Module 1: Online Asynchronous Week #1
Planning and Creating the Erie Canal: Digging Clinton's Ditch
DeWitt Clinton: "Wedding of the Waters" on October 26 1825
The Erie Canal was, after all, an artificial waterway. It was, in fact, a ditch 40 feet wide at the top, 28 feet wide at the bottom, and a mere 4 feet deep. Three hundred and fifty miles long, it contained 83 locks 90 feet long, and 15 feet wide including the magnificent flight of twin fives at Lockport, five locks for westbound and five for eastbound traffic, and the flight of 16 to raise boats from the Hudson to the Mohawk at Albany.
Source: Eric Brunger PhD. The Ditch That Made Buffalo the QueenCity of the Lakes
The present Erie Canal (Erie Barge Canal) rises 566 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie through 57 locks. From tide-water level at Troy, the Erie Canal rises through a series of locks in the Mohawk Valley to an elevation of 420 feet above sea-level at the summit level at Rome. Continuing westward, it descends to an elevation of 363 feet above sea-level at the junction with the Oswego Canal, and finally rises to an elevation of 565.6 feet above sea-level at the Niagara River.
The original "Clinton's Ditch" Erie Canal had 83 locks. The Enlarged Erie Canal, built between 1835 and 1862, saw this number reduced to 72 locks.
Source: Frank E. Sadowski Jr., The Erie Canal Site
The original "Clinton's Ditch" Erie Canal had 83 locks. The Enlarged Erie Canal, built between 1835 and 1862, saw this number reduced to 72 locks.
Source: Frank E. Sadowski Jr., The Erie Canal Site
NYS Archives Erie Canal Time Machine Resources
PBS Syracuse/WCNY; Erie: The Canal That Made America
1998 Buffalo News Article on Jesse Hawley
2017 News Article on Jesse Hawley
UVA Archive: Jesse Hawley Essays on Building a Canal in NYS
Selected Readings on the Erie Canal:
Enlisting National Support by Ronald E. Shaw, University of Miami of Ohio
enlisting_national_support_shaw.pdf | |
File Size: | 81 kb |
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Building The Grand Canal by Dr. Daniel F. Larkin SUNY Oneonta
building_the_grand_canal_larkin.pdf | |
File Size: | 85 kb |
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Canal Structures by Dr. Daniel F. Larkin SUNY Oneonta
canal_structures_larkin.pdf | |
File Size: | 84 kb |
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DeWitt Clinton and the Erie Canal by Dr. Daniel F. Larkin SUNY Oneonta
dewitt_clinton_and_the_erie_canal_larkin.pdf | |
File Size: | 84 kb |
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Erie Canal Enlargements:
1817-1825: Construction of Original Erie Canal "Clinton's Ditch"
1836-1862: The 1st Erie Canal Enlargement
1817-1857: The NYS Canal System Begins
Nine lateral canals completed to connect other parts of NYS to the Erie Canal. Only four of these lateral canals have survived in to the 21st century.
1895-1898: The 2nd Erie Canal Enlargement (not completed)
1903-1918: The 3rd Erie Canal Enlargement (Barge Canal System: also includes Champlain, Oswego, Cayuga & Seneca Canals)
1990's: Transition of the NYS Canal System
Source: Dr. Daniel F. Larkin SUNY Oneonta
- 40 ft. wide by 4 ft. deep.
- 363 miles long
- 83 Locks; 90 ft. long by 15 ft. wide
- Cost: $7.5 Million
1836-1862: The 1st Erie Canal Enlargement
- 70 ft. wide by 7 ft. deep
- 350.5 miles long
- 72 Locks; 110 ft. long by 18 ft. wide
- Cost: $32 Million
1817-1857: The NYS Canal System Begins
Nine lateral canals completed to connect other parts of NYS to the Erie Canal. Only four of these lateral canals have survived in to the 21st century.
1895-1898: The 2nd Erie Canal Enlargement (not completed)
- 9 ft. deep
- Cost: $9 Million (insufficient to complete the project)
1903-1918: The 3rd Erie Canal Enlargement (Barge Canal System: also includes Champlain, Oswego, Cayuga & Seneca Canals)
- 200 ft. wide (minimum) by 12 ft. deep
- 57 main line (Erie Canal) locks, 300 ft. long by 44.5 ft. wide
- Cost: $155 Million
1990's: Transition of the NYS Canal System
- Barge Canal System becomes the NYS Canal System and the original names of the four canals that make up the system are restored.
- The NYS Canal System becomes part of the NYS Thruway Authority
Source: Dr. Daniel F. Larkin SUNY Oneonta