(Our eight-day, 400-mile Buffalo to Albany Cycle the Erie Bike Tour began in 9/11.)
The Erie Canal was the marvel of its age when the 353-mile “Clinton’s Folly” opened in 1825 just eight years after construction began and on budget of $7.7 million. At long last, the Atlantic Ocean was linked to the interior of the Continent by water, by way of the Hudson River.
In 1825, Governor Dewitt Clinton officially opened the Erie Canal as he sailed the packet boat Seneca Chief along the Canal from Buffalo to Albany. Then, after traveling from the mouth of the Erie to New York City, he emptied two casks of water from Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean, celebrating the first connection of waters from East to West in the ceremonial “Wedding of the Waters,” according to a history published by the New York State Canal Corporation
The Erie Canal turned a modest port called New York City into a globally important trade and financial center, and the United States into a global industrial power, with New York as its center. It turned a subsistence farmer into a global purveyor, and not only transformed geography, but society. The Erie Canal “was the Mother of Cities” – overnight, canal towns catering to the boat traffic sprung up from nowhere and cities like Buffalo, Rochester and Syracuse blossomed. The canal was an incubator for innovation, and a transmitter for new ideas.
“It was the Internet of the day, connecting, generating new inventions,” observes Capt Jerry Gertz, aboard the Erie Canal Cruises out of Herkimer.
We see this at Lockport on the first day of our 400-mile ride from Buffalo to Albany, following the Erie Canal trail, when we will ride 47 miles from Buffalo, to our campground in Medina. There are more than 600 of us on this, the 17th Annual Cycle the Erie bike tour organized by Parks & Trails NY (ptny.org), when we all take off together with a police escort, through the streets of Buffalo to the beginning of the canal trail. The trail follows the towpath of the original Erie Canal.
The idea of connecting the Hudson River to the Great Lakes goes back to the early 1700s. George Washington, as a soldier in the French & Indian War, a surveyor himself and a big fan of canals, thought this central corridor through New York – the only relatively flat landscape between the Adirondacks and the Appalachian Mountains – would be a great location.
Jesse Hawley, while in debtors’ prison during 1807-8, wrote up a plan to connect the Hudson River to Lake Erie which came to the attention of New York City Mayor DeWitt Clinton. Clinton championed the idea of a canal as he rose up the political ranks, eventually becoming New York State Governor. President James Madison, though, was unwilling to give federal funds, so it fell to New York State to finance the project on its own. Clinton gave an impassioned “Memorial” speech in the New York State Legislature in 1808 inspiring the Legislators to appropriate $7 million to finance construction.
The first Erie Canal was 40 feet wide and just four feet deep, stretching 363 miles, from Albany-Buffalo, with 83 locks to take a boat the 565 feet in elevation. There were no motors involved, so a towpath was constructed along side, and mules. The mules were led by young boys known as “hoggies,” who walked 15 miles a day. One of these hoggies grew up to become president: James Garfield), Ben Willis of the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse tells us at one of the evening lectures during our eight-day bike-tour.
“The effect of the Canal was both immediate and dramatic, and settlers poured west. The explosion of trade prophesied by Governor Clinton began, spurred by freight rates from Buffalo to New York of $10 per ton by Canal, compared with $100 per ton by road. In 1829, there were 3,640 bushels of wheat transported down the Canal from Buffalo. By 1837 this figure had increased to 500,000 bushels; four years later it reached one million. In nine years, Canal tolls more than recouped the entire cost of construction. Within 15 years of the Canal’s opening, New York was the busiest port in America, moving tonnages greater than Boston, Baltimore and New Orleans combined.” (www.canals.ny.gov/history/history.html)
In order to keep pace with the growing demands of traffic, the Erie Canal was enlarged between 1836 and 1862. The “Enlarged Erie Canal” was 70 feet wide and 7 feet deep, and could handle boats carrying 240 tons. The number of locks was reduced to 72.
In 1898 Theodore Roosevelt, as Governor of New York, pushed to enlarge the canal again and straighten its route – in many cases relocating the canal altogether – to a width of 125 feet and minimum depth of twelve feet. The “modern” Barge Canal – the one we see today – was opened in 1918 and the motors which operate the new, enlarged and uniform locks, are a century old, as well.
On our first day on our 400-mile Cycle the Erie bike tour, organized by Parks & Trails NY, we get a wonderful side-by-side comparison of the “modern” canal and lock against the original Clinton’s Ditch lock system at Lockport, a town that was one of many along the route literally birthed by the Erie Canal.
