The
Erie Canal
During
the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the new United States
of America began developing plans to improve transportation into the
interior and beyond the physical barrier of the Appalachian Mountains.
It was the early 1800s, while in prison, that a miller named Jesse Hawley
in the Town of Geneva, N.Y., conceived the idea of a Canal stretching
from west to east across New York State from Lake Erie to the Hudson
River. Between 1807 and 1808 he authored 14 essays on the virtues of
a Canal across the State. President Thomas Jefferson thought the idea
"a little short of madness," but the idea was fully supported
by then New York City Mayor DeWitt Clinton.
At
that time there was no simple way to transport people, raw materials
or manufactured goods from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. Overland
transportation was arduous and expensive. New York State was covered
with mile upon mile of wilderness, swamps, mountains, waterfalls, great
inland lakes and only a handful of brave settlers.
When
Clinton became governor of the State, he made sure the legislature quickly
appropriated funds for the Canal's construction. When construction began,
the project was known as "Clinton's big ditch" and "Clinton's
Folly." The naysayers stubbornly clung to the manifesto "in
the big ditch would be buried the treasury of the state to be watered
by the tears of posterity."
The
Erie Canal proved to be the key that unlocked an enormous series of
social and economic changes. The Canal spurred the first great westward
movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources
west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial
city in the United States.
At
the beginning of the nineteenth century, the Allegheny Mountains were
the Western Frontier. The Northwest Territories that would later become
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan and Ohio were rich in timber, minerals,
and fertile land for farming. It took weeks to reach these precious
resources. Travelers were faced with rutted turnpike roads that baked
to hardness in the summer sun. In the winter, the roads dissolved in
a sea of mud.
On
July 4, 1817, construction of the Erie Canal began in Rome, New York.
The first segment would proceed east from Rome to the Hudson River.
The
canal was constructed by crews of untrained men, without the aid of
a single professional engineer. The men who designed and engineered
the Canal were highly skilled surveyors and very intelligent, capable
people. They studied the works of the legendary French and English Canal
builders which became the model for all the Canal.
With the exception of a few places where black powder
was used to blast through rock formations, the Canal was entirely built
by the muscle power of men and animals who pulled a new type of plow
called the slip scraper (a high-tech 19th century version of what today
is a bulldozer). They also invented a unique device that pulled giant
tree stumps out of the ground almost effortlessly.
It was the longest Canal in the world. The original Erie Canal stretched
363 miles from Buffalo and Lake Erie on the west to Albany and the Hudson
River on the east. The Hudson River navigation then united New York
City with the west and Lake Erie with Europe.
On
October 25, 1825, the entire length of the Erie Canal was complete.
It
was 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep, with 18 aqueducts to carry its waters
across rivers and 83 locks to raise and lower boats a total of 682 feet
from one end to the other.
The
first fleet to travel all 363 miles of the Erie Canal was headed by
Governor Clinton's boat the "Seneca Chief" which had on board
several distinguished citizens and dignitaries. The boat took sail on
October 26 from a commercial slip in Buffalo, along with a flotilla
of two other boats.
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Nine
days later it arrived in New York harbor and was greeted by almost
150 vessels and thousands of New Yorkers. Generally referred to
as the "Wedding of the Waters," Governor Clinton emptied
two barrels of water from Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean in
New York at a formal ceremony thereby commemorating not only the
completion of the Canal, but the uniting of Lake Superior with
the Atlantic Ocean.
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The
Erie Canal transformed New York State as cities blossomed almost overnight
along the corridor and settlers flocked westward. The boomtowns had
come to America. The cost to ship goods by Canal dropped to $10 per
ton, as compared to $100 per ton by road. In 10 years, the Canal tolls
more than recouped the entire cost of construction and maintenance.
It showed a profit so large that it offset the state budget by two-thirds.
After
the completion of the Canal System, statewide shipping costs were reduced
by 94% and the first great westward movement of American settlers began,
making New York City the busiest port in the U.S., surpassing Philadelphia
as the nation's chief seaport.
The
Canal was rebuilt between 1836 and 1862 and was known as the enlarged
Erie. It was widened to 70 feet and deepened to 7 feet; 72 double locks
were added and minor course changes were made mostly by straightening
the many sinuous bends (or curves).
