Next year, a new set of schemes seems to have been started, one was to bring the Housatonic river to New York in an open canal, as well for purposes of commerce, as for supplying water to the city, and an act of incorporation was obtained by some citizens
of Connecticut, for this enterprise.
This project, however, soon gave way to that of constructing a canal to the city from Sharon, in Connecticut, in which the citizens of Dutchess, Putnam, and Westchester Counties, in this State, and those of the Western part of Connecticut, adjoining these
Counties, took a deep interest.
Gen. Ward, of Westchester County, brought the plan to the notice of the Corporation, in a letter which will be found in the minutes, under date of March 10th, 1823, where also appears, the Report of the Special Committee to whom it was referred, consisting of Stephen Allen, S. Cowdery, and H. I. Wyckoff. The report was favorable, and they presented a memorial, and then drafted a law, which was accepted and sent to Albany.
In their memorial, the Common Council, in urging that an act of incorporation be
granted to the applicants, took care, while reserving a right to subscribe for a portion of the stock, to guard themselves against any obligation to do so.
They at the same time, in the bill accompanying the memorial, sought to provide a fund, on the faith of which they might borrow such sums as they should subscribe, by asking authority to raise, for that purpose, 1-2 of 1 per cent, on sales at auction within the city, in addition to the duty then paid to the State.