5,000. This volume, of course, was sought chiefly by engineers and the State sent them out freely as well as free of charge and in addition paid the postage of nearly a dollar a copy. After I left the Department an edition of 500 more copies was printed and when I last knew several years ago, these copies were still available.
I think Mr. Goodman may like to have a copy of this Book of Plans. Also I can recommend the Barge Canal History as an interesting book to anybody who is at all interested in canal affairs. Perhaps there are parts of it which you would enjoy reading. Incidentally these two books are excellent examples of good printing. In the case of the history that is apparent on its face, but concerning the plans one has to be told that, because the sheets were printed from line cuts fastened on large wooden blocks, most careful inspection throughout the whole process was necessary to insure the printing of every least portion of each plate. It took the pressman a day to do what is called “making ready” on the press each form of some eight plates. And when the form was ready I had to hold myself in readiness to inspect it, night or day, before the printing began.
Two other publications should be mentioned. The report of the preliminary Barge Canal survey, accompanied by a large case of plans, became a classic of its kind. During Barge Canal construction the project was made more complete by the addition of terminals at the cities along the route and at many of the villages. The report of the commission appointed to investigate this subject is such as to be of interest to engineers. Then there were two reports prior to the beginning of construction which are of interest. One is that of a Committee on Canals, the body appointed by the Governor which formulated the canal policy that resulted in the Barge Canal. The other is the request of a Commerce Commission, also appointed by the Governor, to study the canal problem.
These several publications, which I have mentioned somewhat at length, constitute the chief books concerning the New York canals. Of course there have been printed many other books which have to do with canals. The State Engineer’s annual reports alone, from the first one, that of 1850, to the last, that of 1926, are full of matters of considerable interest to engineers. From the eighteen-eighties on, these reports were usually quite voluminous, from 500 to 1000 pages, and often they contained reports on studies of the numerous problems involved in canal building and maintenance. The first two decades of the present century constituted a period in which much of engineering interest was published by the State. Several departments contributed- the State Engineer, the Superintendent of Public Works, the Conservation Commission, the Highway Commission, the Health Commission, the Water Supply Commission, the State Architect, and others. In 1927 a new policy seems to have been adopted by the Public Works Department, which had absorbed most the State engineering activities. Perhaps it is heresy to say it, but it has seemed to me that indifference to the public prompted this policy rather than any desire to economize printing. Of course this policy made life easier for the persons concerned. During the years while I was publishing the Bulletin and writing the histories I had to take on also the work of editing and publishing whatever was issued by the Department and this amounted to publishing some fifty volumes. And editing and publishing, if it is carefully done, it accuracy in maintained and good printing is secured, is a very exacting job.
And now, since I have written so much, more than I intended at first, I want to say a little more- something prompted no doubt by professional pride. To one who is not the wife of an engineer I might not say it. Although I have done all these things which strictly are not engineering, I am proud to say I am one of a family of engineers. I can number an even dozen engineers or members of allied professions in my family relationships. My father had 61 years of active engineering experience, 57 of them on the State canals. His brother, a graduate of Union, was both a civil and mining engineer with considerable experience in Mexico and South America as well as many parts of the United State, some on our New York canals. My sister graduated from Syracuse in architecture, but mostly taught mathematics here in high school. My brother after graduating from Syracuse, studied three years in the School of Mines in Freiberg, Saxony, and worked in Mexico. My son and my son in law are both Massachusetts Tech men, one now with a large power company and the other as air-conditioning expert with the Federal Government, my son-in-law being the son of Geo. L. Hosmer, who until his death was an M.I.T. professor. Mr. Goodman may know of his text books, published under the names of Breed and Hosmer. I and four cousins make up the dozen. Two cousins of my father’s father (one of whom came very close to being one of the early State Engineers), one cousin of my mother, and his son, one of my own generation, with whom I have worked.
But enough of this. May I just add that I am not sorry I was force into this work. All of it should have been done. All I wrote needed to be told to the public, and quite a lot of it might never have been told or known otherwise. I think a better appreciation of the canals and what they did for the State has come out of my writing and will always continue to come out of it. One good feature of what I did seems very apparent to me. Proceeding the Barge Canal by some four or five years there was a canal project known as the Nine-Million- Dollar Improvement. It blew up in a big scandal. The Barge Canal, the largest job the State had ever undertaken up to that time, was built without a breath of scandal. I went through both jobs and they were equally clean. I am sure the publicity gained through the Barge Canal Bulletin made the difference.
Then recently I have been able to make another important contribution. In 1933 the New York State Historical Association began publication of a 10-volume history of New York State. This probably is the best history of the State ever written. In a foreword the President of the Association says of it, “None heretofore has covered the whole stretch of time, none even in a particular era has covered the whole range of human interests.” When this work was begun it became apparent, as the editor, Dr. Alexander C. Flick, then State Historian, says, that such a history could not be prepared by any single individual. Consequently about a hundred persons of recognized authority were invited to accept the responsibility for the preparation of the various portions of the work. I had the honor of being asked to write the chapter on “The Canal System and Its Influences.” This gave a chance to put such facts as people should know into a book which for untold years will be read and considered authoritative by perhaps millions of persons. If you care to read this you will find it as Chapter IX of Volume V. Since this volume is called “Conquering the Wilderness,” I was not supposed to go beyond the first half of the 19th Century in what I wrote, but I had to trespass a little.
Just a word in conclusion. Before the State Engineer, back in 1903 or 1904, directed me to write a history of the canals, writing was farthest from my mind, and I had no idea I could do it. Much to my surprise I found that I could write, and could do it in a fairly forceful and interest-compelling way. This knowledge now has become a real blessing to me. With engineering jobs passing me by in favor of younger men, I find great interest in writing, greater, I think, than I ever found in engineering, although I always delighted in that. I have found some subjects big enough to call out the best there is in me and I am hoping I may produce something well worthwhile. Perhaps engineering studies would have done the same for me, but I doubt it. Certain subject have gripped me so strongly that seldom can I tear myself away from my office before eleven or midnight.
If I have written too profusely, kindly pardon it. If I have written too intimately, please forgive it. Somehow I felt moved to try to justify my action in not sticking strictly to engineering for I used often to feel that my associates in the Department were looking down on me as one who was doing work inferior to theirs, something beneath serious consideration, even though previously I had held some important engineering positions.
Sincerely,
Nobel E. Whitford
Office Address, 36 Wood Bldg, 201 E. Jefferson St,. Syracuse, NY
The above is a transcript of a manuscript letter bound in with the Cornell University’s copy of the History of the Canal System of the State of New York. The transcription was done by Dr. John Crosby Freeman, Watkins Glen, NY.