The Holland Land Company consisted of a group of Dutch bankers who purchased the 3.3 million acre tract that today is Western New York State from investor Robert Morris in 1797. Morris, who was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, also became known as "the financier of the American Revolution". The HLC hoped to sell the tract all in one piece for a quick profit; but that failed, and they instead became long-term developers and managers of the settlement of this region from 1798 until the mid 1840s when the last parcel was finally sold. See HLC Video

The Erie Canal was the best thing that could have happened to the Holland Land Company. Joseph Ellicott, the resident general agent of the HLC holdings here, was appointed to be one of the canal commissioners. His job with the HLC was to maximize the profits to his employer whenever he could. He sent his subagent William Peacock with instructions to survey a route that was more to the liking of the HLC (see above map) than the northern route surveyed previously by James Geddes. Three reasons for Ellicott's route were 1) Batavia was his headquarters, and a nearby canal would greatly benefit that city, 2) The southern route went through swamp land that otherwise was almost impossible to sell, and 3) The northern route was too far away from the extreme southern HLC lands to have much effect on selling prices there.

The choice of the northern route is sometimes questioned because of the immense challenge presented by the seven-mile long "deep cut" southwest of Lockport that had to be chiseled out by hand in order for Lake Erie water to flow by gravity to Lockport. The alternative that Ellicott envisioned would have avoided that obstacle, but was his proposal a better one?

This topographical map shows a section of this region that is typical of the topography between Rochester and Buffalo. By clicking it to full-size, its elevation details can be seen. The numbers inside the three large red circles on the left side of the map are the elevations of those three spots expressed in feet above sea level, and they - along with the other elevation markings like them on this map - show that this terrain slopes generally northward toward Lake Ontario. Compare those numbers with the level of Lake Erie, which is 572 feet above sea level.

The answer to why the designers rejected Ellicott's plan in favor of the northern route is found in those numbers. Ellicott's plan called for a canal that would have been over a hundred feet higher than the level of Lake Erie, which means that the only sources available to fill his canal were Tonawanda Creek (see the topo map near Batavia), along with a few lesser streams that also cross this higher ground to the south.

The decision-makers decided that the canal between Buffalo and Rochester needed to be built at a level that was below that of Lake Erie. They gambled that the deep cut could be done, and their prize for being right, was that the Erie Canal in this western section would enjoy a supply of water throughout its history from Lake Erie itself that could never fail the canal's needs here - no matter how dry the summers or how high the traffic flow at peak periods through any of it's locks. The flow was so abundant in fact, that its drop at Lockport was harnessed to provide power there: First to turn machinery directly, and later to generate electric power. See Southern Route Video