Many would be surprised to know that as early as 1787, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson had discussed the possibility of a canal linking Lake Erie to the Ohio River as part of a national canal system.

In 1810, DeWitt Clinton was appointed to head the Erie Canal Commission, but was unsuccessful in forwarding the concept at that time. And two years later, with the country at war, the idea was put on the back burner.

After the war, the proposal again took root and construction began on the Erie Canal in 1817; it was finished Oct. 26, 1825. Two years later — with canal fever at its height — the idea of connecting the Erie Canal with Lake Ontario at Sodus Bay began to circulate. A preliminary survey connecting the Erie Canal at Galen with Sodus Bay was conducted, but nothing became of it.