The
enlarged Erie Canal reached a depth of 7 feet and could now handle freights
carrying up to 240 tons. The earlier Canal could only hold boats with
a 70-ton capacity.
Tolls
were abolished on the Canal, which already raised funds in excess of
$113 million above its original cost.
The
State launched the second enlargement of the canal, called the "Nine
Million Dollar Improvement," deepening the canal to nine feet.
Work
suddenly stopped on the partially completed "Nine Million Dollar
Improvement" due to insufficient funds. The Canal was on the verge
of abandonment.
Governor
Theodore Roosevelt appointed the Committee on Canals to study New York's
Canal System and make recommendations as to a future course of action.
This eventually resulted in the birth of the Barge Canal System.
Between
1905 and 1918, an entirely new enlarged Canal, the Barge Canal System,
was created to accommodate the large barges. Major course changes were
made and most of the original channel was abandoned, except in Western
New York, and rivers that were originally avoided became part of the
system. Nearly 100 years after the beginning of its original construction,
the Canal took on the structure it is today: an average width of 125
feet, a depth of at least 12 feet and 35 locks. Some of the old locks
have been preserved as historic sites. The engineers changed the Barge
Canal's western and eastern terminus from Buffalo to Tonawanda and from
Albany to Waterford.
Today's Barge Canal System consists of the Erie Canal
and three major branches - the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca
Canal.
The Mohawk, Hudson, Seneca, Oswego, Clyde and Genesee
Rivers were canalized by the Barge Canal construction through a system
of fixed and moveable dams, locks reservoirs and dredged channels.
All branches of the Canal System were finished and opened
for traffic.
With growing competition from railroads and highways,
and the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, commercial traffic
on the Canal System declined dramatically in the latter part of the
20th century.
Today, the waterway network has been renamed again.
As the New York State Canal System, it is enjoying a rebirth as a recreational
and historic resource. The Erie Canal played an integral role in the
transformation of New York City into the nation's leading port, a national
identity that continues to be reflected in many songs, legends and artwork
today.
Foreword
The account of the history of the Erie Canal and the
“lateral” canals, as referenced by Roy Finch, was written
in 1925 in celebration of the one-hundredth anniversary of the Erie
Canal. Mr. Finch was employed with the New York State Engineer and Surveyor,
a defunct governmental agency that managed the Canal System from the
1850’s to the mid-1900’s. He was intrigued by the canals
and, in celebration of the birth of the canal, thought it useful to
share his knowledge and experience with all.
The Afterword provides readers with a description of
the Canal System from a late 20th century perspective.
All text Copyright © 1925, State of New York, State
Engineer and Surveyor
Copyright renewed © 1998, New York State Canal Corporation
THE STORY OF THE NEW YORK STATE CANALS
GOVERNOR DEWITT CLINTON'S DREAM
“As a bond of union between the Atlantic and
Western states, it may prevent the dismemberment of the American Empire.
As an organ of communication between the Hudson, the Mississippi, the
St. Lawrence, the Great Lakes of the north and west and their tributary
rivers, it will create the greatest inland trade ever witnessed. The
most fertile and extensive regions of America will avail themselves
of its facilities for a market. All their surplus productions, whether
of the soil, the forest, the mines, or the water, their fabrics of art
and their supplies of foreign commodities, will concentrate in the city
of New York, for transportation abroad or consumption at home. Agriculture,
manufactures, commerce, trade, navigation, and the arts will receive
a correspondent encouragement. The city will, in the course of time,
become the granary of the world, the emporium of commerce, the seat
of manufactures, the focus of great moneyed operations and the concentrating
point of vast disposable, and accumulating capita, which will stimulate,
enliven, extend and reward the exertions of human labor and ingenuity,
in all their processes and exhibitions. And before the revolution of
a century, the whole island of Manhattan, covered with inhabitants and
replenished with a dense population, will constitute one vast city.”
SUCH was Clinton’s dream concerning the original
Erie Canal—the canal which seems so small to us not but which
was the Grand Canal of our forefathers—the canal which for many
years was the model for canal-building throughout the world—the
canal which more than any other single agency was responsible for the
unprecedented development and prosperity that came not alone to New
York State but to the states beyond its western border and even to the
whole country in the first half of the nineteenth century. When Clinton
wrote these words they seemed to many as the vain imaginings of a most
visionary dreamer. But the dream came true, and every loyal New Yorker
has reason to feel pride in that the canals have done for his State.
