Chemung Canal Toll Collector

In the archives of the Montour Falls Library is a Chemung Canal toll collector's book from 1843.  There were two toll collection offices on the Chemung Canal.  One was in Horseheads and the other in Montour Falls, known then as Havana.  Above is a sample entry from the book.  At the top of the entry, it provides the name of the boat owner, G. Fauset.  But notice at the bottom of the entry the owner's signature is spelled differently as George Faucett.  At the top, the boat name is also given as the Reading, hailing from Seneca Lake.  It also shows that this boat was the 22nd clearance on that day.  The boat cargo is listed, along with where that cargo was destined.  Listed are 2 barrels of pork, some iron, 2 barrels of soap, and one barrel of tea all being shipped to Corning.  There is a load of furniture headed to Fairport.  At that time, Horseheads was known as Fairport.  Lastly is an entry for 3 barrels of flour.  The destination seems to be an abbreviated form of Corning.  Obviously, a toll collector had to be good at arithmetic to compute the toll due on each boat.  There were no weigh locks on the Chemung Canal, so each boat had to have a manifest listing the cargo and the weight or quantity of the goods.  Toll collectors had assistance thanks to tables that listed toll rates on different products, and tables listing mileage between the various destinations on the canals to help them compute the tolls.  Toll rates often were stated in mills, that is one-thousandth of a currency unit, in this case a dollar. So, for example, look at the Furniture entry.  The weight of the furniture was 400 pounds.  It would travel 17 miles.  The rate on furniture was 9 mills (.0009).  So the toll was computed like this:  400 lbs. X 17 miles = 6800.  6800 X .0009 = 6.12.  So the toll was rounded to 6 cents.  Notice that the boat itself also paid a toll, but apparently it was not figured in mills but in cents.  Thirty two miles to Corning at 2 cents per mile came to 64 cents.  Tolls collected in Montour Falls (Havana) were kept in the Bank of Havana, located in the Montour House.