The Erie Canal Finding the Personal Connection By Ann McCarthy

1.Narrator: On a early Spring day Elly and her Grandpa were enjoying a walk on the Erie canal path in Fairport. 2. Grandpa: You know Elly, when I was a little boy I would go for walks with my grandfather Edward and he would tell me of his days working on the canal. 3.Elly: Did Great Great Grandpa really help build this canal? 4.Grandpa: The canal was already built. But the boats had no engines, sails, or oars so they had to be pulled by mules or horses. Your Great grand-fathers job was driving the mules that pulled the barges or the packet boats. They often called those workers “Hoggees “ 5.Elly: Oh, who did build the canal and what made them want to build it? 6. Grandpa : It all started with a small group of people who had a vision, Elly. Two of those people were Jessie Hawley, a businessman and Dewitt Clinton the Mayor of New York. At that time the idea of a canal was very unpopular. Many people called it “Clinton’s Folly” because they thought it was a waste of time, money and resources. Later they referred to it “ Clinton’s ditch.”

7. Elly : So what happened next? 8. Grandpa : Mr. Clinton decided, along with many others in the state, to back the project anyways. They knew that it was necessary to build the economy of the state and to further the settling of the west. They knew how successful the canal system in England was so they decided to model it after that. This would be an inland waterway that would avoid the open waters of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. 9. Elly : It must have been really hard to build. 10. Grandpa : They had to cut down many forests with axes and dig ditches with picks and shovels. They didn’t have the great tools and machines we have today. So, yes, it was very hard work. 11.Elly: Who did work on the canal?

12.Grandpa: Thousands labored to build the canal. Newly arrived immigrants, mostly from Ireland, made up most of the people. They came to this country for a new start, willing to work hard for very low wages. 13.Elly: How long ago did all this happen? 14.Grandpa: They broke ground in Rome, NY on July 4 th,1817. Clinton had just been elected governor of New York. It took a little over 8 years to build. It was completed in Elly: Wow that was almost 200 years ago! Is the canal really long? 16. Grandpa : It is 363 miles long and it goes from the Hudson River in Albany to Lake Erie in Buffalo. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide when it was completed in It was able to float boats carrying 30 tons of freight. It also had a towpath that was 10 feet wide.

17. Elly : What’s a towpath Grandpa? Grandpa : Well remember I told you that your great grandfather would drive the mules? The towpath is where the mules or horses walked when they were pulling the barges and the packet boats. Now sometimes …. 18.Elly: What’s the difference between a barge and a packet boat? Grandpa : A barge carried freight like timber, wheat, oats but in very large quantities. A packet boat carried people. As I was saying, the mules or horses would sometimes fall into the canal. Elly : Oh no! 19. Grandpa : Well, the builders thought about this when they were building the canal. Remember the canal was only 4 feet deep. If the horses fell in they were able to stand up. The builders had built ramps so the horses could just walk out. Elly: Wow that was good thinking! 20. Grandpa : They also had to think of other things. For instance the Hudson River in Albany is at sea level but by the time you get to Buffalo the waters are almost 600 feet above sea level. Ships coming up the canal need to be raised up to meet the waters as well as lowered to meet the waters going down hill. They had to build locks. There are locks all along the canal. 21Elly: Grandpa, I remember you telling me about the locks in Lockport. It was called the “Flight of Five”. There were five locks going up and five locks going down. One set of the flight of five is still there. We went to see it with Grandma a few years ago. It was pretty cool but I think I was too young to really understand.

22.Grandpa: Sounds like you remembered pretty well Elly. They also had to build Aqueducts, or water bridges. E lly: A water bridge? I thought a bridge went over the water. 23.Grandpa: Well bridges do both. If the canal had to cross a river or a low valley they had to build an aqueduct. Actually they built 18 aqueducts all together. 24. Grandpa: They also had to build bridges so people on the land could cross over, like this one. At that time the bridges were built really low to save money. When the boats would come up the canal a crew member would sit on the bow, which is the front of the ship and yell to the passengers “Low bridge everybody down” or they would get knocked right off the boat. People learned quickly to mind their heads. 25.Elly: I know that song! I’ve got a mule and her name is Sale…Remember we used to sing that when we were in the car going to Lockport? You know Grandpa, riding on those boats in the old days sounds like fun. Unless you’re the one not minding your head. 26. Grandpa : Indeed but there were a lot of hardships building the canal. Workers worked from sunup to sundown for 50 cents a day. The work was backbreaking and dangerous. Diseases such cholera, typhoid fever, pneumonia and malaria killed many of the workers. So it was a very tough time for the hard working people.

27. Elly: I bet there was quite a celebration when it was finally finished. 28. Grandpa : There sure was. Their celebration started in Buffalo. Jessie Hawley and Governor Clinton along with other dignitaries, which are people of high rank or position, boarded a boat called the Seneca Chief followed by a flotilla of other boats, and headed down the Erie canal. They stopped in each community along the way to celebrate. They arrived in New York City on November 4, Grandpa : They brought with them a barrel of Lake Erie water, along with vials, or small bottles, of waters from rivers around the world. The Seneca Chief was towed out to where the Hudson River meets the Atlantic Ocean and they poured the waters into the ocean. It was called the “wedding of the waters” because it joined Lake Erie to the other great waterways of the world. 30. Elly: Gee Grandpa that’s so cool and a lot of history. But you know it makes the canal more interesting knowing how it got here and all the people that worked on it. Has it changed much over the years, because it really looks deeper than 4 feet now? 31. Grandpa : Oh yes there have been major changes made over the years. The canal today is 12 to 14 feet deep and 120 to 200 feet wide. It still goes from Albany to Buffalo but it has 57 locks with lifts of 6 to 40 feet. And a barge can carry up to 3,000 tons of cargo!

The End 32.Elly: That is just amazing! I’ll never look at waterways the same way again. Thanks Grandpa ! That’s so cool that our family was part of that. Grandpa : Yes it is Elly. Now let’s go home! 33. Grandpa : Maybe next time we will talk about our family’s role in the Civil War.