Innovation in History: The Erie Canal & Buffalo's Connection
Canal Boats in the Erie Canal
Building "Clinton's Ditch"
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
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Source: Eric Brunger PhD. The Ditch That Made Buffalo the QueenCity of the Lakes
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Cross Section of the Erie Canal
How a Canal Lock Works with music by The Dady Brothers
The present Erie 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