Cayuga -
Seneca Canal
Erie Canal system
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The Erie
Canal is famous in song and story. Proposed in 1808 and completed in 1825,
the canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in
the east. An engineering marvel when it was built, some called it the
Eighth Wonder of the World.
In order to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers
and to offer a cheap and safe way to carry produce to a market, the
construction of a canal was proposed as early as 1768. However, those
early proposals would connect the Hudson River with Lake Ontario near
Oswego. It was not until 1808 that the state legislature funded a survey
for a canal that would connect to Lake Erie. Finally, on July 4, 1817,
Governor Dewitt Clinton broke ground for the construction of the canal. In
those early days, it was often sarcastically referred to as "Clinton's Big
Ditch". When finally completed on October 26, 1825, it was the engineering
marvel of its day. It included 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over
ravines and rivers, and 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson
River to Lake Erie. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats
carrying 30 tons of freight. A ten foot wide towpath was built along the
bank of the canal for horses, mules, and oxen led by a boy boat driver or
"hoggee".
In order to keep pace with the growing demands of traffic, the Erie Canal
was enlarged between 1836 and 1862. The "Enlarged Erie" was 70 feet wide
and 7 feet deep, and could handle boats carrying 240 tons. The number of
locks was reduced to 72. Most of the remaining traces of the Old Erie
Canal are from the Enlarged Erie era.
In 1903, the State again decided to enlarge the canal by the construction
of what was termed the "Barge Canal", consisting of the Erie Canal and the
three chief branches of the State system -- the Champlain, the Oswego, and
the Cayuga and Seneca Canals. The resulting canal was completed in 1918,
and is 12 to 14 feet deep, 120 to 200 feet wide, and 363 miles long, from
Albany to Buffalo. 57 Locks were built to handle barges carrying up to
3,000 tons of cargo, with lifts of 6 to 40 feet. This is the Erie Canal
which today is utilized largely by recreational boats rather than
cargo-carrying barges.
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