Even today, the “Flight of Five” locks – the solution devised by Nathan Roberts to manage the 60-foot drop in a short distance – that date back to the 1825 canal are still admired as among the most extraordinary in the world.
“In the 1820s, that was an engineering marvel,” says Ray Wiegel of the Niagara County Visitor Bureau, in an evening orientation at our Buffalo campground before our first day’s ride. He discusses the huge hurdle that confronted the builders: cutting seven miles through limestone bedrock in the 70-foot high Niagara escarpment, to have a level canal.
“They had to build five levels of locks because each one could only go 12 feet. In the 1820s and 1840s, they didn’t have structural steel. The lock gates are wooden. “
Two of the 19th century lock chambers have been rebuilt, and from 10 to noon, they provide a demonstration, manually opening and closing the gates. (Soon after our visit, New York State announced funding to restore the others.)
By 1822, 300 miles of the Erie Canal had already been dug. But to the west, the canal builders faced their most difficult challenge: the Niagara Escarpment was a 70-foot natural solid rock obstacle, the same mountain ridge over which Niagara Falls joins Lake Erie to Lake Ontario.
Nathan Roberts, who had no formal engineering training but had been working on the canal, came up with an innovative solution – still one of the most staggeringly unusual designs for its time: a series of five locks, each one raising or dropping a boat 12 feet. And because he knew it would consume a tremendous amount of time, he built two parallel steps of locks, so boats could go in both directions – an advancement in canal engineering. (Later on in our tour, we will ride through his hometown.)
Here at Lockport, we get to see how the lock system worked – two of Roberts’ original locks have been restored. They are manually operated wooden gates that gatekeepers open and close a few times a day. Here, you can see just how narrow the locks were.
(Just after our visit, New York State announced funding for phase II of the restoration of Lockport’s historic locks which will make lock 68 fully operational. Once this portion of the project is complete, three of the five historic locks that make up the Flight of Five would be restored. Increased funding will also allow for the installation of an arched bridge and completion of an interpretative gateway exhibit.)
Lockport Cave & Underground Boat Ride
The Parks & Trails NY organizers have arranged for us: we all have an opportunity to take a free canal cruise. That’s where many of the 600 of the Cycle the Erie riders are, onboard a cruise boat.
But since I have already gone through locks on a canal cruise (on my own, when I rented a canal boat a few years ago, and on this trip from Herkimer, before I joined the ride), I take another option: the Lockport Cave & Underground Boat Ride. This proves to be a unique attraction that gives you the perspective of the canal from the point of view of the manufacturers and entrepreneurs (Cycle the Erie riders are offered a discount on the $13 admission).
On this tour (about an hour walking, plus a 15-minute boat ride), we go into the man-made cave that actually served as a tunnel for the rushing water that powered the factory motors.
It is such an interesting view of the interaction between man (manufacture) and nature, for as we walk, we see stalactites forming from the ceiling.
Our walking tour starts on the canal, where Nate Harris, our tour guide, relates the history. Then we walk down a slope to where the hillside means the canal, passed where there would have been three factories.
We walk passed where there would have been a three-story factory, the Holly Manufacturing Company.
“Birdsill Holly, the owner, was famous in his day. He had 150 patents, second-most to Thomas Edison.” He was a genius at mechanical engineering and specialized in hydro-mechanical systems. The factory manufactured the fire hydrant which utilized the Holly pump he invented. He also created the system of using the rushing water through tunnel (a hydraulic “raceway”) to power turbines. At its peak, the factory employed 500 people. Ironically, his factory was destroyed by fire in 1909 (there is a photo of the fire hanging in the tour office).
Next, we walk passed where the Richmond Factory, founded in 1868, would have been – portions of gatehouse can still be seen. It utilized Holly’s hydromechanical system. But in 1993, it too, was destroyed by fire.
The third was the Lockport Pulp factory, which operated1880-1941, which went out of business after the invention of galvanized steel. “Their lease ran out in 1941 and they lost the use of the water.”
Now we have come to a great outflow pipe which we use as our entrance into the cave, which once would have been the “raceway” for the rushing water.
This is the system devised by the privately owned Hydraulic Raceway Company (Birdsill Holly was a major investor) to serve his factory and the others.
It is quite an interesting sight – pitch black except for the artificial light.
As we walk through, drops of water hit us. “It’s being kissed by the cave,” Nate says, and is good luck.
We come to gorgeous reflection pools.
