Steam on the Erie Canal

Steam on the Erie Canal. - The people of western New York are rejoicing over the success of the experiment of introducing steam on the Erie Canal. The difficulty heretofore has been that the wave, driven to the banks of the canal by the action of the screw of the steamboat, would wash off the surface, and fill the canal. But the skillful mechanics of Buffalo recently constructed a boat with two engines, propelling a screw at each side of the rudder, which by their action throw the wave into the center instead of the side, thus avoiding all damages to the banks. On a recent Friday, this boat, with the Governor, Canal Commissioners, and others on board, left Rochester for Buffalo, which she reached on the following Sunday afternoon, running at an average rate of from four to five miles an hour, against wind and tide, and carrying considerable freight. [N.Y. Chronicle]