Chemung Canal Chemung Canal The Chemung Canal is a former canal in New York, United States. The canal connected Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen to the Chemung River at Elmira, New York. It was planned to connect the Finger Lakes region and Pennsylvania's Susquehanna River watershed with New York's Erie Canal system. The latter connected the Great Lakes with the Hudson River and ultimately the Atlantic port of New York City. The state government allocated $300,000 for the construction, which started in 1830 and was completed in 1833. Opening to full service was delayed because of damage from a rainstorm in May
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 The Chesapeake and Ohio Canal superseded the Potomac Canal in 1823.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