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Erie Canal

A Canal Gunpowder Blast: The Day Verona Beach’s Waterfront Was Razed

October 25, 2021 by Bill Orzell 2 Comments

Map of Sylvan Beach The Oneida County resorts of Sylvan and Verona Beach are located on the sandy eastern shore of Oneida Lake. This twenty-two mile lake, and its geographic orientation, affords this setting spectacular sunsets. These factors made the eastern shore a desirable vacation destination in the nineteenth century, and a thriving resort community developed along Wood Creek.

Originally, Wood Creek had been improved in the late eighteenth century by the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company as part of that private entity’s effort to link the Mohawk River to Lake Ontario. [Read more…] about A Canal Gunpowder Blast: The Day Verona Beach’s Waterfront Was Razed

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Barge Canal, Erie Canal, Fires, Oneida County, Oneida Lake, Sylvan Beach, Transportation History, Verona Beach

Erie Canalway Photo Contest Winners Announced

October 6, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Winter Sunset (Ganargua Creek) by Susan LynchJudges selected 12 photographs that represent the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor for the organization’s 16th Annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest. Winners were chosen from a competitive group of more than 300 entries. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway Photo Contest Winners Announced

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Erie Canal, Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor, Photography

Applications Open for Erie Canalway IMPACT! Grants

September 21, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

erie canalway national heritage corridorThe Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor has announced they are now accepting applications for its IMAPCT! Grant Program. The grants range from $2,500 to $12,000 and will be awarded to municipalities, not-for-profits with a 501(c)(3) designation, and federally-recognized Native American tribes within the boundaries of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor. [Read more…] about Applications Open for Erie Canalway IMPACT! Grants

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Erie Canal, Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor, Grants

New History Podcast Features ‘Burned Over District’

September 12, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

a new york minute in history podcastThe latest episode of A New York Minute In History details the “Burned Over District” and how upstate New York became a “cauldron” of emergent religions and alternative communities during the 19th century. How did the Burned Over District collide with state and national history? And what role did the Erie Canal play in establishing it?

These new religions contributed to the creation of alternative communities, such as the Ebenezers and the Oneida Community, and how this predication for communal living was revisited in New York during the 1960s. [Read more…] about New History Podcast Features ‘Burned Over District’

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Cultural History, Erie Canal, Podcasts, Religious History

Erie Canal Preparations Underway For Approaching Tropical Storm Ida

August 31, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Tropical Storm IdaIn preparation for potential impacts from Tropical Storm Ida, the New York State Canal Corporation has preemptively lifted the upper gates of the movable dams along the Erie Canal and Mohawk River between Lock E-8 (Rotterdam) and Lock E-12 (Tribes Hill). [Read more…] about Erie Canal Preparations Underway For Approaching Tropical Storm Ida

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Erie Canal, Mohawk River, weather

Underwater Imaging of Seneca Lake Canal Shipwrecks Underway

August 19, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Seneca Lake underwater research project courtesy NYS Canal CorpThe Seneca Lake Archaeological and Bathymetric Survey Project is an underwater exploration occurring on Seneca Lake that aims to preserve the history of New York’s canals by using state-of-the-art equipment to capture never-before-seen images of intact canal shipwrecks from the early nineteenth century in the deepest waters of the lake. [Read more…] about Underwater Imaging of Seneca Lake Canal Shipwrecks Underway

Filed Under: History, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Archaeology, Education, Erie Canal, Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor, Finger Lakes, Maritime History, New York State Museum, NYS Canal Corporation, Sampson State Park, Seneca Lake, Shipwrecks, Transportation History

Canal Blow-Out: The Big Break in Syracuse in 1907

August 15, 2021 by Bill Orzell 1 Comment

post card of damaged canal vessels being burned to hasten their removal after the Big Break in Syracuse when a culvert over Onondoga Creek collapsedIn 1903, voters in New York State ratified the Barge Canal referendum which provided for construction of our present canal system. The Barge Canal design is an integrated improvement of natural lakes and rivers, with only short stretches of pure canal to eliminate bends and to link the natural bodies together.

The Barge Canal was designed to be used only by motorized vessels. The former canals had been completely man-made, elevated above and across the natural bodies of water. This feature allowed the older version of the canal to nearly eliminate any current, thereby making draft animals practical. [Read more…] about Canal Blow-Out: The Big Break in Syracuse in 1907

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, Western NY Tagged With: Barge Canal, Erie Canal, Maritime History, Onondaga Creek, Syracuse, Transportation History

Henry Ford’s Barge Canal Fleet: A Short History

August 5, 2021 by Bill Orzell 8 Comments

River RougeFew industrialists in the history of the United States have been so widely involved in multiple production operations as Henry Ford. His business philosophy was to operate and control all phases of his manufacture, which included transportation between production facilities.

Certain operations of his automobile empire involved the transportation of raw materials, and completed sub-assemblies between the main plants in the Detroit area, and satellite plants on the eastern seaboard.

Ford, a trenchant industrialist, realized that the New York State Barge Canal offered business a tremendous economic corridor between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. [Read more…] about Henry Ford’s Barge Canal Fleet: A Short History

Filed Under: History, Mohawk Valley, New York City Tagged With: Barge Canal, Erie Canal, ford, Industrial History, Maritime History, Navy, Transportation History, World War Two

Erie Canalway Photo Contest Call for Entries

August 5, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Erie Canal near Clay by Suzanne GroszErie Canalway National Heritage Corridor is calling for entries for its 15th annual Erie Canalway Photo Contest. Images should convey the unique character of New York’s canals and canal communities. Winning photos will be featured in the 2022 Erie Canalway calendar. [Read more…] about Erie Canalway Photo Contest Call for Entries

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, Mohawk Valley, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: Erie Canal, Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor, Photography

Buffalo Riverline: A Unique Urban Nature Trail Design Unveiled

July 27, 2021 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Riverline Double BridgeThe Western New York Land Conservancy and its design partners W Architecture, Hood Design Studio, and Green Shield Ecology presented their final concept designs for The Riverline at a press conference at the Tewksbury Lodge Pavilion in Buffalo last week.

The Riverline is the Conservancy’s proposed urban nature trail and greenway that stretches along an unused railroad corridor from Canalside at the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Terminal Terminal in downtown Buffalo to the Buffalo River across from Riverbend and Tesla. [Read more…] about Buffalo Riverline: A Unique Urban Nature Trail Design Unveiled

Filed Under: History, Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: bicycling, Buffalo, Buffalo River, Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, Erie Canal, hiking, nature, railroads, trails, Western New York Land Conservancy, Wildlife

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