by David Flint
“Low bridge, everybody down!” Not just a song, those bridges on the Erie Canal really were that low, built low to save on cost. The canal boats just barely squeaked through underneath, and if you were sitting on deck, it was worth your life to heed the call of the Steersman.
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And who knew that in 1871 the canal port of Watervliet – or West Troy as it was known at the time – was second only to New York Harbor in the amount of cargo handled? Just one of the facts shared by Watervliet Town Historian Tom Ragosta in a very informative and interesting talk Monday evening at the Stephentown Heritage Center.
The idea of constructing a canal that would rise 565 feet from Albany to Buffalo was considered “a little short of madness” by President Thomas Jefferson. But New York Governor DeWitt Clinton was determined to build his ditch and eventually got construction started in 1817. Work started in the middle, in Rome, NY, because that would be a relatively easy section, flat, no trees, no locks needed. Clinton was seeking swift progress to entice support. But the Canal would essentially be funded and built by New York State. Completed in 1825, it was 363 miles long, had 83 lift locks, 18 aqueducts and passed under 300 bridges. The cost was a little over $7 million.
The impact of “Clinton’s Folly” was astonishing. Travel to Buffalo now took ten days instead of the six weeks by horse and wagon. Transportation costs were cut by 80%. Revenue exceeded the total cost within 10 years. Stoves and machinery went from East to West and farm goods from West to East. New York City’s harbor, which in 1825 was the fourth largest in the country, behind Charleston, Philadelphia and Boston, became number one by far just five years later.
And it didn’t take long before Watervliet – or West Troy – became a very busy place indeed. The Canal ran right through the Watervliet Arsenal, then along 2nd Avenue into Cohoes where it headed West. The Canal’s water powered the Arsenal’s machinery. The eastern terminus of the Canal was in Albany, but most traffic came up the Hudson River and entered the Canal at one of two side cuts in Watervliet, mostly through the double locks at 23rd Street. Ragosta said there were 29 bars that sprouted there within a two-block area, including the Bird-in-Hand bar where many years later salvagers found 300 empty wallets tossed behind a mirror, presumably expropriated from unfortunate drunks. Other businesses flourished too in West Troy, including restaurants, hotels, potteries, funeral parlors and dry docks.
The two basins where boats were loaded and unloaded and waited their turn to enter the Canal were always busy and crowded. Regarding one that extended into the Hudson River, it was said that there were so many boats one year waiting for the Canal to open after winter that a person could walk across the River on top of the boats.
Ragosta brought with him for show and tell a 16-scale model of a canal boat that he built himself from historically accurate plans. This boat, known as a Laker because it would also travel on the Great Lakes, was 96 1/2 feet long and 17 1/2 feet wide. That means it was built after the work of enlarging the Canal was completed in 1862. The enlargement widened the canal locks from 15 feet to 18 feet and lengthened them from 90 feet to 110 feet. In the bow was a stable for the six mules that towed the boat. Only three of them would be housed there at any one time as the boat traveled 24 hours a day and the mules switched off every six hours, as did the steersmen. Living quarters were in the stern. A crew of five was needed but most of these boats were family owned, so there were frequently whole families living on the boats.
One of the best sources of information locally on the Erie Canal is the Historical Society located at the corner of 1st Avenue and 15th Street, just behind the Watervliet Public Library. Tom Ragosta can often be found there ready to answer any questions. [/private]