The tunnel was cut by Irish and Italian workers. Nate points out what would have been involved in digging out this tunnel and creating the cave, using the technology they had – sledgehammers and black powder. “They worked long hours doing dangerous work for low wages.” At one point, they went on a labor strike.
Boys as young as five years old would be the ones to plant the explosive charge because they were small and fast. Each charge would blast a hole the size of a basketball. There are no figures how many died in the construction.
We begin to appreciate how hard it would have been to survey and know where to blast and dig – Nate points out a rod in the ceiling that would have been dug from the surface.
Holly built his tunnel first, in 1858. It took 1 1/2 years to dig 750 feet. Richer opened his factory in 1868. A third section was opened eight years later, taking three years, until 1880 to finish. The factories would have paid $200 year for access to water.
Now our walk takes us to a wooden boat, built inside the cavern. “Welcome aboard Titanic 2,” Nate jokes.
It is really a delightful boat-ride, full of atmosphere, that takes us through the oldest section of the tunnel. You can see some differences in how it was constructed. We can appreciate how long it takes to form a stalactite by how small these are. We see soda stalactites (they have a hollow interior).
($13 plus tax, but $9 for Erie Canal riders. Lockport Cave & Underground Boat Ride on the Erie Canal, 716-438-0174, www.lockportcave.com).
After the tour, before I continue on the Erie Canal trail toward Medina, I stop in at the Erie Canal Discovery Center, right at the base of the original five locks. Housed in a gatehouse, it offers a modest selection of artifacts and a 15-minute video explaining how the Canal was built.
“Clinton’s Folly turned a far-flung nation into a unified nation. Before the canal, there were no roads to bring supplies. It took eight years to build and was in use for 80 years. Today, the modern Barge Canal has 57 locks that open by electricity.”
We ride out of Lockport continuing on at our own pace. This part of the canal trail is bucolic.
“Welcome to Medina”
As we come into Medina, people are sitting on their lawn beside canal with a big “Welcome Cyclists” banner.
I arrive in Medina in the golden light of the late afternoon – my only regret is that it is Sunday and just about everything is closed. But on a previous visit on the Erie Canal, when we rented a Mid-Lakes Navigation houseboat and biked the trail, I got to explore Medina. It is absolutely fabulous – you see old store signs (pharmacy) and newfangled shops (candlemaker). You see one of the oldest Opera Houses – a tribute to the wealth that stone and the Erie Canal brought, built with the famous Medina sandstone, discovered during the building of the canal.
The deep color and durability of the stone made it desirable as a building material and it was close to the surface and easy to reach. The stone was exported on the Erie Canal to markets worldwide – from the Buckingham Palace in London to the pillars of the Brooklyn Bridge.
The architecture is absolutely magnificent – and our ride to the campground takes us through neighborhoods with gorgeous, but fading, Victorian houses.
There is a concert on the canal at 2:30 pm (I don’t get there in time)
Our campground for the night is the Clifford Wise Middle School, and we can take advantage of their swimming pool.
We notice other attributes arranged for us: there is a shower truck, water stations, inside the school are places where we can recharge phones and computers, and WiFi access.
In the evening, after dinner, there is a lecture.
Day Two: Medina to Fairport, 57.4 Miles
After leaving our campsite at Clifford Middle School, we ride through Medina back to the canal trail. This is one of the most interesting sections of the Erie Canal – built high up over a rushing creek that drops into waterfalls, with an extraordinary angled turn.
This is a stunning engineering achievement, as the historical marker notes. “During construction of the canal, a host of technical, physical and organizational challenges inspired innovative solutions. The Oak Orchard Creek passed deep below level of canal and the sharp curve of the canal here complicated matters further. The solution that engineers chose was to create 125-foot wide canal channel – which required massive amount of high strength concrete, specially formulated and tested for this application. Oak Orchard Creek passes 45 feet under canal in 50-ft wide arch.”
About two miles outside Medina we come upon a major historic attraction: the Culvert Road, the only road built under the Eric Canal in 1823. The culvert was so extraordinary, it was even listed in Ripley’s Believe it or Not. We climb down from the bike trail to the road to see this tunnel that goes under the canal: water actually drips down into the tunnel, and the echo is amazing. From here, you can best appreciate how shallow the canal is, and how it is truly a man-made construction.
As we continue the ride, we see some of the prettiest farm landscapes (riders who come from farming areas are unimpressed, but us cityfolk feel as we have dropped into Currier & Ives or Grandma Moses.
