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Today is the 199th anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal. Here is a link to the Facebook post of the Canal Heritage Foundation commemorating the event.
I live five miles from the Canal and used to cross it every morning on my way to work. My home is made from Medina Sandstone—a remarkably durable building material—which was discovered when the Canal was coming through Medina. The Canal itself was a huge deal in its day, and it actually paid for itself within a year. The way it was built was very clever. Previous canal companies' attempts to link Lake Champlain with the St. Lawrence River had failed miserably, so DeWitt Clinton developed a scheme where local contractors were hired to be responsible for segments of the Canal that ran through their regions. Judge Ellicott, who represented the Holland Land Company's vast holdings in this area of New York, offered the services of his surveyors and mapmakers to the Canal effort—thereby guaranteeing that it would support communities set up on land he controlled. He was renowned for clever moves like giving free land to blacksmiths, tradesmen and innkeepers to plant new towns. He operated out of Batavia, about 15 miles from where I live.
I love to tell stories about the waves of European immigrants that came to NYC, up the Hudson, and out along the Canal. Irish folks did a lot of the heavy work and stayed in the canal towns, often building wonderful churches and impressive warehouses. The Remington company hit it big when the Canal opened as far as their rifle barrel shop in Ilion. Poles and Germans came to Buffalo, stayed, and grew cabbage and onion in the rich black soil known as the Mucklands. We are still blessed with their meats, sausages, and sauerkraut. North of the Canal, the woods were so thick it was called the Black North. As it was cleared, the exceptionally fertile soil in the Lake Plains and Niagara Escarpment was planted with apple, peach and cherry orchards; today it's supplemented with wineries.
In 2016 I narrated Building the Empire State for University Press. I cringe when I listen to it now; I've gotten a lot better in the intervening years. But it's still one of my favorites. It's got characters like Aaron Burr, DeWitt Clinton, Fulton the steamboat man, and the aforementioned Ellicott. If you'd like a free copy to listen to, drop me a PM for a promo code. (If you write a review, have mercy.)
Discussion (27)
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I enjoy the drive along 90 on the eastern side. My trip normally would then go north into Canada over the 1000 Islands crossing. The geology is really interesting. You can see the layers of sandstone or shale poking out of the ground with very distinct layers. The wind-battered trees are thick and short. It's probably different than your side of the lake. I can't imagine how tough it would have been to tame that wilderness.
Digging a canal through that mess of rock seems almost impossible. They must have had to blast their way along the entire route.
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T'wasnt easy. One of the best things to show visitors is the tour of the Lockport locks. The original design was the "Flight of Five" consecutive locks; today it's just two. Several factories built to right next to the Locks to use the constant hydropower provided by the overflow channels.
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I've taken that tour!
Celebrated in story and song . . .
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Growing up in southern California and Florida, I was almost completely unaware of the Erie Canal until the year 2000 when we began considering a move to the Rochester, NY area (we did move to Webster, a bit east of Rochester along the shore of Lake Ontario, where we lived for 18 years).
As I was studying the area for the possible move I was thoroughly baffled by all the "-port" town names in the middle of New York state (i.e., not on the shores of Lake Erie or Lake Ontario). Fairport, Spencerport, Brockport, Middleport, Gasport, Lockport, etc. What's with all these "ports" in the middle of the state? Only then did I begin to appreciate what the Erie Canal did for commerce in western New York.
Our son-in-law just last month bicycled a stretch of the Erie Canal from near its western terminus to I think near Spencerport. Our daughter followed driving the support van. The former tow path for the animals pulling the canal barges now are used as walking/bicycling paths that have the advantage of being mostly flat. The path is disconnected in a few places though.
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A couple of lines from this song are part of a medley in the How The West Was Won soundtrack.
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