Every man of observation, who has travelled the western counties of this state, has doubtless, noticed the quality of soil gradually improving from Albany westward, and which appears evident at every fifty miles nearly sufficient to pay the additional charges of transport on the surplus produce of that part of the country. This increase in the quality of the soil continues to this village (a distance of more than 200 miles) if not to Batavia. In beholding these equalising gifts of nature, we are led to admiration and gratitude to its provident and bounteous author. But when this sentiment escapes our mind, and we turn our reflections to the fatigue and toil of so much land transport, we are apt to exclaim,-Why was not the parent of nature so thoughtful-why was he not so kind, as to give this country a river navigation from the Atlantic to the lakes, like that to Albany ?

Why these murmurs? The Creator has done what we can reasonably ask of him. By the Falls of Niagara he has given a head to the waters of Lake Erie sufficient to flow into the Atlantic by the channels of the Mohawk and the Hudson, as well as by that of the St. Lawrence. He has only left the finishing stroke to be applied by the hand of art, and it is complete! Who can reasonably complain ?

The canal had best commence so near to the foot of Lake Erie as the current of Niagara River will admit by affording a draft on its waters, and run nearly parallel to that river a sufficient distance (perhaps some miles) to obtain a fall which will preserve it a current; thence winding easterly arid crossing the Tontawanta, perhaps a few miles from its mouth, by an aqueduct bridge; thence nearly due east, preserving the height of the Limestone ridge, and crossing Genesee River, also by an aqueduct bridge, and most probably above the upper falls; thence continuing its course and running near to, and probably into, the west branch of Mud Creek; pursuing its channel with improvements into, and thence down the Seneca River, to somewhere about the head of Jack's Rifts; thence leaving that river to the north and run along the foot of the hills and high grounds of Onondaga and Oneida counties, going south of their lakes, and discharge it into and mingle its waters with the Mohawk somewhere about Utica.

As it is probable that no additional head could be gained, nor even wanted, by continuing it beyond Utica, the more probable place of junction is at or above that place.

Mr. Ellicott, in noticing (on his map of the Holland purchase) the ridge of Limestone which runs through the country from Canada, across the Strait of Niagara, through the purchase eastward, states the " elevation of the surface of Lake Erie to be 450 feet above that of Ontario-that the ridge is nearly perpendicular-the lands from its base northward to Lake Ontario, and from its summit southward and along the eastern shore of Lake Erie is nearly level."

The project of this canal is founded on the presumptive correctness of these data; and considering the attention which was paid to accuracy in the survey of that tract, we may venture to place dependence upon it. While I hope I am sufficiently correct in my remarks for the main purpose of the subject, yet I will here observe, that having never seen any part of the route spoken of, but the villages at the two extremes, and the account which I have given being obtained from general, rather than particular information, probably I may be minutely incorrect in some particulars. My chief object is, to point out a sufficient probability to induce a belief of the propriety of an actual survey.

The level of the Mohawk at Utica, above the surface of Lake Ontario, is not correctly known; but after subtracting the difference of the elevation of the Mohawk, between Rome and Utica, from that between Rome arid Lake Ontario, we shall find the level of Utica, about, or perhaps below, that of Three-Rivers-Point. We may, therefore, safely conjecture that the elevation of the Mohawk at Utica is not 50 feet above that of Lake Ontario. Presume it at 50 feet, and subtract it from 450, will give 400 feet for the elevation of Lake Erie above the Mohawk at Utica.

The distance from the village of Buffalo, at the foot of Lake Erie, to Utica, by the present road, is about 200 miles.

It is not improbable that the angles of the roads are nearly equal to the necessary meanderings of the canal. On this presumption, it would average about two feet fall per mile in the canal.

The ridge of Limestone declines from Niagara to the eastward. This will appear evident on comparing the height of the Falls of the Genesee and Oswego Rivers, with the Falls of Niagara. From such information as I am able to collect, the lower falls of the Genesee is 90-the second 48-and the third 12 feet, making in the whole 150 feet; the distance from the upper falls to Lake Ontario is about 10 miles. Add the fall for the current of the river to the height of the falls, arid we may presume the upper falls to be about 170 or 180 feet above the surface of Ontario. I am not informed of the height of Oswego Falls, but I presume they will be found still less on a comparison.

Ten or twelve miles to the east of Genesee River the ridge begins to spread, and this decline is still more evident by the waters running eastward. In the north-eastern part of this county, the ridge becomes more extended, and is scarcely perceptible; yet it preserves a height sufficient to direct the waters to flow into Seneca River.

In this proposed canal, I think it may be fairly presumed that we have the grand desideratum of nature, viz. an inexhaustible fountain of water, with an absolute head and fall, which may be pitched and gauged to any dimensions required. Also an improvement of the navigation of the Mohawk by the addition of its waste waters.

Nor do I conceive the idea to be vain, or even incorrect, in saying, that it appears as if the Author of nature, in forming Lake Erie with its large head of waters into a reservoir, and his having formed this Limestone ridge into an inclined plane, had in prospect a large and valuable canal, connecting the Atlantic and the continental seas, to be completed at some period in the history of man, by his ingenuity and industry !

In my next, I shall offer some suggestions on its size, and hazard conjectures on the probable expense of the canal.

HERCULES.