Regarding the 1823 Erie and Champlain canal celebrations, two etexts of
contemporary books will be helpful:

http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/colden/contents.html (see
1823 materials in the Memoir section)
http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/hosack/contents.html (see
near end of William L Stone appendix item)

Two useful print items are:
-Ronald E. Shaw, Erie Water West (1966; repr 1990), 135
-Harry F. Jackson, Scholar in the Wilderness (1963), 277 (relevant
quotations from letters in the Clinton Papers at Columbia U)

Gerard Koeppel
[log in to unmask]