New York’s canal building boom and the urban explosion that it triggered dramatically accelerated the dispossession and disruption of traditional life ways of the region’s Native American inhabitants that had been initiated by the introduction of European trade, diseases, colonial wars, the American Revolution, and encroaching settlement by non-natives. [Read more…] about The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People
Chenango Canal
Feeding the Erie Canal: Rome Summit Level Reservoirs
All canals are a series of ponds, at different water stages, or elevations. These elevation changes are transitioned by locks, with the area between the locks being of any length, and referred to as a level. Simply put, canal transport is similar to a set of stairs, with the levels being the tread, and the locks the riser. The highest level of any canal is known as the summit level.
As water flows with any lock movement, it is necessary to constantly re-supply the canal, and by feeding the replacement water to the summit level, the entire canal may be supplied. The original Erie Canal, statewide from Albany to Buffalo, had three summit levels; Lake Erie, Jordan and Rome. [Read more…] about Feeding the Erie Canal: Rome Summit Level Reservoirs
The Chenango Canal: An Unrealized Dream
The success of the Erie Cavnal which opened 200 years ago in 1825 caused folks around New York to petition the State to build a canal to their town. At that time roads were typically very rough – early turnpikes were mainly oriented east-west across New York, few went north or south.
Eventually, 16 lateral canals were built off the Erie Canal by the state totaling more than 750 miles and extending to various parts of New York. [Read more…] about The Chenango Canal: An Unrealized Dream
An Early Truss Bridge Constructed at Oxford, NY in 1800
When Theodore Burr traveled in 1792-1793 from Litchfield, Connecticut, to Oxford in Chenango County, NY — a distance of some 200 miles — with his carpenter friend Jonathan Baldwin from neighboring Massachusetts, Burr considered himself a carpenter/millwright/housewright like his father.
As a carpenter, he had experience creating structures that would span broad open spaces using some form of a roof truss, that is, a triangular frame comprising level beams and oblique timbers jointed together. There is no record that either he, his father, or friend had ever erected a bridge before arriving in New York State. [Read more…] about An Early Truss Bridge Constructed at Oxford, NY in 1800
Gov. William C. Bouck and the Erie Canal: A Friend of Labor
William Christian Bouck was born on the cusp of a new year, January 7th, 1786, but also at the cusp of a new nation emerging on the world stage. Until his death in April of 1859, Bouck was the quintessential “salt of the earth” farmer turned politician and bureaucrat – a man of the new republic.
Born in Fultonham, Schoharie County on lands settled by his Palatine German great-grandfather, Bouck emerged early in life to be devoted to labor. First, manual labor on his father’s family farm, toiling sunrise to sunset or beyond. This limited his education to that of only the local common school, but it’d be noted later in his career that his education was that of experience and observation. [Read more…] about Gov. William C. Bouck and the Erie Canal: A Friend of Labor
New York State Canal System Opens May 20th
The NYS Canal System is scheduled to open on Friday, May 20th at 7 am for the 2022 navigation season.
Standard hours of operation will be 7 am to 5 pm until October 12th, but busier locks and lift bridges will be open on demand until 10 pm. If adjustments to the schedule are necessary, the public will be notified accordingly. There are no tolls or fees for recreational use of the Canal system this year. [Read more…] about New York State Canal System Opens May 20th
Canalway Challenge Promotes Health and History
Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has invited New Yorkers to take part in the 2020 Canalway Challenge, tracing history and tracking miles along New York’s canals and Canalway Trail.
Part fitness challenge, part journey of discovery, the Canalway Challenge is free and registration is open to people of all ages and abilities. [Read more…] about Canalway Challenge Promotes Health and History
Chenango Canal: A Million Dollar Ditch
A new book by author Wade A. Lallier, Chenango Canal: The Million Dollar Ditch (Arcadia Publishing, 2017) chronicles the story of a Central New York State canal and how it changed the region. In 1825, the Omnibus Canal Bill had called for a survey of a canal linking the Susquehanna River at Binghamton to the Erie Canal in Utica. The idea of a canal was well received in the Chenango Valley but was opposed by many outside it. [Read more…] about Chenango Canal: A Million Dollar Ditch
Artifacts From Former Chenango Canal Area Exhibited
Since 2012, archaeologists from the Cultural Resources Survey Program (CRSP) at the New York State Museum have been working alongside a highway construction project in Utica, uncovering artifacts from the early 19th century.
The CRSP work in Utica centers around the location of the former Chenango Canal. Archaeologists have uncovered evidence of what life was like in the Utica area in the early to mid-1800s, from pieces of pottery to household goods to children’s toys. [Read more…] about Artifacts From Former Chenango Canal Area Exhibited