Montgomery County, New York the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.8%) is water. Montgomery County is located in the central part of the state, west of the city of Schenectady and northwest of Albany. The Erie Canal runs through Montgomery County parallel to the Mohawk River, connecting to the Wood River to the west, which leads to Lake Ontario. Overall, the canal connected Great Lakes shipping with the Hudson River and the port of New York on the Atlantic Ocean. Several towns and villages developed along the canal, as it carried much trade and passenger traffic during
Canal Age Mohawk and Lake Ontario), but the company proved that private financing was insufficient. George Washington led a partly enduring effort to turn the Potomac River into a navigable link to the west, sinking substantial energy and capital into the Patowmack Canal from 1785 until his death fourteen years later. By 1788 Washington's Potomac Company was successful in constructing five locks which took boats past the Potomac Great Falls. The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal superseded the Potomac Canal in 1823. Christopher Colles (who was familiar with the Bridgewater Canal) surveyed the Mohawk Valley, and made a presentation to the New York