power dredge. The horse-power dredge complete consisted of two scows, one about 50 feet long and 25 foot beam, with an opening similar to a center board box about 6 feet wide and 25 feet long, and a little aft of the middle of the scow. Through this opening a large scraper. shaped excavator with long arms was operated. The arms were secured at the after end of the opening with pins, and were of sufficient length so that the scraper could be let down to the bottom of the canal to a depth of 12 or 14 feet in a position to scrape; the scraper was connected with chains to a crank at the forward part of the opening. The other scow was improvised from an old scow that had been used in the coasting trade to Toledo and Sandusky. A capstan was set up in it so that it extended from the bottom of the boat up through the deck. The drum, or part around which the line wound, was on deck. The four sweeps to operate it were in the hole, and were arranged so that a horse could be hitched to each sweep, and the horses moving around in a circle turned the drum on deck. This scow was anchored securely in the canal, and a line made fast to it passed over a sheave on the dredge scow a short distance off, and back around the drum, so as to give a double purchase in towing the dredge scow. When everything was in readiness, the scraper was let down to the bottom of the canal, the dredge scow made fast to the other scow by passing a line over the sheave and around the drum, the horses hitched to the sweeps in the hole of the scow. The horses then walked around with the sweeps and wound up the line about the drum, steadily drawing the dredge scow forward and causing the scraper to scrape along the bottom of the canal and fill itself with dirt. When the crew on the dredge scow thought the scraper was full enough, they took hold of the crank and with the chains attached to the scraper boisted it up into the opening, as a center board is raised in a sailing vessel, and then with long poles poled the dredge scow off into the "old river" channel, opened a dump or door in the scraper and let the dirt out, then poled her back again to the canal in position ready to scrape up another load. A horse-power dredge of another patron was used for a while, but the one above described, invented by H. W. Campbell and used by Messrs. Campbell and Strong, in their work, was considered the best. It was estimated that when the scraper was well filled every three linear feet of it contained a cubic yard of earth. In 1850 a committee consisting of H. V. Man, C. G. Johnson, A. A. Rabineau, I. R. Grosvenor and R. O'Connor, were appointed at a public meeting to investigate into the true financial condition of the city, its indebtedness, and if possible the causes of such indebtedness, in order that our citizens may be enabled in future to guard against a repetition of like evils. I give below an extract from the report of the committee in regard to the canal loan, canal expenditures, etc., in order that the present generation may see that if we do not manage our city government at the present time infinitely better than our fathers did, we do fully as well, and that there are probably no more jobs and politics in the city government as it is now conducted than there were when our forefathers held down the aldermanic chairs. EXTRACT FROM REPORT. It seems to have been contemplated when the charter of our city was obtained in the year 1837, to procure a loan or vote a tax for the completion of the ship canal previously commenced by the General Government, as we find in the act of incorporation provision made for a loan or tax, not exceeding $50,000. A movement was made in 1838 under this authority. The first step taken by the council, after a vote in its favor purporting to have been made by the people, was on the 20th day of August, 1838, appointing an agent to proceed East to negotiate a loan of $25,000. This was effected by said agent by an exchange of the bonds of the city for the stock of the North American Trust and Banking Company of the city of New York for a similar amount. The stock of the Trust Company was then pledged to the Mechanics and Farmers' Bank, of Albany, and a loan obtained of $25,000, said stock being held as collateral security and the city said to be responsible for the depreciation that might arise from a fall in the market value of the A further guaranty was required by the bank at Albany and claimed to have been given in behalf of the city by several gentlemen residing at Troy and Albany, they being owners of property near the present landing same. and in the vicinity of the spot where the said. loan was proposed to be expended - not, how ever, for the full amount thereof, but limited to $10,000, as appears by the record on the 22d of October following. The powers given to the agent seem to have been broad, for, in the words of the resolution "The common council say they do hereby invest him (the agent) with all the powers and authority invested in them (the council) by the charter of the city and the amendments thereto, so far as relates to the negotiation of said loan." Thus it will appear that while it was necessary under the law to obtain a vote of the people for a loan of $25,000, the council by their subsequent approval of this arrangement, seem to have virtually contracted a debt of a much larger sum; for the stock of said Trust Company has been, at times, of scarce any value, and at the present day is quoted at about ninety per cent. below par. Had the loss of this stock fallen on the city, as it might have done, if it was liable, certainly to the extent of $10,000 if not to the whole sum, it would have rendered the evils of our situation much greater, and ought to serve as a caution in future to reject altogether any proposition to involve the city in debt. A compromise was made, and the city was finally relieved from these demands by relinquishing their claim upon the bank at Albany for $2,000 of the loan which had been withheld by them on that account. It is proper here to state that it was claimed by the agent who negotiated the loan, that the city was not to be held accountable for the loss or depreciation on the stock before referred to. But subsequent