The
history of transportation
reads much the same in all lands—first came the highways, then
the waterways and later the railways—but in America, which was
not settled until the waterways of Europe had been in use for years,
the opening of waterways closely followed the cutting of roads through
the wilderness and in turn the railroads antedated the canals by only
a short time. These are circumstances which have given to America a
peculiar history of rapid development. Our early highways were few and
poor, and travel over them was very costly and beset with difficulties.
Waterways had been improved for the benefit of the people of foreign
lands, and accordingly progressive minds in America were busy with plans
for like improvements here. George Washington, a surveyor and an engineer
before he became a soldier and a statesman, was acclaimed by early writers
as the father of American canals. Before the Revolutionary war he had
succeeded so far as to obtain official sanction for one of his projected
plan At the close of the war, but before peace was declared, he started
from his headquarters at New burgh ad made a journey through central
New York, especially to view the possibilities for inland navigation.
The first
waterway improvements in New York were made by a private company, chartered
in 1791. Within five or six years the natural streams had been improved
so as to facilitate traffic to a considerable extent, but the need of
something better was felt, although the people were not then ready to
commence the great undertaking which the situation demanded. The population
west of the Genesee valley and even farther east was small, not because
those sections of the state were not fertile and attractive, but people
were slow to go far inland, where the bringing in of supplies and the
carrying out of products could be accomplished only at heavy expense
and with great risk.
In order
to open the western country to settlers and to offer a cheap and safe
way to carry produce to a market, determined efforts were made to provide
for the construction of a canal across the state. It was generally recognized
that such a canal was greatly needed, but the magnitude of the undertaking
and the doubt of the State’s ability to cope with the difficulties
developed much strong opposition. For years the project struggled along
before sufficient public sentiment could be aroused to demand its fulfillment,
and it was not until 1817 that the State actually undertook the construction
of this canal. In those early days it was often referred to, in derision,
as “Clinton’s big ditch.”
This waterway,
called the Erie Canal and famous the world over, was opened October
26, 1825. It was four feet deep and 40 feet wide, and at the beginning
floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. The first fleet to travel
its full length was headed by the boat “Seneca Chief,” bearing
Governor Clinton, the Lieutenant-Governor and a company of distinguished
citizens; the start from Buffalo on the morning of October 26 was accompanied
by the firing of a cannon and this was echoed by the booming of a line
of cannons stationed at suitable intervals all the way across the state
to Albany and down the Hudson to New York City—a grand salute
from a battery five hundred miles long, announcing to the people of
the state the completion of the most stupendous undertaking of their
time. The “Seneca Chief” bore two barrels of water from
Lake Erie, which Governor Clinton emptied into the ocean at New York
in a formal ceremony, generally referred to as the “Marriage of
the Waters” between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.
The Erie
proved to be America’s greatest canal. Its effect was soon felt,
not only through the state but throughout the east and the Great Lakes
region. Settlers flocked westward, forests gave way to sawmills and
hamlets and these in turn grew into villages. Prosperous towns were
established on the Great Lakes and a splendid chain of cities sprang
up along the line of the Erie Canal.
At a time
when we have ceased to wonder at great engineering feats, which furnish
this continent with the means of rapid and easy transportation, it is
difficult to realize the conditions that prevailed in America a century
ago; we are likely to forget the magnitude of the undertaking which
was the chief instrument in retaining for New York the proud title of
the “Empire State.” We lose sight of the tremendous difficulties
overcome and the strenuous efforts exerted by the men who gave to the
State her canal policy.
When we
recognize the many adverse conditions and review the difficulties, we
do not wonder that the people of the struggling Republic stood aghast
at the vast enterprise and were slow to begin improvements which have
proved to be the making of the State. It is well that at that period
that were men guiding the interests of the canals who had a strong faith
in their ultimate success and who clearly foresaw the benefits follow.
To their energy, bravery, perseverance and dauntless resolution is due
the era of prosperity and development which followed the building of
the canal.
The writer
of the “New York Memorial,” the chief instrument to mold
public sentiment for the early canal, was gifted with prophecy when
he said: “It remains for a free state to create a new era in history,
and to erect a work more stupendous, more magnificent and more beneficial,
than has heretofore been achieved by the human race.”
