But the work of the year was not confined to the Middle Section. Exploring parties had been sent to outline more specifically the canal line in the sections on either side. A portion of the Western Section, from the Genesee River to Palmyra, was put under contract, to be completed in September, 1821. The portion of the Eastern Section between Utica and Little Falls--a distance of twenty-six miles--was also put under contract. The expenses for the year amounted to over $100,000 ahead of the annual appropriation of $600,000. And heavier expenses yet were in sight; among these the claims of the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company had to be satisfied. This company had been carrying on its business and declaring greater dividends each year up to 1818. In that year the Erie Canal works at Wood Creek interrupted the operation of their system and the state was compelled to satisfy the claim. There had been, ever since 1812, a correspondence between the canal commissioners and the Western Company looking toward a purchase of the latter's rights. The price asked in 1812, and again in 1817, was $190,000. The matter was at last settled in 1820 by the payment of $152,718.52.[38] There was a moment just here when the canal came near pausing in its swift rush to completion. A recasting of the estimates was essayed, and the New York legislature demanded of the commissioner what portion of the canal was most important in case only a part could be completed. The reply was, of course, that the Western Section should be finished whether the Eastern could be or not. The estimated expense of completing the canal 254 miles from Utica to Lake Erie was $2,845,561; the Eastern Section, only ninety-eight miles long, would cost only $800,000 less, and for this distance the Mohawk River could be made to answer the purpose of a canal if necessary.