Greene in Canal Days

The aqueduct south of Greene sat on stone piers 25 feet high and carried the canal across the Chenango River. It was erected in 1837 but was repaired numerous times. It stood fairly intact well into the 1900s.

On Tuesday morning a party of about 100 young ladies and gentlemen started from the swing bridge, on a canal boat handsomely decorated with evergreens and flags drawn by four horses and accompanied by the Greene Cornet Band. They went up the raging canal as far as Warn’s Pond and spent the day as all days at at a picnic are spent - very pleasantly.  Chenango American, Greene, N.Y.

Thursday, August 3, 1876                                           Chenango County Historian

 Chenango American, Greene, N.Y.

April 18, 1935

   

   Memories of old Canal Days are Recalled by Former Greene Resident

    Memories of the “old days” and of the last trip of the packet on the old Chenango Canal, have been written by Charles A. Winston, a former Greene boy, and brother of Mrs. Harriet Wolfe of Greene. Mr. Winston now lives in East Orange, New Jersey.

    Through the courtesy of his sister, his interesting story, “The Packet” is printed for the benefit of Chenango American readers. It vividly describes scenes which are unfamiliar  to the young generation in Greene but which will, no doubt, be remembered by many of our older residents, and enjoyed by all.

                                                 The Packet

    The Packet drawn by three white horses hitched tandem, was making its last trip from Binghamton to Utica on the old Chenango Canal. The time was late fall.. A few light frosts had turned and touched  the foliage of maple, dogwood, oak and blazing sumac, all making a riot of color that had little appeal to young Dan Buck, as he urged his “three horse hitch” to a trot.

    For five summers now, Dan had, with his three horses, Dandy, Dixie and Dolly, pulled the packets on the “seven mile level” between Locks 7 and 8. Each morning he met it at Lock 8, on its downward trip. In the late afternoon at Lock 7 for the return trip.  Never once, had he been late, never once had he failed to make his time of 56 minutes on the level.

    Now it was overFor many years the packet had been an important means of travel, in moat instances replacing the stagecoach where it had paralleled the canal. Children watched for it and waved their hands as it passed, and farmers set their clocks by it.  It was a bright spot in the day and would be sadly missed. Now it was over. The railroad had come and the day of the packets was gone.

    The two packets, the Binghamton Belle and the Utica Belle, were boats of light draught with cabins extending their entire length. The top of the cabin, raised some three feet above the deck, formed a

space for benches and chairs and was surrounded by a railing. This was covered by a gaily colored canopy which, with the flags always flying fore and aft, the stripes of red, white and blue extending entirely around the boat, made a colorful sight as it glided along.

    The cabin was divided into three compartments: quarters for the crew on one end, a space for express and light freight on the other, and dining room, bar and kitchen in the middle area. The packets were

famous for the meals served, and as the dining room was always open many people came aboard and rode from one lock to another just to enjoy the meals.

    Captain Cole of the Binghamton Belle and Captain Robinson of the Utica Belle were both hearty bewhiskered old “inland sea dogs" who would have been greatly insulted to be called “Canallers". The packets were seldom called by name but were spoken of as “Captain Cole’s boat" or “Captain Robinson’s boat". There was a strong rivalry between the two men as to which boat kept closer to schedule, and

which one served the best meals. The captains rarely met except when their boats passed and if one were not on time the language used caused much amusement among the passengers.

    The schedule for the 96 miles between Binghamton and Utica called for an average speed of six miles per hour, including the time for locking. Frequent changes of horses were made so that the schedule could be maintained. With the exception of young Dan Buck's three white horses, all others were owned by the company operating the packets. Dan and his horses were known and loved by every man, woman and child along the seven mile level between locks seven and eight, and on this last trip many gathered along the towpath to bid them good-bye.

    Dan had never been in the cabin of either boat during the whole live years he had pulled them. The passengers meant nothing to him, and the captains had no occasion to bawl him out for he was always on time. At lock eight a large number of passengers and officers of the company were gathered to make the last trip. As Dan cast off the tow-line a sudden idea came to him and he called to a friend standing near, “Here! Take care of my horses. l'm going to Utica to see the finish of the old boat." So for the first time he became a passenger on the boat he had towed for so many miles. Captain Robinson invited him to supper and introduced him to the company as “the best man who ever trod a towpath".

 Thus ended the career of these two boats as packets as they were soon transformed into traveling stores and as such plied the Erie Canal for many years. The first heavy snowfall found Dan and his horses on their way to his regular winter's job in the North Woods where for several years he and his horses had been as popular as on the canal.

    Through the long winter he hauled logs to the saw mill and when spring came he arrived in Utica just as navigation opened on the Erie Canal. He decided to take a short vacation and see what canalling was like on the Big Ditch. 

   The size of the boats as compared with those he had been familiar with on the old Chenango surprised him, and he saw no horses he could compare with his beloved Dandy, Dixie and Dolly. Most of the hitches were two horse and the progress of the boats slow. Slowly it dawned on him that he was a canaller at heart and would not be happy elsewhere.

   One day as he stood idly watching boats loading and pulling out, he was accosted by Captain Davidson, an old friend and owner of the Chenango Maid, the best boat that ever plied the old Chenango. The captain was much downcast and told Dan that in trying to make just one more trip he had barely succeeded in reaching Utica before navigation closed, and in so doing he had pushed his horses so hard that they had since died. He said, "Dan, you have horses and I have a boat. Let's go in together".

    The firm of Davidson & Buck prospered from the start. Good horses. good boats and good service brought them business. The captain's daughter Molly had, since the death of her mother, served as cook

on the Chenango Maid during the summer and attended school in Utica during the winter. She was a buxom lass of nineteen, with red hair and sparkling eyes, and had caused havoc among the  hearts of every towpath boy, including Dan, between Binghamton and Utica. Dan was much pleased when he learned she was to continue as cook and lost no time in pressing his suit. They were married at the end of the season and remained canalers all their lives.

                                      Downtown Greene in the 19th century.