{ A drawing showing men operating a lock and handling barrels }
Artistic rendering of life on the Erie Canal at Lockport’s flight
of five locks.
After the
building of the original canal the city of New York grew by leaps and
bounds. Before the canal was built Philadelphia had been the nation’s
chief seaport, but New York soon took the lead and too late Philadelphia
made heroic but futile efforts to regain its supremacy. Massachusetts
had been another rival, having been about on a par with New York State
in exports, but sixteen years after the opening of the canal its exports
were only one-third those of New York. In that period, too, the value
of real estate in New York increased more rapidly than the population,
while personal property was nearly four times its former value, and
manufacturing three times as great. There were then five times as many
people following commercial pursuits in New York as there were before
the completion of the Erie Canal.
So marked
was the success of the Erie Canal that a veritable frenzy for canal-building
spread over the whole country, which manifested itself in New York state
in the surveying of hundreds of miles of proposed routes and in the
building of several lateral canals, six within the first decade after
the Erie was completed and four more within the next four years. In
order to keep pace with the growing demands of traffic, the Erie and
its main branches were enlarged from time to time. In 1862 the Erie
Canal had a depth of seven feet; it could handle boats carrying 240
tons, a large increase over the first boats of 30 tons capacity on the
original canal. Up to 1882, the year in which it was made a free canal
by the abolition of tolls, it had earned forty-two million dollars over
and above its original cost and the expense of enlargement, maintenance
and operation. In 1903, almost ninety years after the beginning of Clinton’s
canal, the people of the State decided again to enlarge it by the construction
of what has been generally termed the “Barge Canal.”
Before
the State of New York entered upon the Barge Canal project, the relative
merits of ship and barge canals were most carefully considered by various
Federal and State boards of engineers. As a result of the study by these
eminent engineers, the conclusion was reached that a barge canal, rather
than a ship canal, would best serve the interests of navigation and
commerce between the Great Lakes and the ocean. It was shown that vessels
built for ocean service could not be operated to advantage either in
the Great Lakes or in a long narrow channel connecting the Great Lakes
with the Atlantic seaboard; that the capacity of a ship canal for handling
freight would not greatly exceed the capacity of a barge canal, and
that it would be cheaper to transfer cargoes at the ends of the canal
and move freight across the state in barges, than it would be to attempt
to navigate ocean-going vessels through a narrow channel of such great
length. It was upon this determination that the State of New York bonded
itself for the purpose of constructing the Barge Canal.
The Barge
Canal consists of the Erie Canal and the three chief branches of the
State system—the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga and Seneca
canals. The Erie is the main line and reaches across the state from
Troy on the Hudson River to Tonawanda and Buffalo on the Niagara River.
The Champlain runs north near the easterly boundary of the state, from
Troy to Whitehall, at the southern end of Lake Champlain; the Oswego,
from a point near Syracuse, connects the Erie Canal with Lake Ontario;
and the Cayuga and Seneca Canal, which leaves the Erie west of Syracuse,
runs southward, connecting with Cayuga and Seneca lakes.
The Erie
Canal is about 340 miles in length; the Champlain 63 miles; the Oswego
24 miles and the Cayuga and Seneca 27 miles. Including with these the
Hudson River and the lakes connected with the canal at various points
and actually forming part of the system, the total length of the Barge
Canal System is a little more than 800 miles.
The Barge
Canal is a great improvement in the way of inland waterway navigation
and has been pronounced by many eminent authorities to be one of the
greatest engineering works of the present age, rivaling from an engineering
viewpoint the work done by the Government at Panama. It is ten times
as long as the Panama Canal; it has many more structures than the Panama,
and some of its structures are the most notable in the world. The burden
of constructing this, the world’s greatest waterway system, devolved
upon the State Engineer and his corps of assistants. Not only did this
department make the original surveys and estimates and prepare the designs,
plans and specifications, but it also had supervision and direction
over all construction work.
The system
differs from the canals previously built in that the underlying idea
has been to use the lowest watercourses in the valleys wherever possible
rather than to build an artificial channel along the higher ground.
From Troy to Rome, the Barge Canal is largely in the Mohawk River, the
old canal which paralleled the Mohawk having been abandoned and the
river made into a canal. West of Rome the canal passes through Oneida
Lake and the Oneida River; thence through the Seneca and Clyde rivers
to a point near the city of Rochester. From that city westward it has
been necessary to build an artificial channel, or “land line”
canal, to a point west of Lockport. From there westward to the Niagara
River, Tonawanda creek is used. From Tonawanda traffic proceeds to Buffalo
by way of the Niagara River.
