On the morning of October 26th, 1825, citizens of Buffalo poured into the streets to watch a grand parade designating the opening of the Erie Canal. Following the parade and a series of speeches, a canal boat made of local red cedar called the Seneca Chief, carrying Governor DeWitt Clinton and numerous dignitaries, was towed away, beginning its 10 day journey towards New York City. Reaching the waters of the city on November 4th, the Seneca Chief was surrounded by a massive flotilla, with boats dripping with bunting, flags, flowers, and busts. On land, thousands crowded the streets to bear witness to the spectacle. The monumental 363 mile waterway, with its 83 locks and 18 aqueducts, would now open up New York to the west.
The Wedding of the Waters. DeWitt Clinton pouring water from Lake Erie into the New York Bay was the culmination of eight years of construction, and many more of planning and political machinations. Behind the barge, the Lady Clinton can be seen. From History of the City of New York by Martha J. Lamb.
The Erie Canal was, and indeed remains, one of the most important projects undertaken during the American “Canal Era,” which roughly spanned the decades following the end of the American Revolution through those leading up to the Civil War. The idea of a canal connecting New York City with the Great Lakes was a tantalizing one, and early proponents such as Gouverneur Morris and Jesse Hawley demonstrated the merits of building such a work. In 1808, the New York Legislature granted $600 for a survey to find the best route for a canal, and James Geddes’ 1809 report included key information about the practicality of constructing an interior route (compared to a route around Niagara Falls and the Oswego River).
DeWitt Clinton was widely considered to be one of the most important men in New York politics. By early 1810, he had served in both the New York Senate and Assembly, briefly filled a U.S. Senate position, and was then fresh off his second term as New York City Mayor. A timely intervention by New York State Senator Jonas Platt, who was running for Governor, piqued Clinton’s interest in the canal, and he agreed to support a resolution in favor of it, which persuaded others to support it. This resulted in the creation of a board of canal commissioners, which included both Clinton and Platt, along with Gouverneur Morris, Stephen Van Rensselaer, Thomas Eddy, William North, Peter Buell Porter, and New York State Surveyor General Simeon DeWitt. It would be Clinton, however, whose name would be irrevocably linked with the canal.
DeWitt Clinton. From History of New York City, embracing an outline sketch of events from 1609 to 1830 by Benson John Lossing.
Engineers of the canal. From left to right, James Geddes, Benjamin Wright, and John B. Jervis. From the Democrat and Chronicle, October 4, 1925.
Attempts to secure funding from the federal government had failed (and would fail again), and it would be up to the state to fund the construction of the canal. Forward progress had been interrupted by the War of 1812, but following its conclusion, residents of upstate New York started petitioning the legislature for civic improvements. Clinton, meanwhile, was working with Eddy and Platt to garner support in New York City. Meeting at the City Hotel and delivering speeches to a small gathering of supporters, Clinton showed how the canal would provide New York a distinct advantage over its rivals as the state is “both Atlantic and western,” that it would bring significant business from western to eastern ports, drastically reduce shipping costs, and ultimately benefit merchants across the whole state.
In a canny move, the “New York Memorial” would be distributed across the state, allowing people to subscribe to it and convene meetings of their own to discuss the canal. The committee reports were presented to the legislature and a bill was introduced. Following many amendments and infighting an Act “to provide for the improvement of the internal navigation of this state” was passed, and created a new canal commission, who were tasked with figuring out the logistics of such a massive undertaking. The next year the state passed an Act “respecting the navigable communications between the great western and northern lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.” Monies would go into a canal fund, and a combination of tolls, bonds, taxes, grants, donations, and loans would pay for the canal.
A map showing the route of the Erie Canal. From Memoir of De Witt Clinton by David Hosack.
In order to both demonstrate the economic benefits of the canal and provide time for the construction of the more complicated sections, the middle section was to be completed first. On July 4th, 1817 in Rome, the first shovels of dirt were ceremoniously dug (notably not by DeWitt Clinton, as he had recently been inaugurated as Governor and was in New York City). The construction of the canal, which had been called “Clinton’s Ditch” and “Clinton’s Folly,” would soon begin in earnest. There were no professional engineers in the country yet, and so the project required that men like Benjamin Wright, James Geddes, and Nathan Roberts learn as they went. It would be these men, and their proteges like Canvass White, John B. Jervis, and David Stanhope Bates, who would learn about and shape the discipline, and earn their accolades as America’s leading engineers.
An 1834 map of the Erie Canal from near Rome, showing the spot where the first shovel of earth was turned and canal construction began. From Participation of the Buffalo Historical Society in the Erie Canal centenary celebrated at Rome, N.Y., July 4, 1917.
The decision to start in the middle proved a pragmatic choice, with the first canal boat running between Rome and Utica in October 1819, and tolled boats starting to operate in May 1820; the canal had to be drained every winter, and in upcoming years canal boats would be given a week’s notice of the impending closure. By late 1821, the canal was finished from Little Falls to Syracuse, and when the canal opened to boats in 1822 a third of its entire length was navigable. Both the easternmost and westernmost sections required numerous locks, and also required the construction of aqueducts to carry the canal over various waterways. Across the state, as the canal approached the mighty Hudson, two aqueducts carried it across the Mohawk River. The eastern section of the canal opened in 1823, with Clinton firmly in charge of the proceedings.
