The Erie Canal Turns 200 Years Old

On Nov. 4,1825, a wedding took place in New York — a wedding of the waters.

Nine days earlier, a flotilla of boats had embarked from Buffalo to mark one of the greatest engineering achievements in history: the Erie Canal. Some eight years after the first shovel of dirt had been turned, the flat-bottomed boats made their way to the Hudson River in Albany and then headed south to New York City. The new canal made it possible to travel from Buffalo to the East Coast entirely by water — a point New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton made by dumping a keg of freshwater from Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean.

“May the God of Heavens and Earth smile most propitiously on the work,” reflected Clinton upon the boats’ arrival in New York City, “and render it subservient to the best interests of the human race.”

Nearly instantly, inland shipping prices declined by 90 percent. The canal became known as the “mother of cities” for the towns that sprouted up along the route. And Great Lakes ports like Cleveland, Detroit and Chicago were well on their way to becoming metropolises.

“New York City wouldn’t be New York City without the Erie Canal,” says Brian Trzeciak, executive director of the Buffalo Maritime Center. “Buffalo would not be the city it is without the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal opened up commerce and for a way for people to move west. It’s been called a feat of human ingenuity, and it really is. How they built the canal was nothing short of an amazing feat.”

That feat will be celebrated all summer in New York state for the bicentennial of the canal’s opening, with a host of events scheduled along the canal route, including a re-creation of that first ride in the Erie Canal boat Seneca Chief, starting in Buffalo on Sept. 24, and ending in New York City a month later. The boat will dock at 28 ports along the Erie Canal and Hudson River before arriving in New York City for the official commemoration of the canal’s opening.

While the original Seneca Chief has been lost to history, the Buffalo Maritime built an exact 73-foot replica. The boat — which has electricity for lights, but no propulsion — will travel with a tugboat, the C.L. Churchill, and a push boat, the Buffalo Sal. (Named, of course, for the mule that was a good old worker and a good old pal in the folk song “Erie Canal.”)

The new Seneca Chief was built with the help of some 200 volunteers over four years, says Trzeciak. It will be open for public viewing on weekends through May and June at the Commercial Slip at Canalside in Buffalo while the interior of the boat is being completed. By July, visitors will be able to tour the entire boat on both weekends and weekdays.

The replica was constructed within the Longshed at Canalside, which is being transformed for the bicentennial into the Waterway of Change, an immersive multimedia experience that will tell some of the lesser-known stories that grew out of the canal.

“It’s a story we didn’t learn in fourth grade,” adds Chastity O’Shei, brand strategy manager for Erie Canal Harbor Development Corp. “We hear very little about indigenous people’s displacement. We hear very little about its role in the Underground Railroad. Escaped slaves would get tucked away in canal boats and get off at Lake Erie and make their way to Canada.”

The bicentennial kickoff weekend is May 16, with events ramping up after Memorial Day, according to Jean Mackay, deputy director of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor.

Cycle the Erie Canal (July 12-20) takes riders on the 400-mile journey from Buffalo to Albany. Hearkening back to the days when traveling circuses would stop at towns along the canal, the Flotsam River Circus will travel the canal route in August, offering 35 free performances along the way. Buffalo will also host the World Canals Conference (Sept. 21-25), during which the Seneca Chief will depart on its trek to New York City.

“That voyage is really going to be a centerpiece for the bicentennial,” Mackay says. “It will touch so many communities along the canal.”

For more information on the Erie Canal Bicentennial, visit buffalomaritimecenter.org and eriecanalway.org/bicentennial.

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