What kinds of goods were shipped along the erie canal? what else was it used for?

Detroit Publishing Co., photographer. Erie Canal at Little Falls. Between 1880 and 1897. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division.

The Erie Canal played a major part in commerce in the history of the United States. Its creation helped to make New York City the chief port in the United States and opened the western part of the state and other western territories to increased settlement and trade. It connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie and many of New York state’s biggest cities – Albany, Utica, Syracuse, Buffalo – lie along its banks.

Its history began in the early years of the 18th century when Governor DeWitt Clinton proposed a canal to connect the Hudson River to Lake Erie. There were many in New York who didn’t support the development of a canal – hence the monikers Clinton’s Folly or Clinton’s Big Ditch – but it did have other big name supporters including Gideon Granger, Stephen Van Rensselaer, and Gouverneur Morris who helped to insure that it indeed did get built.

Construction on the Canal began on July 4, 1817 and lasted about 8 years. It finally opened October 26, 1825 with then Governor Clinton presiding over the official opening aboard the Seneca Chief External. The Canal was an engineering marvel of the day at four feet deep, 40 feet wide, and 363 miles long.

It was a major transportation line for all sorts of products like timber, agricultural goods, merchandise, manufactured goods, etc. You can see the Canal’s growing importance reflected in the numbers. In 1837 the tonnage of property moved was 667,151; it was over one million in 1845; over four million in 1880; and in 1897 it was just over 2.5 million. The only other New York canal that came close was the Champlain which often had less than half of that amount.1

Just looking at the annual publications provides an amazingly detailed account of commerce on the Canal. In the 1839 Annual Report of the Commissioners of the Canal Fund I found that revenue received from the tolls on the Erie Canal alone was over one million dollars. However, what was most fascinating were the many fold-out charts. One chart included the number of tolls paid and received at the various places of collection, the names of the collectors as well as what the salaries were for collectors, inspectors, and clerks – on each of the New York canals. Other charts showed the tonnage on each of the canals (by office) for the various products, value of the products, and provided a very detailed accounting of tolls per product.

The Annual Financial Report from 1872 shows even more detail with over 90 charts and tables covering various aspects of the state’s canals. This same detail and information could be found in the Annual Report of the Comptroller, of the Expenditures on the Canals.

Over time the use of the Canal diminished as railroads boomed and became the dominant mode of transportation and shipping. However, it was still in use in 1918. Traffic still declined rapidly and over time many parts were abandoned. While some parts of the Canal are still in use, most of the activity comes from tourists and other recreational users and it has become a National Heritage Corridor administered by the National Park Service and the Ohio & Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor Commission.

Back in Time

The Packet Boat-Transportation By Canal

By Rickie Longfellow

An Ohio Packet Boat compliments of the Columbus (Ohio) Metropolitan Library Staff, from their Photograph Collection

The history of canals goes back to ancient times to the irrigation canals dating around 4000 BC in Mesopotamia, now Iraq and Syria. In Pakistan and North India, elaborate irrigation and reservoirs were constructed. And in Egypt and China, canals date back to 2332-2283 BC and 481-221 BC, respectively. The Hohokam people of current-day Arizona built canals around 500-1450 CE (current era). The deserts now encompassing the Phoenix area had a large prehistoric population, proving that canals were useful in sustaining life.

But canals were used for more than possible drinking water and providing irrigation to crops. In the Middle Ages, travel by water was cheaper and faster. Early roads that washed out with the rains made for slow travel. Passengers wanting to relocate or trade with merchants could carry more goods by boat and arrive sooner.

The downside was that travel was still slow; poles and oars meant manpower to move the boats. Night travel on rivers such as the Nile wasn't possible due to the risk of running aground on a sandbar. Still, seven mph was an improvement over trying to get your horse and favorite chariot out of the mud.

When sails were invented between 2000-5000 BC, travel speed improved for canal and river boats, sometimes considerably, depending upon wind direction.

During the 1700-1800s, ships would sail between Europe and America only when they were full, so scheduling regular trips became a priority. This was known as the Packet Trade, named for the mail packets they carried.

In America, canal building began in the 1790s to connect the 16 States to the lands west for commerce, as well as for taking passengers and families wanting to relocate further west. Unknown to the colonists were the Hohokam's canals in a land they never dreamed of visiting. The 363-mile Erie Canal was built in 1825. The smaller packet boats, or later known as canal boats, were used to carry mail, cargo, and passengers using the canals and rivers. A packet boat was usually 14 feet wide to fit the narrow width of the canals, but could be anywhere from 70 to 90 feet long. The boat could carry up to 60 passengers much more comfortably, faster, and safer than a stagecoach, and it had sleeping berths for overnight travel. Packet boats were often pulled through the canals by a team of horses or mules who walked slowly along the bank. Passengers could cut their travel time in half by canal boat.

One packet boat from Rhode Island named Hannah helped fan the flames leading up to the Revolutionary War. In 1772 a conflict broke out when Hannah was chased by the Gaspee, a British revenue schooner whose job was to collect customs fees and inspect any cargo coming into port. It ran aground pursuing Hannah. The colonists boarded the Gaspee the following morning and torched it, shooting one of the British officers.

Another American packet boat that gained national recognition was The Marshall. It carried passengers from Richmond to Lynchburg, charging $8 for the 33 hour trip. It averaged approximately four miles per hour. There was a cook on board to prepare meals and there was separate lodging for men and women. In 1863 Confederate General Stonewall Jackson was shot at the Battle of Chancellorsville and died eight days later. The Marshall was used in the last leg of the journey on the James River from Lynchburg to Lexington, Virginia, to return him for burial.

Canal and packet boats' heyday as the lead in transportation phased out in the 1870s, although some remained. Just as the packet boats were an improvement over wagon and horse travel, the canal boat was usurped in the 1870s when trains were at full steam. Trains offered a faster and cheaper way to travel, as well as a more economical way of moving large amounts of cargo.

On occasion packet boats can be found at a historic site. In places such as Roscoe Village, Ohio, a 19th century village on the Ohio and Erie Canal, or in Georgetown, Washington D.C., on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, you can enjoy a boat ride pulled by draft horses or mules, and perhaps for a few moments you can go back in time to experience transportation by canal in a packet boat.

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