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David Brooks

Erie Canal Balladeer Tom Kilboy: A Short Biography

November 21, 2021 by David Brooks 5 Comments

This might just be the image of a once well-known but now forgotten canal man who boasted fast cash and could bellow sweet, eloquent canal ballads near Waterford and Cohoes, active for decades between the 1870s to the early 20th century.

On December 22, 1938, Works Progress Administration (WPA) worker R. P. Gray came into the acquaintance of one Tom Kilboy. Gray was part of the Federal Writers’ Project, created in 1935 “to provide employment for historians, teachers, writers, librarians, and other white-collar workers” according to the Library of Congress.

It was in that work that Kilboy had been interviewed in his apartment at 2307 Broadway, West Troy – today’s Watervliet. [Read more…] about Erie Canal Balladeer Tom Kilboy: A Short Biography

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Albany County, Cohoes, Erie Canal, Music, Musical History, Rensselaer County, Transportation History, Waterford, Watervliet

A Sunken Buffalo Canal Barge, A Coal Baron, A Canal Diver & A Publisher

July 25, 2019 by David Brooks Leave a Comment

george bleistein articleOn June 17, 1909 the Broadalbin Herald newspaper reported on a canal boat that sunk in Fort Hunter that was loaded with 240 tons of salt. The barge, George Bleistein had been hauling the salt in a “double header” (both barges being towed together) along with the Col. J.H. Horton. Both barges were from Buffalo and captained by George H. Ray of Port Byron. The George Bleistein sank ON the Schoharie Creek Aqueduct.

Reportedly, a steam pump and diver were required to raise the boat and the cargo was thought to be a total loss. The bags of salt were consigned to The International Salt Company of New York, which continues today in Clarks Summit, Pennsylvania. [Read more…] about A Sunken Buffalo Canal Barge, A Coal Baron, A Canal Diver & A Publisher

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Barge Canal, Buffalo, Erie Canal, Maritime History, Schoharie Valley

Sacandaga Canal Project: A Short History

November 5, 2017 by David Brooks Leave a Comment

documents of the senate 63rd sessionWith the opening of the entire Erie Canal in 1825, a call for more canals and other internal improvements arose from all over New York State. People in many legislative districts thought that if the state could build a canal that had already shown its great value, it could also provide infrastructure projects to help regional economies to connect with the artificial river that joined the interior Great Lakes and the global market through Albany and New York City. This was also the case coming from the legislative representatives from Montgomery County and although many lateral canals would be subsequently surveyed, planned and some would even be built, perhaps the most intriguing was one that never had a shovel turned.

As early as 1826, citizens from Montgomery County were calling for a plan to connect the Erie Canal – which already ran through the county on the south side of the Mohawk River – to the industrializing area around the county seat of Johnstown and further into the wilderness to the north for raw materials. Inhabitants of Montgomery and Hamilton Counties formally called upon the New York State Senate through the Canal Commission for a survey to be conducted and a planned canal from Caughnawaga (present day Fonda) up the Sacandaga River Valley (Journal of the NYS Senate 49 Sess 1826). The original intention was to have a canal of over 30 miles and elevation increase of 350 feet that would connect the Erie Canal to the waters of what is now known as the lower Adirondacks. That could therefore be connected to the head waters of the Hudson River and also through a series of lakes to the Raquette River and the St. Lawrence River. Senators knew that in order to populate that region of the state and exploit its natural resources, some forms of improvements would be necessary. However, their concerns grew over the expense and circuitous route the canal would need to travel. The senate forwarded the recommendation to the committee on canals were it apparently lay dormant. [Read more…] about Sacandaga Canal Project: A Short History

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Erie Canal, Hudson River, Sacandaga River, Transportation History

Unseen Hand: An 1869 Fort Hunter Diary

February 3, 2015 by David Brooks 4 Comments

003 - SXSHS In 1988, a small leather-bound diary was bequeathed to Schoharie Crossing State Historic site by Clarke Blair, who received it from Gertrude Ruck – a descendent of Michael Brown. Brown was one of the brothers that owned and operated the Brown Cash Store located at Lock 30 in Fort Hunter, NY from the mid-19th to early 20th century.

The diarist is unknown – nonetheless, it is obviously a personal journal of a Fort Hunter resident, and references to notable local families, places and events of 1869 fill its yellowed pages. [Read more…] about Unseen Hand: An 1869 Fort Hunter Diary

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Amsterdam, Cultural History, Environmental History, Erie Canal, Fort Hunter, Labor History, Material Culture, Montgomery County, Schoharie Crossing SHS

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