Construction of the erie canal Rosemary m. Stephens

FACTS It had 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over ravines and rivers 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the hudson river to lake erie. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. A ten foot wide towpath was built along the bank of the canal for the horses and/or mules which pulled the boats and their driver, often a young boy (sometimes referred to by later writers as a "hoggee").

Canal Vocabulary Aqueduct: A bridge-like structure filled with water that allowed the canal boats to cross a stream or valley. Basin: a widening in the canal that allowed boats to pass or turn around; often developed into a site of a tavern, mill, warehouse or town. Cabin: the enclosed space or house area on the canal boat. Canal: a man made waterway for navigation or irrigation. Cargo: a variety of materials or goods that were to be transported to market. Driver: a young boy or girl, often the son or daughter of boat captain who would drive the ani- mals in pulling the boat.

Dry dock: A place next to the canal where canal boats were built or repaired. Boats would be floated in and the water then drained away so workers could get under boat for repairs. Feeder: a watered channel that fed the canal with a steady supply of water from a reservoir, lake, or river. Lock: a stone, concrete or wooden chamber within the canal with water tight gates. The gates could open and close at each end, allowing the water level to raise or lower the boats. Lock tender: a worker who operated the lock gates in order to guide the boat in and out of a lock; also called a lock keeper. Mule: an animal that is part horse and part donkey. Often used as draft animals to pull the ca- nal boats. Horses were used as well. Packet: a type of boat designed to carry passengers instead of cargo. Cargo boats were called freighters.

Pike pole: six to eight foot wooden stick used to move a boat by hand by pushing along the bot- tom of the canal, often used to turn the boat in a basin. Tiller: a movable blade on a canal boat that controlled the boat’s movement or steering; oper- ated by the steersman. Towline: a rope used to link the draft animals to the canal boat in order to pull or “tow” the boat on the canal. Towpath: the walkway along the canal where the animals pulled or “towed” the boat with a tow- line rope. Wicket: also called a sluice gate; a window like mechanism in the canal lock chamber. It was opened to allow water to enter and fill the lock chamber prior to the boats entry.

HOW CANALS WERE BUILT

Axemen were the lowest-ranking members of the party. Before the contractors could begin excavation, engineering parties had to stake out the line. A party consisted of a principal engineer, one or more assistant engineers, targetmen, and axemen. Axemen were the lowest-ranking members of the party. Their job was to cut the stakes used in marking the canal line and to remove brush, small trees, and other similar obstructions. Targetmen occupied the next level in survey parties. They held targets, which were rodlike instruments 10 feet long, used to help surveyors measure changes in elevation in order to maintain the necessary level. In 1817, targetmen were paid three dollars a week.

Engineers occupied the highest rank. They were responsible for making the three-dimensional measurements needed to construct the canal ditch. Engineers received at least a dollar a day plus expenses. Nearly all the excavation was done by men using picks and shovels and by draft animals (animals that pull heavy loads). Workers used black gunpowder to blast through rock, with the powder holes drilled by hand. Very few machines were available to supplement physical labor, but there was one machine to bring down trees and another to pull stumps. The first machine worked by attaching a line near the top of a tree, then winding the line on an endless screw turned by a wheel, pulling the tree down.

The stump removal device had a huge axle 30 feet long and 20 inches in diameter - supported by two wheels, both 16 feet in diameter. In the middle of the axle was mounted a third wheel, 14 feet in diameter. Workers placed the machine over the stump and then attached the stump to chains wound around the axle. Draft animals pulled a rope wound around the center wheel and thus ripped the stump from the ground. The Erie Canal contained locks, aqueducts, and waste-weirs (structures designed to eliminate excess water), as well as side walls in some places. Builders used cut stone to make almost all of these structures, parts of which were always submerged in water. To build these structures, engineers needed hydraulic cement, which would harden under water, to hold the stone in place. This posed a serious problem: there seemed to be no source of cement in the United States; apparently, it would have to be imported from Europe at considerable cost. Then limestone was discovered near Chittenango, NY. When burned, crushed, and mixed with sand, the limestone produced cement that hardened under water. By the end of the 19th century, the application of steam power to machinery altered canal construction methods. Steam shovels largely replaced pick-and-shovel excavation. Railroad locomotives and dump cars took over from teams and wagons, and steam drills bored holes for the placement of dynamite, the new high explosive.

Videos/Websites http://www.eriecanal.org/locks.html (Website that describes how locks work) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mh8_7bigRo0 (Video about the erie canal) Http://www.Youtube.Com/watch?V=63fi3sj6t40 (Video about how locks work) http://www.eriecanal.org/Lockport-2.html (More historical photos of Erie Canal)

Completion of the erie canal The work was completed in 1825.  Cannons had been placed every ten miles along the route.  To signal the opening, they were fired in succession, taking eighty minutes to traverse the route from Albany to NY City.

Sources http://www.eriecanal.org/ http://eriecanalmuseum.org/history/ http://www.archives.nysed.gov/projects/eriecanal/essays/ec_larkin.shtml