As I have heard the many stories about the canal and have seen the tools and working conditions, I have reflected that I am deeply grateful to be living in the twenty-first century. The original canal, "Clinton's Ditch", was dug by shovel and pick-axe. Yes, it was only four feet deep in some areas, but it is very deep in other areas and required digging through rock. Dynamite would have been really handy. Children worked on the Erie Canal. They helped set fuses for gunpowder blowouts. They walked horses and mules along the towpath. They helped with work onboard the boats.
I remember reading Charles Dickens novels in college and being horrified at the working conditions described and the lack of rules around child labor in England. It did not occur to me that my cherished nation had the same lack of care. Now I am seeing the history in a way that memorizing names and dates does not encourage. Once again I wish that teachers had treated history as facts illustrated by stories to give it reality. Traveling gives us a chance to walk in someone else's shoes and through their history. It also gives us a chance to see the positive effects of progress and to see the negative effects. When the Erie Canal joined the ocean to the rivers and freshwater lakes, it decreased the cost of shipping and made goods available to many more people. The problem is that it also allowed the migration of invasive species to grow exponentially.
The Lockport portion of the canal was the last section to be finished. The canal in this location had to carry boats up and down 60 feet of rock to traverse the Niagara Escarpment. This was accomplished by creating five consecutive locks that look like giant stair steps - hence the term Flight of Five to describe this marvel. The locks were expanded to form a two way system so that boats did not have to wait for days to get through. The flight of five locks was replaced by locks 34 and 35 - the modern locks in use (kind of) today. Shipping traffic uses the Saint Lawrence Seaway today; it is larger and faster. Locks 34 and 35 are still used for pleasure craft and tour boats.
Painting celebrating the completion of the Flight of Five (upper center)
Looking down the Flight of Five
Looking down Locks 34 and 35 with pleasure craft
We took a different sort of tour. It was a walking tour with a short boat trip at the end. We toured the caves under the canal. This tour was about the history of the area and how the water power was used to power factories. We saw the ruins of two factories and then went through the huge water tunnels under the site of the factories. Our tour guide, Melissa, explained how the tunnels were made using steel pipes, held by one man, and hammers, pounded by a second man, to dig holes that were filled with gunpowder to blow out the rock. Melissa explained that the workers worked twelve hour shifts and were paid ten cents a day - which was a living wage at the time. It was challenging to take pictures, but I tried!
Passengers in the underground boat
Looking up to the old factory floor
One of the interesting facts we learned was that the population of Lockport is the same today as it was the year that the canal was expanded. After its original population boom, things stagnated when other shipping methods took away the large number of visitors. We have noticed the decline of so many small towns along the canal and we commented on the fact that Lockport has done more with canal tourism than many other places. There are charming shops and parks along the canal and a nice little winery, called Flight of Five. The winery serves flights of five samples of their product - perfect! Nice location and terrific marketing. We enjoyed our stay here.
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