In the first instance the Erie Canal had a depth of 4 feet, and could be navigated only by 30-ton boats. In 1862 it was deepened to 7 feet, in order that boats of 240 tons, with a capacity of 8,000 tons of wheat, could pass, the cost of construction being thus increased from $7,000,000 to $50,000,000. Then, in 1882, all tolls were abolished, and the canal has since been maintained out of the State treasury. But how the traffic on the New York canals as a whole (including the Erie, the Oswego, the Champlain, etc.) has declined, in competition with the railroads, is well shown by the following table:--[10] +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+ | Year. | Total Traffic on New York | Percentage on | | | Canals and Railroads. | Canals only. | +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+ | | Tons. | Per cent. | | 1860 | 7,155,803 | 65 | | 1870 | 17,488,469 | 35 | | 1880 | 29,943,633 | 21 | | 1890 | 56,327,661 | 9.3 | | 1900 | 84,942,988 | 4.1 | | 1903 | 93,248,299 | 3.9 | +-------------+---------------------------+-------------------+ The falling off in the canal traffic has been greatest in just those heavy or bulky commodities that are generally assumed to be specially adapted for conveyance by water. Of the flour and grain, for instance, received at New York, less than 10 per cent. in 1899, and less than 8 per cent. in 1900, came by the Erie Canal. The experiences of the New York canals have been fully shared by other canals in other States. Of the sum total of 5,000 miles of canals constructed, 2,000 had been abandoned by 1890 on the ground that the traffic was insufficient to cover working expenses. Since then most of the remainder have shared the same fate, one of the last of the survivors, the Delaware and Hudson, being converted into a railway a year or two ago. In fact the only canals in the United States to-day, besides those in the State of New York, whose business is sufficiently regular to warrant the inclusion of their traffic in the monthly reports of the Government are the Chesapeake and Delaware (connecting Chesapeake and Delaware Bays, and having an annual traffic of about 700,000 tons, largely lumber); and the Chesapeake and Ohio (from Cumberland to Georgetown, owned by the State of Maryland, and transporting coal almost exclusively, the amount depending on the state of congestion of traffic on the railroads).