Albion is one of these canal towns which manifest so magnificently the architecture of opulence. Here, we are invited to visit the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church, built in 1894 with funds from George M. Pullman (1831-1897). who made his fortune manufacturing the luxurious railroad sleeper cars. He remained close to people in Albion and one of his friends, Charles A. Danolds, in 1890, convinced him to donate the funds for the Pullman Memorial Universalist Church. Built in 1894, what makes the church remarkable are the Tiffany stained glass windows and ceiling (10 East Park St., Albion, NY `14411, 585-589-7181, PullmanMemorial.org).
At Mile 21, we come to a small town of Holley, settled in 1812 and established on the original Erie Canal. This was an enormous and complicated loop that was changed, putting the town a few blocks from the canal. The restored railroad depot (circa 1907) is now a museum. Holly was the center of a community of Italian immigrants who were brought over to work the sandstone quarry at Medina (the sign says, “affectionately called, Podunk”).
As we ride into Brockport, we are greeted with water, lemonade, and free stamped postcards. Brockport has a charming Main Street. Brockport, it turns out, was where Cyrus McCormick contracted a factory to manufacture his reapers (there is a marker near the dock), seeing that the reapers could be shipped on the canal to the Midwest where he was getting orders from the large farms.
We ride passed Adams Basin and Spencerport (recommended for our lunch stop), where a unique “lift bridge” carries Main Street over the canal.
We come into Rochester, where we can take a short excursion along the Genesee River bike path into downtown Rochester, with its spectacular waterfalls. At our rest-stop in the riverside park, we are offered the opportunity for free kayaking and canoing and swimming.
The Erie Canal turned Rochesterville into an American “boom town” and today, it is the third largest city in New York State, my brochure says. The canal first went through the center of the city, across an 800-foot aqueduct over the Genesee River – a major achievement at the time. A second, sturdier version, built in 1842 to replace the original aqueduct, can be seen at the base of the Broad Street ridge. Eventually, as Rochester was built up and the canal interfered with traffic, the canal was rerouted to bypass the city.
We come to Fairport, and our campsite, at the Martha Brown Middle School.
Day Three: Fairport to Waterloo/Seneca Falls, 53.7 Miles
The weather forecast calls for rain beginning at 6 am, so I get up at 4:30 instead of 5:15 to take down the tent and get my gear on the truck (I am amazed how many others are up so early). At 5:57 am there are a few drops of rain.
Despite the forecast of rain, the morning ride begins in pleasant weather on the canal from Fairport, but there are forecast of bad rain towards Seneca Falls, so I try to ride at a faster pace to try to get ahead of the rain (which means I miss out on visiting the Peppermint Factory in Lyons).
In Palmyra, our rest-stop is right at the canal Lock. As we ride passed the town, we can visit the farmhouse of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon religion.
At Newark, there are people to welcome us and I linger at the magnificent murals that decorate the bridge.
When we come into Clyde, where our rest stop is arranged and where the Clyde Methodist Church has snacks for us, a storm is clearly brewing. We are welcomed into a church where they have sandwiches and drinks for us.
Just as I ride out of Clyde and am about to re-enter the canal trail, the drizzle turns almost instantly to downpour, as if a spigot was opened.
Now we find ourselves riding not on the trail, but amid some of the most beautiful landscapes. We ride through the Amish countryside – picturesque farms, scenes with horses.
It is so beautiful in the rain – it is warm and not uncomfortable – but I am frustrated because I can’t take pictures (raining too hard)
I pass a 100-year old barn across from an Amish farm, where I see some of our riders huddled – and call out “Cowards”. Just then there is a thunder clap and I return to join them. When it seems the thunder has cleared – but not the rain – I head out. We ride another hour or two in the rain, through what seems to be a labyrinth of roads.
The weather clears up around 3:30 pm, just as I near the end of the ride and by the time I get to the campsite, it is dry, so we can set up the tents.
A shuttle bus is available to take us into Seneca falls until 9 pm, where the museums are open especially for us (and we are on our own for dinner.)
Seneca Falls is the home of the Women’s Rights movement and I can’t wait to see it.
The 18th Annual Cycle the Erie Canal ride is scheduled July 10-17, 2016 (www.ptny.org/canaltour). In the meantime, you can cycle the trail on your own – detailed info and interactive map is at the ptny.org site (www.ptny.org/bikecanal), including suggested lodgings.For more information on Cycle the Erie Canal, contact Parks & Trails New York at 518-434-1583 or visit www.ptny.org.
Next: Women’s Rights in Seneca Falls
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