p. 3

-3-

1824.

[left side note: could leave nothing of this when locks were enlarged - .]

"Erie Canal
Let posterity be excited to perpetuate our
Free Institutions
and to make still greater efforts than their ancestors to promote
Public Prosperity
by the recollection that these works of
Internal Improvement
were achieved by the
Spirit and Perseverance
of
Republican Freeman."

"The Erie Canal
362 miles in length; was
commenced the 4th of July, 1817
and completed in the year 1825 at an
expense of about $7,000,000.
and was constructed exclusively by the
Citizens
of the State of New York."

The celebration of the cap stone was performed on Friday the 24th
of June 1825 in masonic form. Under the cap stone was deposited
two numbers of the Lockport Observatory, the order of the day, two
pieces of the latest coin, a slip of paper containing the name of
the governor, De Witt Clinton, and a brass plate with the time the
first stone was laid, the names of the engineers and builders etc.