On the
Oswego branch the Oswego River has been canalized to Lake Ontario. The
Cayuga and Seneca branch is partly river canalization and partly artificial
channel; the southerly portion of the Champlain Canal is a canalization
of the Hudson River; the northerly part occupies Wood creek valley but
does not follow the windings of the stream.
From tide-water
level at Troy, the Erie Canal rises through a series of locks in the
Mohawk Valley to elevation 420 feet above sea-level at the summit level
at Rome. Going westward it descends to elevation 363 at the junction
with the Oswego Canal, and thence rises to elevation 565.6 at the Niagara
River.
The Oswego
Canal descends to Lake Ontario, the mean elevation of which is 244.4.
The Champlain Canal ascends from tide-water at Troy to elevation 140
at the summit level and thence descends to elevation 96.5 at the entrance
to Lake Champlain. The Cayuga and Seneca Canal has a total lift of 71
feet.
The channel
of the waterway has a uniform bottom width of 75 feet in earth sections
of the land line; 94 feet where solid rock was encountered, and 200
feet or more in the beds of rivers and lakes. The depth of the canal
is 12 feet.
The locks
along the rivers and those on the land lines are of similar design and
standard dimensions. The maximum usable width and length are 44½
and 300 feet, respectively, with a depth of 12 feet over the mitre sills.
In order
that any canal may be successfully operated it is necessary to have
an unfailing supply of water. The Niagara River furnishes an adequate
supply for the canal in the western part of the state, but the problem
of obtaining a suitable supply for the eastern part of the canal was
one of the most serious questions to be solved. It required most careful
study, research and examination because it was necessary to overcome
the danger of having traffic tied up between Rome and Troy through lack
of water during the dry summer months. The problem was solved by the
building of two very large storage reservoirs, one of which is on the
headwaters of the Mohawk River, where formerly stood the village of
Delta, and the other is on a branch of the Mohawk at Hinckley. The Delta
Dam forms an artificial lake with a surface are of 4½ square
miles, while the lake formed by the dam at Hinckley is 4½ square
miles in area. The combined capacity of these two reservoirs furnishes
an amount of water greater than is needed for any known period of drought
in the Mohawk valley.
Making
the Mohawk, Hudson, Seneca, Oswego and Clyde rivers into canals (“canalizing
them”) is one of the most interesting features of Barge Canal
construction. The method adopted consists in obtaining the proper depth
by the combined process of building dams and locks and dredging channels.
The dredging provides uniformity in the width and depth of the channels;
the dams maintain the surface of the water at a fixed elevation above
the beds of the streams, making the rivers into a series of pools, or
lakes; and the locks provide for passage from one level to the next.
The dams
which have been built as a means for controlling the canalized rivers
are of two distinct types -- fixed and movable. The most notable of
the fixed type are those located on the Mohawk River between Schenectady
and Cohoes. The larger of the two is at Crescent and is nearly semicircular
in shape. The top of this structure is 39 feet above the river bottom
and the length is nearly one-half mile. In general appearance the Mohawk
movable dams look like steel bridges. They have concrete piers and abutments
with spans made of heavy structural steel. From the downstream side
of the lower bridge chords steel uprights are hung by a hinge-like connection.
One end of the uprights rests on a concrete sill in the river bottom.
Against these uprights slide steel plates, called gates, which may be
raised and lowered by the aid of machinery. When the gates are lowered,
or closed, the structure is in operation as a dam and whenever it is
desired to permit the escape of more water than would flow over the
crest, the gates are partly raised, allowing more water to pass through.
During the winter season or in the event of a severe flood, the gates
and uprights are entirely removed, being swung up under the bridge floor
and leaving a perfectly clear channel. Eight structures of this kind
are visible to travelers between the cities of Schenectady and Little
Falls.
