The New York herald., 1875-09-02
CANAL FRAUDS.
Report of the Joint Legislative In
vestigating Committee.
THE OTISCO LAKE swINDLE.
Details Of the Robbery Of
the State.
ALBANY. Sept. l. 1875

/
they placed file with the Auditor (as Secretary of
the Canal Board a communication to that Board re-
specng the Otsco Lake reservoir and the for
its construction The following is the resolution and
communication:
RESOLUTION.
Resolved That statement Of facts proved to the
construction OF the Otisco Lake be
transmitted the Canal Board together with copy of the
take such action la the matter they shall think
proper
To the Canal Board Pursuant to the foregoing re-
solution the following statement is submitted -
For the purpose of supplying the Jordan level of the
Erie Canal during periods of drought the project was
conceived In the summer of 1858 OF constructing
reservoir by building dam, raising the water of Otsco
Lake about ten feet
Howard Soue, Jr then a resident en- ginecr made a
detailed estimate to the Canal Commissioners that the
proposed work including "engineering and contlngen
eies, would cost $4,000 October l. 1868 a contract
Was made with A. Caldwell Belden to execute the job
at "A rate OF prices specified he agreeing that the
work should be complete and finished by April 1869
and that the fun compensation to be paid therefor
| should be S9344 The work continued along about
three years, when the closed with the con
tractor S43 1913 "a having been paid him. $40 900 hav
ing been awarded for lands flowed and interest The
contractor was pad for dam 230 feet when in fact it
was but 100 feet long The required that there
should be carried up in the embankment of the dam
wall OF pudded earth; this done and the
| result was that when the attempt made to I'LL
the reservoir, the dam 'leaked like a sieve"
There TO be slope wall the inner side of
| the reservoir embankment, the wall to be of an
average thickness of fifteen inches,
length at right angles 10 the full, the joints TO be
properly proven, and the foundation of the wall be
Of timber and plank while il was bult of field stone laid
in single course of an average thickness of about six
inches upon no other foundation than formed by
scrapins away the mud and starting the wall such
earth there The result that when the first
| ireshet came after the dam put in the dam
began to slide down into the lake and had to be
employed at the expense of the State to draw in gravel
ut the rate of twenty-sx loads hour for consider
able time to save the whole work from going out 1t
estimated that three acres had to be chopped
gubbed and cleared 10 prepare for the supersructure
and TO prepare road to take the place of that
would be submerged. The new road was never built
and all the grubbing that was done the work was
digging out stump.
TEN THOUSAND DOLLARS WORTH OF TIMBER SOLD
To enable the contractor TO clear off the wood land
that was to be Hooded temporary dam was built by
him set back the that il would freeze on the
timber land and allow Of the trees being tho
ice. This work was for the whole benefit of the con
tractor The timber used in its construction was
tained from the lands to be flowed and portions of this
timber were worked INTO the permanent dam A por-
ton of the temporary dam carried away in
freshet and injured the dam Of mill owner below
the stream The State has paid for the timber used
to the owner of the land from which 1t taken IL
paid for again TO the contractor when it into the
temporary dam, and portion of 1t the contractor
! paid for still again when 1t went into the perma
nent dam; besides the State paid for building
repairing and watching by night as well day,
this temporary dam ana the expenses OF the
in repairing the mill dam below that injured by the
! temporary dam breaking away No estimate was made
for 'chopping and clearing the timber land; Mr.
Schulz thought the timber would pay for the chopping
| and clearing - and in this 1t was evident he was en-
tirely right. For this reason-there price in
the contract for "chopping and clearing. The con
tractor went these lands and such timber he
wished TO on the work in question Large guam
titles of the black ash made into rails and sod and
besides considerable timber drawn Off and large
quantities of logs drawn to the mills and sawed
| into plank and other timber As much as $40 600
worth of lumber was sold by the contractor The elm
| timber was taken OIL TO Canillus but what ulti-
mately done with does appear except that
the teamsers said that they taking down the
stone dam the oswego River to sell 1t to the State for
white oak.
