Canal History

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The NYS Canal System is the most commercially enduring and historically significant canal system in the United States. The historic Erie Canal played a key role in turning New York City into a major port and New York State into a preeminent center for commerce, industry, and finance. Besides being a catalyst for growth in communities across the state, the Erie Canal helped open up the Midwest for settlement and, for many years, transported much of the nation’s agricultural and industrial products to domestic and international markets. The canals facilitated not only the movement of people but the spread of ideas and social reforms such as women's rights and the abolition of slavery.

A grand vision

Starting in the late 1700s, citizens from the Northeast and immigrants from Europe headed to the unsettled lands of the American West to make new lives for themselves. Many of them followed the Mohawk River because it provided one of the only water-level passages through the Appalachian Mountains despite rapids and falls that required difficult portages.

Soon, George Washington and others were envisioning canals that would link the Hudson River with Lake Champlain and the Great Lakes to enhance north-south commerce and create an east-west trade route in the United States. In 1792, New York chartered a company to build canals and make navigational improvements. Subsequent efforts failed to gain federal support for a "Great Western" canal so New York, led by Governor DeWitt Clinton, decided to go ahead on its own.

Ground was broken on the Erie Canal on July 4, 1817. Though no state had undertaken such a large physical and financial project, work progressed rapidly as American laborers and newly arrived European immigrants dug trenches, moved rock, and built locks by hand, while engineers developed and refined new construction techniques and materials. Crews were assembled to work simultaneously on three sections of the 363-mile Erie Canal so large portions could operate before the entire canal was completed in 1825, two years after the neighboring Champlain Canal.

An immediate success

The canals were an immediate success as processions of canal boats traveled back and forth transporting passengers and all sorts of goods, especially lumber and grain. For the first time, commerce between the Atlantic states and the Midwest had become practical. Now, New York State was attracting much of the traffic that formerly moved east along the Saint Lawrence River and south along the Mississippi River. Within 20 years, tolls had paid off construction costs of the original Erie Canal and communities were springing up from Albany to Buffalo. The canal was so successful that, by 1862, it was enlarged and slightly rerouted to accommodate more traffic. This second iteration is commonly known as the “Enlarged” Erie Canal, while the original canal is known as “Clinton’s Ditch.” No matter the name, the canal became known as the “Mother of Cities” in recognition of the many communities that sprung up along the waterway’s banks. Many of these cities and towns continue to show the influence of the canals today.

The Erie Canal, called by some the eighth wonder of the world, also quickly gained an international reputation as a 19th century engineering marvel, a symbol of American ingenuity, growth, and progress. Europeans taking a “Grand Tour” visited the canal, along with such natural wonders as the Hudson River Valley and Niagara Falls. The Erie’s success sparked other canal projects in other areas of the state and other eastern states. By 1877, New York alone had 907 miles of canal with 565 locks, most of them lateral canals connecting with the Erie.

A slow decline as competition grew

The Erie and other canals in the United States soon faced strong competition from railroads, which could move freight and passengers much faster than the mule-powered canal boats that traveled two or three miles per hour. By 1868, the New York Central and Erie railroads carried a combined tonnage greater than the New York canals.

In the early 20th century, the Erie Canal was again enlarged and rerouted. Now cutting through lakes, canalizing rivers, and merging with pre-existing canals, the New York State Barge Canal allowed motors and larger boats to take the place of mule-drawn packet boats. Then, in the latter half of the 20th century, cars, trucks, highways, airplanes, and the Saint Lawrence Seaway drew progressively more commercial traffic away from the New York State Canal System.

Revitalization of the Canal

As early as the 1960s, some canal communities that had lost most of their commercial traffic sought new ways to benefit from the canal and began building local trails on remnants of the old towpath. The first public expression of the Canalway Trail concept came with the release of the NYS Canal Recreation Development Plan in the early 1970s. Many sections of the Canalway Trail were constructed during the next two decades.

In 1995, after an intensive three-year effort, the state, under the direction of the NYS Canal Corporation, produced the New York State Canal Recreationway Plan. The plan proposed a revitalization of the Canal System by preserving major historical features, protecting natural settings, enhancing recreational opportunities, and fostering economic development.

National prominence once again

The exceptional scenery, history, culture, and natural resources of the 524-mile NYS Canal System and the communities along its shores led the U.S. Congress to designate the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor in 2000. The National Heritage Corridor includes the currently operating canal system, its historic alignments, and the immediately adjacent municipalities.

The Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, in partnership with the National Park Service, collaborates with government agencies, communities and organizations to protect and promote the canal corridor for all to use and enjoy. The National Heritage Corridor supports community initiatives to preserve significant historic canal sites, celebrate heritage at events and festivals, promote heritage-based tourism and tell the stories of the canal’s role in shaping the growth and development of New York State. In 2016, the national significance of the currently operating NYS Canal System was further recognized with its designation as a National Historic Landmark. This distinction marks the New York State Canal System as America’s most iconic, influential and enduring waterway.

Today, signs of local pride and investment in canal heritage can be seen all along the Erie Canalway Trail which largely follows the route of the “Enlarged” Erie Canal. Canal-themed murals, historical parks, interpretive signs, architectural preservation projects on Main Streets, and canal celebrations are just a few of the ways that communities are showcasing their vital connections to the legendary canal.

Empire State Trail

In January 2017, New York State announced the creation of the Empire State Trail, a 750-mile bicycle and walking trail that spans New York State, from Buffalo to Albany, and from New York City through the Hudson and Champlain Valleys to Canada. The project incorporates existing trails, including the Erie Canalway Trail, and provided $200 million for the construction of additional trails and enhancements to existing trails. Today, wayfinding signage for the Empire State Trail can be found along the entire length of the Erie Canalway Trail, along with improved gateways and access points that include parking facilities, welcome and orientation signage, picnic tables and benches, and bicycle racks and self-service bicycle “fix-it” stations.

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