MIDDLE DIVISION.

ANNUAL REPORT OF M. S. KIMBALL, DIVISION ENGINEER, FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING SEPTEMBER 30, 1870.

Hon. VAN R. RICHMOND, State Engineer and Surveyor:

SIR.-I have the honor to present you the following report:

LENGTH OF COMPLETED CANALS.

Erie canal 68.58, navigable feeders 3.35.

Miles. 71.93

Oneida Lake canal and feeder (old).

7.00

...

Oswego canal

38.00

Oneida river improvement

20.00

Seneca river towing-path.

Baldwinsville canal and improvement to Jack's Reef.

12.50

Cayuga and Seneca canal

22.77

RESERVOIRS AND FEEDERS.

For the Erie Canal.-Erieville reservoir, 340 acres, 214 feet deep; De Ruyter reservoir, 626 acres, 18 feet deep; Cazenovia lake, 1,778 acres, 4 feet deep; Skaneateles lake, 8,320 acres, 7 feet deep; Otisco lake, 2,200 acres, 10 feet deep; Owasco lake, 6,800 acres, 21 feet deep; and Oneida, Cowasselon, Chittenango, Carpenter Brook, Jordan, Weedsport and Port Byron feeders.

For the Chenango Canal.-Madison Brook reservoir, 235 acres, 45 feet deep; Bradley Brook reservoir, 134 acres, 25 feet deep; Eaton Brook reservoir, 254 acres, 50 feet deep; Hatch's lake, 134 acres, 10 feet deep; Woodman's pond, 148 acres, 11 feet deep; Leland's pond, 173 acres, 8 feet deep; and Kingsley Brook reservoir, 113 acres, 20 feet deep.

ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT.

The Middle Division has been in charge of M. S. Kimball, as Division Engineer, and Howard Soule, Jr., Resident.

TABLE NO. 1

Is an exhibit in detail of the cost of engineering for all of the work. The following statement shows the total amount of work done during the year, to total cost of engineering, and the percentage of cost of the same.

The aggregate cost of engineering is increased $10,945.47 this year over last. $5,090.78 occurs on the Chenango Canal extension, and is attributable to the cost of surveying and estimating on three different lines, from section 30 down, the location on one of which was definitely settled, and the work let. $3,757.70 is an increase on the Erie canal, owing both to the cost of surveying for new reservoirs and an increase of inspectors on the work in progress. The balance, $2,069.99, is distributed among other canals, the increase being generally for inspectors; although the aggregate of engineering is increased, yet the percentage of cost on the whole amount of work done is lessened from 7.30 per cent last year to 5.47 this.

TABLES NOS. 2 AND 3.

Table 2 shows the total work under contract, the amount done during the fiscal year, the total amount done, and the work remaining to be done on all the canals and works of the Middle Division, except certain other work not under contract, which is shown in table 3.

ERIE CANAL.

On the ten old contracts $82,840 worth of work has been done this year, but none completed and settled. Six new contracts have been

made, $21,815 done, and two made, completed and settled, amounting to $4,179.87. The cost to complete the sixteen is $119,662.90.

Table three shows two works authorized by special laws, amounting to $38,250.87; six by Canal Commissioner, on change of plan (authorized by act chapter 767, Laws of 1870), $27,607.67, and three under repair contractor's contracts, $50,303.19.

One hundred and two chains of bench-wall at Jordan, on the towpath, and 140 at Memphis, was taken up and relaid with slope-wall from bottom to top last winter, together with one and one-half chains of vertical wall, at a cost of $39,820. There remains 1820 chains of single slope wall, and forty of vertical, to complete the Jordan level, at a cost of $311,280. There has been paid $33,847, and there is on hand $46,153, leaving a balance of $265,127, which, together with the amount due on work done of $5,973, leaves the amount to be appropriated to fully complete, $271,100.

Fifty-six chains of vertical wall was built on the Syracuse level, at a cost of $17,300, and there remains sixty-four chains of slope and ninetynine of vertical to complete, at a cost of $41,087. There has been paid $14,705, and there is on hand $32,295, leaving a balance of $8,795, which, together with the amount due on work done of $2,595, leaves the amount to be appropriated to fully complete, $11,387.

Seventy chains of slope wall was built on the long level and twentytwo of vertical, at a cost of $14,640, and there remains 360 of slope, and fifteen of vertical to complete, at a cost of $65,622. There has been paid $12,444, and there is on hand $15,556, leaving a balance of $50,066, which, together with the amount due on work done of $2,196, leaves the amount to be appropriated to fully complete, $52,262.

Of the bottoming down on the long level, 290 chains have been done, including the lowering of the railroad tunnel, costing $34,340.62. There remains 150 chains, estimated as costing $11,525. There has been paid $34,340.62, and there is on hand $3,534.13, leaving a balance of $7,990.87 to be appropriated.

Chap. 767, Laws of last winter, provided $20,000 for widening locks 47 and 48 at Lodi, and $20,000 for stop gates on the long level, neither of which has as yet been contracted for.

With the Otisco and Owasco Lake reservoirs in operation, there has been no want of water on the Jordan and Port Byron levels. The feeder trunk, however, and the feeder proper, two miles long at Port Byron, are both in a bad state of repair. The feeder proper is