NO CLEARING DONE.
further appropriation made by chapter S7I, of
the Laws of 1868 Tor the completion of this reservoir
providing the contractor Will complete the work re-
naming to be done at the prices named in the
tract After this the contractor continued from time
to time to chop until all the timber of taken
Off At clearing he did little nothing, leaving all the
evil that apprehended from trees logs stumps &C.
floating down upon the dam TO be experienced For ali
this timber taken oil the State afterward under the
award of the appraisers paid the owners of the lands
and for that of il used in the permanent for the
piles which it rested they again paid the contractor
and while the contractor was we'll paid for choppne
and clearing by the timber he took he succeeded in
making contract with the Commissioner that he
should be paid $40 for ''chopping and clearing"
while under the contract this the fixed be
paid per Tor that work and removing all the stumps
roots, &c ('grubbing,' as ii is called), besides.
Under this contract the contractor paid $33 534
! for chopping grubbng and clearing 476 O6 at $40
per acre. or other words the value OF the timber
pad for the work Of 'chopping and clearing" and all
grubbing done taking out stump il the
State to take out that one stump $50, 534
The measurement of the lands cleared is not sasiac
tory According TO the engineers figures, and he
still insists there 357 OF timber land and 122
with bushes and logs it, which made up the of
47G acres, for the clearing OF which the State paid
large number OF witnesses state that the number of
acres of both kinds OF land much less; that in
some instances land that had been moved for years was
measured into the territory estimated land be
cleared and in one instance, when the engineer
including meadow of about sixteen acres and his
attention was called to it, he said he meant TO give the
| boys good measure.
THE UNDER WATER LAND
In March, 1874, after the contractor paid of
the indicated third rehcaring of the claims Of
the landowners came on to be heard before the Canal
Appraisers There were twenty eight claimants Each
supported his own claim with his own testimony or
that OF witnesses The State was repre-
seutod by able counsel but it appears that but two
witnesses called the part Of The State and those
examined briefly and in but one The APP
praser allowed the claimants for the value of the lands
taken they before any timber taken OIL by
the contractors II is plain that there witnesses
whose testimony material and who could have been
and should have been called to have shown the real value
and character OF the land taken One of the appra
explained this omission by saying that they did not
gard the testimony as material as they formed their
estimates in the main from their own view Of the
premises In some cases this may be satisfactory but
il is not very plain to see how the appraisers could learn
much to the value Of these lands by "a vew" when
the timber had been taken away years before and the
! land ten feet under water.
This work WAS begun under the direction of Mr. Com
missioner Fay Tho contract liking the price for clear
ing aud chopping made by Mr.. Commissioner W. w.
Wright, who made the nnal settlement with the con
tractor ana the appraisal and paynent OF the claims
during the tic term OF Mr. Commissioner stroud Mr.
G. A. Sweet then assistant engineer in iInmo-
date charge OF this work. Mr. Thomas Goodsell
was tile resident engineer, who verified by affidavit
the correctness of the final Mr.. Howard
Soulc Jr Division Engineer certified that he
had made thorough personal examination of the work
"and the work WAS fully completed according TO tho
OF the contract and the nnal account was cor
rect ~ and Mr.. W. b. Taylor, then State Engineer en-
dorsed the final account "cxamined and approved ("
As tins committee cannot present any formal report
until the Legislature couvcncs has concluded
NIT To you the foregoing history the construction Of
the Otsco Lake Reservoir with copy of the testimony
proving the same, together with the evidence OF tho
MessTs Beldon and Mr. Sweet, heretofore taken, be
found pages $40, 355, Ala l34, $50 and 565 Of the
printed evidence taken before this committee last
sprng, for the following reasons
TuR COMnTrEEs REASONS
l. Raising tho and relaying the OF Otisco
Lake proposed and accomplished for the purpose Of
using the waters from the lake feeder Tor tho Ero
Canal upon the Jordan level
= The area to be Hooded comprised 900 OF
land; very much OF low, swanpy land, chiefly yalua
bic for It's timber
B. The cost US first estimated for about three
,lv Ia E,rt tha of bu IA