LOCAL INFLUENCES OF THE CANAL
A careful study of the influence of the Erie Canal upon the great
commonwealth which built it has been made by Mr. Julius Winden, and the
results of his investigation, important and interesting, have been
placed at the disposal of the present writer.[42] The entire region
affected by the canal, from New York City to Buffalo, is divided by Mr.
Winden into three sections; the first covers the Hudson River valley
from the mouth of the Mohawk to the sea; the second includes the Mohawk
Valley from the Hudson to Utica where the canal left the valley; the
third extends from the Mohawk to Lake Erie. The sections are designated,
respectively, as Section A, Section B, and Section C. Again, each
section is divided into three classes; Class I includes the land within
six miles of the canal route; Class II includes all land between six and
twelve miles from the canal route; Class III includes all land within
the counties tapped by the canal lying at a greater distance than twelve
miles from its course. Mr. Winden first discusses the effect of the
canal on the population of the counties through which it ran, and thus
summarizes his results:
"Of the three sections considered, we have found one, Section A, with a
certain condition of the population due to the influence of an old
waterway, the Hudson river. Population was concentrated along the banks
of the river and decreased as the distance from the river increased. The
extension of this waterway into new and broader fields resulted in a
very great increase of the concentration of population on the banks of
the stream, but had little or no influence on the population at a
distance of six or more miles from it.
"The second region, Section B, presented conditions very similar to the
one preceding. It was influenced by an old waterway, the Mohawk River,
but this waterway was not very serviceable. The population was
concentrated along the course of the waterway, but not as markedly as in
Section A. An increase in the serviceability of the waterway and an
extension into new fields had the effect of concentrating the population
along the course of the waterway much greater than in Section A. The
region six or more miles from the waterway was little affected or none
at all.
"In the third region, Section C, we found a new region, having no
waterway and having less population per square mile where a waterway was
to be made than the region a short distance from the future course of
the waterway. The effect of the waterway was to increase the population
very rapidly along its course and produce a great concentration of
population there. In the remote region the population was also greatly
increased. We also notice that this concentration of population in Class
I along this watercourse tended to mass into cities."
The per capita valuation of property next engages attention and the
result is thus outlined:
"As before mentioned Section A was an old well-settled region during
this period, and although property had a tendency to mass along the
banks of the Hudson and gradually to diminish as the distance from the
river increased, still this increase of the valuation of property
advanced much more slowly than the increase in population.
"Section B was an old and well settled region, but it was not as old as
Section A. Here valuation massed along the canal but it did not increase
as rapidly as the population, still it increased more rapidly in
proportion to the increase of population than did Section A.
"Section C was a new region where the increase in valuation kept pace
with the increasing population and even exceeded it.
"A re-invigoration of an old region by increased commercial advantages
such as the Erie canal provided for in Sections A and B results in an
increase of property within about six miles of that commercial route,
but it has little effect outside of that limit. This increase of
property, however, does not keep pace with the increase in population,
_i.e._ property in this case is more stable and unchangeable than
population. On the other hand, in a new region never having felt the
influence of a commercial route such as the Erie Canal, property within
about six miles of the route increases as rapidly and even more rapidly
than the population. This increase of property is not confined within
the six mile limit, but extends much farther away from the route than it
does in an old well-settled region having previously felt the influence
of a commercial route. Thus the extension of a waterway into new fields
is beneficial to the region along the banks of the old waterway, but
affects the territory a distance from the route little or none at all;
while a waterway extended into a new region is of very great benefit to
the region immediately along the route and it is also beneficial, to a
less degree, to the remote regions. It must be remembered that a
waterway is different from a railroad, in that material can be shipped
at almost any point, while a railroad has certain stations were material
can be shipped; thus a waterway's influence is continuous along the
line, while the influence of the railroad is at points where there are
stations.
"In the distribution of real and personal property in 1835 very
significant results are shown. In Class I of Section A the real property
per capita was $150.22 and the personal property was $49.11; in Class II
the real property was $195.96 and the personal $34.34; in Class III the
real property was $166.49 and the personal was $37.22. The least real
property per capita and the least personal property per capita was in
Class II, and Class III was second in both. In Class I of Section B the
real property was $133.81 per capita and the personal $49.71; in Class
II the real property was $108.92 and the personal $17.41; in Class III
the real property was $90.68 and the personal $13.34.
VALUATION PER CAPITA, 1835
_Real_ _Personal_
Section A
Class I $150.22 $49.11
Class II 195.96 34.34
Classes I and II 159.78 46.02
Class III 166.49 37.22
Section B
Class I $133.81 $49.71
Class II 108.92 17.41
Classes I and II 124.61 37.78
Class III 90.68 13.34