Chenango Canal in Earlville




These are paintings created in 1996 by the late Gordon L. Dresser of Earlville At right are the Page Forwarding Co. warehouses. The bridge that crossed the canal was about where East Main Street is now. The lock beyond to the north is near the site of the Earlville Paper Box Co. The fisherman is believed to have been “Old Abe, one of a number of Oneida Native Americans who often camped near the swamp on the old Deacon Ira Crain farm. “Old Abe” always remained in this area while the others relocated their camp. He would husk corn and do other light chores in return for being allowed to roll up in his blanket by the kitchen fires at the home of local residents. At other times he hunted, fished, and trapped. Local children were especially fond of him because he frequently made them toy bows and arrows and other toys for them.  Quincy Square Museum, Earlville.



Break in the Canal at Earlville
Chenango Telegraph, Wednesday, April 27, 1859
    A very extensive break was made by the water in the canal, at a point just south of Earlville, on Tuesday night last. The embankment was washed away for a considerable distance and the bottom carried out of the canal to a depth of ten feet. The place where the bread occurred is at the side of a large swamp, and this had been originally filled up some forty few to make a foundation for building upon, and the water, therefore, had so great a fall that the level was emptied with a rush, and the boats were piled about in a very mixed manner.
  Contractor Smith was at the scene of the disaster at an early hour on Wednesday morning with a large force of men and teams, and was so energetic in making repairs that boats were able to pass Saturday.


Canal boat passes the W.K. Nash Tannery in Earlville. Shown on a wall map of the Town and Village of Hamilton by Benjamin A. Clark, Civil Engineer, Philadelphia, Pa., 1858.


                             Old aqueduct at Earlville.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

History of the Chenango Canal in Binghamton

Image
Portion of 1855 map of Binghamton showing Chenango Canal near entrance to the Chenango River. Note canal boat basin, dry dock and boat yard off Susquehanna street. From: Binghamton Its Settlement, Growth and Development 1800-1900  William S. Lawyer, Editor. Century Memorial Publishing Company, 1900 (P. 272)  The Chenango canal was authorized by an act of the legislature, February 23, 1833. The work of construction was begun the same year and was finished in 1837, at a total cost of $1,737,703. From Utica, the northern terminus, to the summit of the greatest elevation on its line, a series of seventy-six locks gave a rise of 706 feet; thence the canal descended 303 feet by thirty-eight locks to the southern terminus at the junction of the Susquehanna and Chenango rivers in Binghamton.     The feed supply was obtained from the elevated water bodies of southern Madison county, and were Madison brook, Woodman’s pond, Leland’s pond, Bradley’s brook, Hat...
Read more

Chenango Canal in the Oriskany Valley

Image
     Model of a Chenango canal boat displayed at Hamilton Public Library made by Lee Brown Coye. Note the sweeps on the sides to enhance navigation.                               It is so easy to whisk up the Oriskany Valley these days in a motor car that you probably don’t think of the place as ever having been isolated. But back in the 1820s, when the main stream of Erie Canal commerce was passing it by, the hinterland folks began to get a persecution complex.     Obviously what was needed was a canal for everybody. And particularly a North-South canal connecting the Erie with Binghamton, the Susquehanna, and the Pennsylvania coal country.    So up and down the Oriskany and the Chenango, folks organized themselves into a mass “pressure group.” They hired their own engineers to make surveys. They sent out promotion “literature” to everyone of any importance. ...
Read more

Old Chenango Canal at Utica

Image
By the time this photo was taken the Chenango Canal had been abandoned. The scene is north of Court Street in Utica and the New York & Oswego Midland Railroads is on the left. This 1855 map shows how the Chenango Canal intersected the Erie Canal in   Utica, including four sets of locks.     ___________ Syracuse Standard August 21, 1854     Utica, July 30. - Boy Drowned. - A boy about nine years old, son of Joseph Marshall, of West Utica, was drowned yesterday while bathing in the Chenango Canal near third lock. It was his first and last attempt at swimming. _____________ Syracuse Standard Friday, May 23, 1856     Rape Case at Utica. - The Utica Telegraph gives an account of a brutal rape case recently committed near the city by three young men on a girl 12 years of age. The case somewhat resembles the one committed in this city last year.     It seems that a girl, in company with another girl ag...
Read more