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"Map of the Canal, and Profile of the Canal" -- from: Marco Paul's Voyages & Travels, Erie Canal / by Jacob Abbott. (Harper & Brothers, New York, c1852) -- frontispiece. From http://www.eriecanal.org/maps.htmlIn writing a post on local history, I thought it interesting to connect my current location, Syracuse, NY with where I grew up, Buffalo, NY. Buffalo is also where my ancestors settled and stayed for generations.
The Erie Canal is well known in upstate and western New York as the reason cities such as Buffalo, Albany, Utica and Syracuse became prime trade locations and grew so large. Connected to each other by 363 miles of hand- and horse-dug canal. The Canal ended at the Hudson River, where ships head to New York City.
Known as Clinton's Folly, then governor DeWitt Clinton dreamed up the project and used his political savvy to have it created. No one believed something of that mass could be created. The canal was built between 1817 and 1825. The Erie Canal is what made New York City America's largest and busiest port as it connected it to the west. According to http://www.epodunk.com/routes/erie-canal/start.html, "Cities along the route boomed. The population of Syracuse, a swampy settlement of 250 people in 1820, grew to more than 22,000 by 1850. The city's salt industry supplied half the nation's salt.
The Erie Canal lasted until the 1920's, due to the rise of railroads and highways. In Syracuse, the Erie Canal is now Erie Boulevard and is has the Erie Canal Museum. Other parts have trails for hiking, biking and snowmobiling. One can also take a canal boat ride which even goes up and down on the locks. I highly recommend taking a trip if you ever get the opportunity.
Just this week I learned from my great-great-great grandfather Gottlieb Finck's death certificate that he was a canal lock tender. It is thrilling to know that my family played a part in such an important part of our country.
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Thank you for this interesting blog. I seem to remember taking the NY turnpike across the state and seeing signs making portions of the Erie Canal along the way.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you enjoyed it:-) While taking the thruway you can even see one of the old locks, surrounded by grass, on the side of the road.
ReplyDeleteHi Amanda.
ReplyDeleteI could here that old song "15 years on the Erie Canal" in my head reading this. Great post!
Ack! I meant hear, not "here"
ReplyDeleteObviously I am wayyy behind in my reading. The canal played a big part in my family's history as well. Do you have any idea which lock your ancestor tended? I'm not familar with many of the western NY locks but ones in Lockport are amazing. One of my husband's ancestors was a lock tender in Syracuse and my 2nd great-grandfather drove horses or mules on the towpath.
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