There are
57 locks on the Barge Canals, and the lifts of the locks vary from 6
to 40½ feet. The greater number of the locks, however, have a
lift of 16 to 20 feet. They are all built of concrete and are operated
by electricity. They are filled with water and emptied by means of culverts
in the side walls. The water enters the lock chamber through ports,
or openings, located just above the lock floor. The lock gates are massive
steel doors swinging on steel pivots. Some of these lock gates weigh
more than 200,000 pounds each and are of the so-called “mitre”
type. A pair of gates may be opened or closed in about 30 seconds. Their
operation, as well as the operation of the vertical lift valves which
control the water in the feed culverts, the operation of the power capstans,
the buffer beams and all other lock machinery, is controlled by a series
of switches collected together in a small controller box located on
one of the lock walls.
The most
wonderful of the locks are the five at Waterford near Troy. They are
the world’s greatest series of high lift locks. The total lift
is 169 feet, which is twice as much as the total lift from sea-level
to the summit of the Panama Canal. Each of these locks cost a quarter
of a million dollars. The big lock at Little Falls is remarkable because
it has a lift of 40½ feet and this is a greater lift than any
single lock on the Panama Canal. The siphon lock at Oswego is the first
lock of this type to be built in the United States and is the largest
of its kind in the world.
There are
306 railroad and highway bridges crossing the canal. The greater number
of these bridges are fixed, or stationary, but in a few towns and villages
local conditions have made it necessary to construct highway bridges
of the lift type, which are raised to allow boats to pass under them.
The clearance under the bridges is not less than 15½ feet.
Other structures
which present a striking appearance are the guard gates. They are solid
steel gates hung from steel towers resting on heavy concrete foundations
and they are placed at intervals of about ten miles on the land line
sections of canals. They are used to close certain portions of the canal
for repair work or to prevent damage in case of a break in the canal
embankment.
A large
number of walls, culverts and spillways have been constructed; taintor
gates have been extensively used, and over three million yards of concrete
have been placed. One hundred million yards of earth and rock have been
removed in the construction of the Barge Canal and nearly every known
kind of excavating machinery has been used. The deepest cut on the Barge
Canal is in the vicinity of Rochester where the bottom is 65 feet below
the original surface of the ground.
The canal
channel is a river often is bordered by a wide expanse of water. It
has been necessary, therefore, to indicate the river and lake courses
by buoys and other markers, which carry lights for night illumination.
This practice has been extended to some of the land lines. Lighthouses
supplement the smaller navigation aids on certain of the lake courses.
The Champlain
Canal was opened to traffic in the spring of 1916. The Oswego and the
eastern part of the Erie was opened in 1917, and the through route and
all branches were opened in the spring of 1918.
Five years
of operating the canal has seen four types of general carriers placed
on the waterway. One is a barge 150 feet long, 20 feet beam, with 12-foot
sides and a cargo capacity of 650 tons on a draught beam, with 12-foot
sides and a cargo capacity of 650 tons on a draught of 10½ feet.
These are operated in fleets of four, one being self-propelled and towing
three consorts. The tow-barge has the same general dimensions as the
consort but, due to space taken by the engines, will accommodate but
350 tons of cargo, giving the entire fleet a capacity of 2,300 tons.
The second type of barge is 100 feet long, 20½ feet beam, with
12-foot sides and a cargo capacity of 400 tons on a draught of 10 feet.
These are operated in fleets of five, being towed by a tug boat and
having a cargo capacity of 2,000 tons. The third type is a modification
of the second, in that the boats have the same general dimensions but
are constructed along the box-like lines of the old type of Erie Canal
boats. These have a cargo capacity of 500 tons and a fleet capacity
of 2,500 tons. The fourth type of carrier is the steel motorship, five
of which were placed on the waterway in 1921. Each of these vessels
is 256 feet in length, 36 feet beam, with 14-foot sides and a cargo
capacity of 1,600 tons on a draught of 10 feet. They are operated as
single units and are devoted to the grain-carrying trade. Several other
carriers of various designs have been placed on the waterway, but the
majority of floating equipment still consists of the old type of canal
boats with capacities ranging from 150 to 400 tons. As there re no towpaths
on the new canals, all carriers must be propelled by mechanical means.
The time
consumed in passing a fleet of boats through a lock depends to some
extent upon the number and size of the boats and is otherwise variable
according to the lift. The usual time varies from 10 to 30 minutes.
The maximum allowable speed of boats in the improved canals is six miles
per hour, except in river and lake sections, where the limit is ten
miles per hour.
The importance
of the territory adjoining the Barge Canal is not generally appreciated.