The aqueduct bridge over the Genesee River at Rochester. The bridge extended 202 feet across the river. From Memoir, prepared at the request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York Canals by Cadwallader Colden.
Over the course of construction, necessity prompted the creation of novel inventions. Perhaps the most significant of these was the waterproof cement patented by Canvass White in 1820. This “Hydraulick Cement” proved invaluable for construction of the canal and its locks. Digging the canal could only be accomplished by clearing the path ahead, which was made more effective by a new tree feller that could be operated by a single person. Tree stumps were removed by a device that could tackle 40 a day, and smaller pieces of debris could be carted away by a new type of wheelbarrow that could be loaded more easily.
Construction of the “Deep Cut” near Lockport. From Memoir, prepared at the request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York Canals by Cadwallader Colden.
At the suitably named Lockport, a series of five magnificent double locks carried boats up the Niagara escarpment, which was a massive engineering marvel. The locks could hoist 75 ton boats up 60 feet in elevation. The “flight of five,” designed by Nathan Roberts, took nearly two years to finish. However, it was the connecting “deep cut” that would prove one of the most challenging feats, as it required a channel to be cut to bring the canal to the Tonawanda Creek and the elevation of Lake Erie. Thousands of workers, many of them Irish and Scottish immigrants, engaged in backbreaking labor to create the locks and the deep cut. This would be the final section of the canal to be opened in 1825.
The double locks at Lockport, 1879. This view shows a proposed system to tow boats linked together by a chain and pulled by a steamboat. From Scientific American, September 9, 1879, Volume 41, Number 10.
The celebrations for the Erie Canal were unlike anything New York had seen before, and preparations had been underway for weeks following the declaration that the canal would be ready to open on October 26th. That day, officials gathered in Buffalo and launched a massive artillery salute to signal the opening of the canal, beginning in Buffalo and continuing across the state and down the Hudson River. Guns fired at Fort Washington, Fort Gansevoort, the Battery and Governors Island, Fort Lafayette (which stood on an island across from Fort Hamilton), Fort Richmond (Fort Wadsworth), and Sandy Hook. A national salute at Fort Lafayette saw the return fire of the guns up to Buffalo, completing the circuit in under three hours.
Fort Gansevoort, also known as the White Fort after its whitewashed walls. It was one of a series of forts built to defend the harbor, including the West Battery (which later became Castle Clinton). From D.T. Valentine’s Manual of the Corporation of the City of New York, 1850.
As the Seneca Chief left Buffalo, preparations were continuing apace in New York City. It took ten days for the barge and its followers to reach the city. On November 4th, a beautiful clear autumn day, New Yorkers awoke to the sound of church bells jubilantly ringing and cannon roaring. People crowded the promenades, docks, wharves, and roofs of buildings to catch a glimpse of the Seneca Chief and see the spectacle. Fifty boats, including canal boats, ships, barges, and steam boats followed, and a group of officials gathered at City Hall and made their way to additional crafts. Hundreds of more were afloat in the Hudson and East Rivers and New York Bay, jammed to the brim with folks looking to join in on the festivities.
Clinton gave a brief speech off of the Battery and then the flotilla, which now included city dignitaries aboard the steamer Washington and barge Lady Clinton, continued to the Brooklyn Navy Yard for a salute. They then proceeded down to Sandy Hook. There, a cask filled with water from Lake Erie was poured into the waters of New York Bay, marking the occasion in what was termed the “Wedding of the Waters.” Heralding the arrival of the vessels, Clinton made another speech, noting that the incredible “navigable communication” was accomplished by the “wisdom, public spirit, and energy of the State of New York.”
Hook and Ladder Companies 1, 2, 3, and 4 in the parade. Their motto was “We Raze to Save.” From Memoir, prepared at the request of a Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, and presented to the mayor of the city, at the celebration of the completion of the New York Canals by Cadwallader Colden.
It was also thanks to the thousands of workers, including immigrants, freedmen, women, and countless others who labored directly or indirectly to make the “big ditch” a reality that transformed the fortunes of New York State and New York City. Many had died or were badly injured during the course of construction, and many more would perish as the canal was expanded in the next decades.
Fireworks over City Hall for the Erie Canal celebration. At night, lights blazed from nearly every building in the city. The celebrations lasted for several days, culminating in a grand ball. From Leslie’s History of the Greater New York.
The price of shipping goods had plummeted with the opening of each new section, and by the time the canal was fully open it cost ten times less to ship a ton of freight across the state. Within just twelve years New York State had recouped the $7.1 million it cost to build the canal, and by the time tolls were abolished the state had made many more millions in profit. On that bright November day, with New Yorkers celebrating the magnificent achievement with a grand parade, including seven thousand marchers of 59 various societies and groups, folks were well aware of the poignant moment and what it meant for the glory of New York and the nation.