Plans, Profile & Maps Accompanying the Annual Report of the State Engineer and Surveyor On the Canals, for 1859

Improving New York’s system of canals shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War.

This interesting collection of charts, maps, and diagrams was printed in Albany by Charles van Benthuysen in 1860. It presents the various structures and improvements built the year before and was published to accompany the annual report of the New York State Engineer and Surveyor. Though the famous Erie Canal had been completed 35 years earlier, it remained an important maritime thoroughfare for commerce.

The fifteen folding plates measure various sizes and show a fascinating window into infrastructure improvements of the mid-19th century. The set includes the following:

A. General Plans for Timber Locks, Chemung Canal.

B. General Plan for Road Bridge, Erie Canal Enlargement.

C. General Plan of Aqueduct – Elevation of Seneca River Aqueduct.

D. General Plan of Whipple’s Patent Arch Truss Bridge, 72 ft. span.

E. General Plan of Whipple’s Patent Arch Truss Bridge, 100 ft. span.

F. General Plan Iron Road Bridges, Whipples Trapezoidal Truss.

G. Detail Plan of Dam and Bulk Head.

H. General Plan of Enlarged Double Locks,

I. General Plan of Road and Farm Bridge Superstructure, with iron cords and shoes.

K. General Plan of Composite Locks, Chemung Canal.

L. General Plan for Farm Bridge, Lateral Canals.

M. General Plan of Waste Weir.

N. Composite Valve for Enlarged Locks.

O. General Plan of Culverts. General Plan of Composite Culverts. General Plan of Stone Box Culverts. Plan and Details of Discharge Pipe and Well to Erieville Reservoir.

P. General Plan of the Farm Bridge and Abutments, exhibiting prism of the Enlarged Erie Canal.