A study of the State’s population reveals the fact that 73½
percent of the people live within two miles of the waterways. This condition
was brought about by the original canals, which founded a chain of cities
and villages across the state, the like of which exists nowhere else
on the whole continent. As New York’s population is one-tenth
that of the whole country, we see that about seven percent of the people
and the supplies they need shall have available a cheap means of transportation.
By further study we learn that 77 percent of the State’s population
is within five miles of the waterways, 82 percent within ten miles and
87 percent within twenty miles. Viewing the subject from a different
angle, we discover that 46 percent of the whole area of the state lies
within twenty miles of the Barge Canal system, while 71 and 88 percent
of the area are within 50 and 70 miles, respectively. These latter are
the respective distances which motor trucks of 32 and two tons capacity
can cover in a day’s run, going and returning, and on improved
highways these capacities can be increased to five and three tons, respectively.
The large and fertile field for a combined canal and motor truck traffic
is readily apparent.
Efficient
terminals, or freight depots, are of the utmost importance to any modern
waterway. They are the keys that give access to the sources of supply
and to the markets and connecting transportation routes. American waterways
have been sadly lacking in such facilities. Early in the course of constructing
the Barge Canal, the State determined to provide these aids to commerce
along its waterway. Accordingly terminals have been supplied at all
the cities and nearly every village along the line of the canal and
its connecting navigable rivers and lakes, there being more than 60
in all. The facilities at the several sites vary, but in general, these
consist of docks, piers, wharves, harbors, freight-sheds, and mechanical
devices and in some cases railroad connections for the interchange of
freight between rail and water carriers.
The mechanical
equipment at each locality is determined by the requirements of traffic
at the site. Some of the more important terminals, such as those located
at New York and Buffalo, are provided with conveyor, semiportal, portal
and locomotive cranes, belt conveyors, tiering machines, derricks, capstans,
electric battery trucks, trailers and battery-charging outfits. In addition
to the freight-handling equipment, warehouses and transit sheds of steel,
brick, concrete or temporary wooden construction has been provided.
The State
has gone a step farther and in order that its waterway may be of the
greatest possible use has provided for the construction of two modern
grain elevators. At Gowanus bay terminal, New York City, an elevator
having a capacity for two million bushels has been built for the handling
of grain carried by canal. This elevator has all the latest machinery
for loading, unloading, conveying, cleaning, drying, weighing and storing
grain. Previously New York City had virtually no facilities for canal
grain traffic. The Gowanus terminal is the logical point of transfer
between canal and ocean commerce. The foundations for another grain
elevator have been built at Oswego. To meet an emergency, floating elevators
have occasionally been provided at up-state localities, to release Barge
Canal carriers for more frequent trips.
The total
appropriation for the Canal System to date, including the terminals
and grain elevators, is $170,729,774. This cost has not been excessive,
considering the magnitude and extent of the work, and an inspection
of the waterway is the best proof of the care and fidelity with which
the project has been carried out.
Commerce,
which depends on transportation, is the mainstay of New York State.
New York’s greatness in commerce, due to the excellence of its
transportation facilities, has given to the State a development that
is the admiration of its sister states. New York was not always first
in commerce and industry. The turning point came with the completion
of the original Erie Canal. The position thus attained has never been
lost and that it may never be lost the State undertook and now has completed
a thorough improvement and modernization of the waterways that have
been so largely responsible for its greatness.
TABULATION OF INTERESTING FACTS
1. The
original Erie Canal begun in 1817, completed in 1825.
2. Enlargement to 7-foot draft completed in 1862.
3. Tolls abolished in 1882.
4. First Barge Canal work started in 1905. Barge Canal opened to traffic
May 15, 1918.
5. The Barge Canal consists of:
1. Erie ¾ across state from Troy on the Hudson River to Tonawanda,
Niagara River.
2. Champlain ¾ north from Troy to Lake Champlain.
3. Oswego ¾ Three Rivers Point, near Syracuse, to Lake Ontario.
4. Cayuga and Seneca ¾ branch connecting Cayuga and Seneca lakes
with Erie.
6. Length of canals:
1. Erie ¾ 340.7 miles.
2. Champlain ¾ 62.6 miles.
3. Oswego ¾ 23.8 miles.
4. Cayuga and Seneca ¾ 27.1 miles.
5. Connecting rivers and lakes ¾ 347.1 miles.
6. Total ¾ 801.3 miles.
7. Dimensions:
General bottom width in lakes and canalized rivers — 200 feet.
