Research


Scope and Content Note

This series consists mainly of field books. Canal engineers and employees apparently used the term "field books" to refer to various types of notes, measurements, etc. compiled in the field while surveying, constructing, or maintaining the State's canal system. The field books contain notes on numerous topics such as land ownership and property valuations; spoil bank elevations; property monuments; culvert stations; prism soundings; railroad embankments; transit points; situation surveys and topography; foundation piles; original abutments; centerlines; flowlines; preliminary surveys; river straightening lines; proposed layouts; bridge inspections; highway locations; contract prices; accidents; weather and water heights; work performance and daily progress; property deeds; bridge abutments; dry river surveys; blue and red line surveys; and town and State boundary line surveys. Somewhat similar to these notes are measurements recording dimensions of buildings and canal structures; water gage readings; ditches; lock levels; sluices; cross banks; spoil sections; prism embankments; and vertical velocities of the Mohawk River.

In addition to the notes and measurements, many of the field books contain such information as inventories and sketches of electrical equipment used for specific canal contracts; engineers' observations; Barge Canal terminal foundation plans; structural specifications; ditch profiles; original, monthly, and final cross sections; original prism and surface cross sections; final accounts; and diagrams, sketches, profiles, and drawings of various areas and canal structures, some remarkably detailed.

Filed with these field books are records such as engineers' daily reports; monthly construction estimate notes; order and alteration books; sketch books; building measurements; property valuations; employment time books and work force accounts; bridge inspection notes; engineers' diaries; Barge Canal monthly contract estimates; canal collectors' toll and certificate books; and deed descriptions.

Accretion B0730-94 consists of 107 field books which have particularly useful surveys and property information relative to the Erie Canal and enlargement in the central Mohawk Valley (e.g. the Schoharie Crossing). Of special note is one field book which is a mid-nineteenth century catalog of canal manuscripts. Accretion B0730-03, consisting of approximately 514 volumes, documents maintenance of sections one and two of the Barge Canal, ca. 1906-1959. Field books in accretion B0730-10 document construction of the Champlain Barge Canal through land and river surveys and contract notes. Also documented are some of the Champlain's ancillary features such as the Junction Lock at Fort Edward, the terminals at Whitehall and Port Henry, and the Stillwater Reservoir. Field books in accretion B0730-14, numbered 52, 57, and 61, document the Stillwater Reservoir, formerly known as the Beaver River.

Accretion B0730-15 consists of a volume of field notes providing technical information on the Little Falls Canal, including measurements on embankment levels, towpaths, and levels (elevations); purchases of wood and oil for engine; miscellaneous calculations; drawing of a lock; and drawings of Glens Falls Feeder, which are inserted. Also inserted is "Docking at Albany, Memorandum of Work at Albany Little Basin, June 15, 1838," which contains information about dates that pavement was replaced, excavation occurred, dock and lock were built, and bridge was raised. Also included is data on weight of anchors; account of masons, carpenters, teams, and laborers; and materials used (e.g., sand, pine timber).

B0730-16: Many of the field books in this accretion are for the surveys of the Northern and Southern Reservoirs from the mid-19th century. The Utica field books continue well into the post-World War II period. Of particular interest is the 1830 survey for what becomes the Black River Canal (the first such formal survey) done and signed by the canal surveyor, Holmes Hutchinson.