proceedings go to show that other parties to the contract thought differently, and the final action appears to confirm it. The committee are, however, of the opinion that the proceedings were illegal from first to last. On or about the 27th of October, 1838, the commissioners of the canal fund were informed that the money was subject to their draft, and the work was commenced. The treasurer's accounts on the 4th of November, 1838, show a credit of $23,000, drawn from the bank at Albany or transferred to the credit of the Bank of River Raisin and the Morchants and Mechanics' Bank of Monroe. At a meeting of the commissioners on the 4th of November, 1838, proposals were made by Luther Harvey and others to take the contract for the work, esti mated at 55,000 cubic yards, at 40 cents per yard, amounting to the sum of $22,000. This proposition was rejected, two members of the board dissenting. One of them, the acting commissioner, believing that it would have been more judicious to let the work by contract, resigned his appointment. The board then proceeded with the work under their own supervision, appointing another acting commissioner, and placing in his hands the sum of $5,000 to expend on the same. A proposal was submitted at this time by the River Raisin Bank and Merchants and Mechanics' Bank for the use of the funds, $15,000, to be put to the credit of the former, and $10,000 to that of the latter, they to pay the agent of the city for his services in negotiating said loan, but not to pay any interest. This proposition seems to have been accepted. The committee can see no good reason why this money was withdrawn from the bank at Albany and deposited in the banks here, as by the report of the agent the city was to have been allowed interest at the rate of two per cent. by the bank at Albany. Eastern drafts at that time were at an unusually high rate of premium, the profit of which was thus given to those banks. A sum in all probability equal to $2,000, if not much more, was thus relinquished for their benefit. How much they paid the agent for his services does not appear. The banks did agree by their proposals to pay out on the works the bills of specie-paying banks. How far this was complied with the committee are unable to say; but it is reasonable to suppose that they availed themselves of every opportunity to pay out their own notes instead thereof, the difference being very great, as there was at this time a general suspension of specie payments, and but one or two banks in the State continued to redeem their notes. Up to the 13th of August, 1839, the board had expended in all upon the work the sum of $19,611.40, when it was entirely arrested in its further progress by the failure of the Merchants and Mechanics' Bank, and soon after by the River Raisin Bank. In the former at the time of its failure there remained the sum of $2,633.45, and in the latter the sum of $755.12. The Bank of Albany had also at this time refused to pay the balance of the loan, being $2,000 before alluded to, alleging that the stock of the Trust Company had depreciated, and claiming the difference of the city. Thus it will be seen that more than one-fifth of the loan was at a critical time rendered unavail. able to the prosecution of the work, causing by its interruption great injury, no doubt, to that which had been done. On the 7th of April, 1840, the board presented a report of their doings, and claimed to have finished 45,000 cubic yards out of 55,000 as estimated for the whole work, and say "but for the stoppage of the banks the loan would have been more than sufficient to finish the entire work." About $5,000, say they, would be more than sufficient to finish the entire work. Yet that sum has been expended with $14,000 more by subsequent taxation, and still it is not entirely finished. We present below an abstract of the amount expended up to this period, and invite the attention of our fellow-citizens to the fact that so small a proportion appears to have been paid out for actual labor on the work. It is a fact that is to be taken into consideration when we are asked to vote for this or that appropriation and it is desirable to know how much of any sum is necessarily absorbed in preliminary proceedings, or consumed in injudicious management of public affairs. Abstract of amounts expended out of Canal Fund to date, Interest for six months on loan__ Officers and superintendents.. $ 875 00 200 25 70 50 47 00 15 75 2,049 62 23 63 $3,281 75 Thus it appears that out of the large sum of $25,000 only $7,997.63 was paid out in money for labor, $2,882.75 for material, etc., $5,417.15 for pork, provisions, blankets, etc., leaving about $2,400 consumed chiefly in salaries in a period of time but little over nine months. Among the items of provisions we observe an extraordinary disbursement for pork. We can conceive of no just excuse for such an appropriation of the funds of the city. Was it a speculation entered into in its behalf? This cannot be supposed, for we find no authority for such an operation. It might have been considered a safe investment, and perhaps proved better than a deposit in the banks; yet it was an inconvenient sort of currency. It would not have been necessary for the prosecution of the work, as at all times money has been much more available for labor than any description of dicker. The accounts show that some of it was sold to the merchants in town, and, as the committee believe, a portion of it was ultimately lost. After the failure of the banks, it would appear that nearly a year elapsed before anything more was done on the work. On the 2d of November, 1840, George W. Strong made application to the board, and they concluded a contract with him to complete the canal on the following terms, viz.: Council fees. Printing.. Postage Surveying 3,669 10 1,213 35 $ 356 15 48 30 130 25 In debts due them 534 70 8 00 2 052 02 2,882 75 7,997 63 32 12 $19,611 40 640 88 670 69 Balance in River Raisin Bank. $4,615 92 to be paid to him upon the completion thereof by drafts on said banks, which he was to take in payment whether paid by the banks or not. This was a favorable contract for the city under the circumstances, but if the means of the board |