Minimum bottom width in land lines- 75 feet.
Usable size of locks ¾ 300 feet long by 44½ feet wide.
Clearance under bridge ¾ 5½ feet.
8. Construction and operation of locks:
1. Number of locks ¾ 57.
2. Built of concrete.
3. Operated by electricity.
4. Gates opened or closed in 30 seconds.
5. Average time of lockage ¾ 10 to 30 minutes.
6. Lift of locks varies from 6 to 40½ feet.
9. Notable engineering features:
1. Five locks at Waterford-combined lift of 169 feet.
2. Little Falls lock ¾ lift of 40½ feet.
3. Siphon lock at Oswego ¾ first siphon lock constructed in the
United States.
4. Movable dams:
1. Bridge type.
2. Taintor gate type.
5. Concrete dams forming Delta and Hinckley reservoirs.
6. Massive steel guard-gates.
7. Curved fixed dam at Crescent.
8. 306 railroad and highway bridges.
9. Waste weirs, automatic spillways.
10. 50-foot Taintor gates.
11. Power-houses for operation of locks and movable dams.
12. High embankments carrying the canal over Irondequoit and Oak Orchard
creeks; and the Erie “Culebra cut” of 65 feet depth south
of the city of Rochester.
13. Barge Canal terminals at Pier 6, New York City and other points.
10. Total appropriations to date
for Barge Canal purposes, including terminals and grain elevators, are
$17,729,774.
TECHNICAL
TERMS NOT DEFINED IN TEXT
Buffer beam.
A beam placed across the head of a lock as a protection to the lock
gates.
Capstan.
A cleated cylinder (called a barrel) revolving around a spindle built
on a wall and operated by electricity. A rope fastened to a barge can
be thrown around the capstan for the purpose of towing a barge into
a lock.
Controller box.
A steel box located on a lock wall containing switches for the control
of the lock machinery.
Dam.
A structure built across a watercourse to confine and keep back flowing
water. (A) A fixed dam is a permanent structure without movable parts.
(B) A movable dam is one which can be set up or thrown down as desired.
Feed culverts.
Hollow spaces, or tunnels, within lock walls through which water for
filling, or “feeding” a lock and for emptying it is conducted.
Land line.
That part of a canal which is an artificial channel¾not in a
river or lake.
Lateral canals.
Branch canals leading into the main channels.
Lockage.
The passage of a boat or boats through a lock. The raising or lowering
of a boat or boats from one water-level to another water-level.
Mitre gates.
Two gates which swing together into the form of a wide letter V.
Spillway.
A passageway for surplus water from a canal or reservoir.
Summit level.
The highest level or elevation reached.
Siphon lock.
A lock in which the water for filling and emptying is controlled by
an application of the siphon principle, as distinguished from a lock
filled and emptied by water controlled by valves.
Tide water level.
The level affected by the flow of the tide. (In the Hudson River the
tide reaches as far as Troy.)
Tons capacity.
The carrying content of a boat state in town.
Waste weir.
An overflow, or weir, for the escape of surplus water form a canal or
reservoir.
Afterword
Today,
the name “Barge Canal” is no longer an accurate description
of the marine activity on New York’s canals. Trains and trucks
have taken over the transport of most cargo that once moved on barges
along the canals, but the canals remain a viable waterway for navigation.
Now, pleasure boats, tour boats, cruise ships, canoes and kayaks comprise
the majority of vessels that ply the waters of the legendary Erie and
the Champlain, Oswego and Cayuga-Seneca canals, which now constitute
the 524-mile New York State Canal System.
While
the barges now are few, this network of inland waterways is a popular
tourism destination each year for thousands of pleasure boaters as well
as visitors by land, who follow the historic trade route that made New
York the “Empire State.” Across the canal corridor, dozens
of historic sites, museums and community festivals in charming port
towns and bustling cities invite visitors to step back in time and re-live
the early canal days when “hoggees” guided mule-drawn packet
boats along the narrow towpaths. Today, many of the towpaths have been
transformed into Canalway Trail segments, extending over 220 miles for
the enjoyment of outdoor enthusiasts from near and far who walk, bike
and hike through scenic and historic canal areas.
