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their own credit and at their individual expense, quite sure that the state would make an appropriation at this session. Failing to receive the desired assistance, the work on the canal stopped abruptly immediately after the adjournment of the legislature, and before the end of the year 1841 not a man was in employ between Dam No. 6 and Cumberland. At this time, prostrate and overwhelmed with difficulties, the company experienced great depression. Not only were there great liabilities to the state, secured by mortgage liens on the canal and its revenues, but in addition to this, the debts and obligations of the company due to individuals on scrip, acceptances, certificates of debt, common loans and open amounts, as stated in the treasurer's abstract, on October 1, 1843, amounted to $1,174,566.31. The urgent appeals for payment coming from those creditors, to whom large amounts were due for work done, and who had been quite reduced to poverty, excited general sympathy. The canal had been completed to Dam No. 6 in 1839, to which point it was now only navigable. The chief engi-