t enterprise, had entered the first canal
boat at Buffalo, and was on his way to New York. Since Governor Clinton
was the son of General James Clinton, under whose command the dam at the
outlet of Otsego Lake had been built, it seemed appropriate to the
inhabitants that Cooperstown should have a celebration of its own, and
could thus most auspiciously begin a project which some bold spirits
then had in mind, nothing less than the construction of a Susquehanna
Canal, to connect Cooperstown with the Erie Canal at the north, and with
the coal fields of Pennsylvania at the south.

On this occasion the villagers gathered in Christ Church for a religious
service and to hear an address delivered by Samuel Starkweather, after
which they marched in procession to the Red Lion Inn. Here a public
banquet was served, and "after the removal of the cloth," says the
contemporary account, "toasts were drunk under the discharge of cannon,
most of them being succeeded by hearty cheering and animated airs from
the band." The hopes which gave importance to this celebration are
expressed in two of the toasts proposed, one by Henry Phinney, "The
contemplated Susquehanna River Canal"; the other by Elisha Foote, "A
speedy union of the pure waters of Otsego Lake with the Erie Canal."

When the company had left the table the whole village marched to the
river, and assembled on the shore near the site of Clinton's dam. Boat
horns, (sometimes called canal horns) about six feet long, typical of
the "long ditch," were then common, and furnished blasts of martial
music amid the crowd. The multitude was mustered somewhat after the
order of a brigade. One company, consisting of over forty men with
wheelbarrows and shovels, known as "sappers, miners and excavators,"
commanded by Captain William Wilson, marched with their comrades boldly
to the scene of action. Lawrence McNamee, president of the day,
personating Governor Clinton, threw the first shovelful of dirt. When
the last remaining log of the old dam had been removed the procession
marched back to the village, while the air was "rent with the huzzas of
those who witnessed the first practical essay toward rendering the
waters of the Susquehanna navigable for the purposes of commerce," and
a nine-pounder upon the top of Mount Vision, at regular intervals, told
the hills and valleys around that Cooperstown was rejoicing.[54]

It is almost needless to say that the development of railway
transportation