But as if pushed forward by the very momentum of its greatness, the canal went forward. The advances made in 1820 were rapid and important. In the Western Section the fifty odd miles between the Genesee and Montezuma were completed with the exception of nine. The route of 1816 was hardly changed except at Irondequoit Creek, and between Palmyra and Lyons. The Middle Section rapidly became a busy avenue. Mile posts were erected throughout its length, the distance from Genesee Street in Utica to the lock into the Seneca River being a little more than ninety-six miles. Navigation began in May. Contracts were let for the Eastern Section that would insure the completion of the thirty miles from Utica to Minden within the year. The course of the canal through the Mohawk Valley was resurveyed, the experienced engineer Canvass White pushing it forward to Cohoes Falls. The great rock wall at Little Falls was now completed. At the close of the year ninety-eight miles of the Erie Canal was completed, and the promise was that as much more would be done within a twelvemonth. The point of difficulty now was in the Western Section in gaining a route well supplied with water between Lake Erie and the Middle Section. During the present year Mr. Thomas had surveyed the northern route, running seventy-two miles from the Tonawanda to the Genesee. [Illustration: VIEW OF CANAL AT LITTLE FALLS, NEW YORK, SHOWING LOCK 37 IN THE DISTANCE] The contracts for this route were let in 1821, eighty miles being let in contracts. The fifty miles between the Genesee and Seneca were completed this year. Business was more brisk on the completed Middle Section than in the year previous, the tolls received amounting to $23,001.63. Contracts were let for the entire completion of the Eastern Section, and boats were already running from Utica to Little Falls. A large fraction of the excavating between Little Falls and Schenectady had been completed by the last of the year, and the difficult problem of a route from Cohoes Falls to Albany was now solved by Canvass White by crossing the Mohawk.