The Erie Canal Museum

America followed Europe into the field of canal construction. Extensive European and English canal systems proved the feasibility of inland waterway transportation and provided fine examples to be improved upon. As the need for improved inland transportation became obvious for westward expansion and the states developed the financial stability for large construction programs, America plunged into an era of canal building activity.

From the days of the birchbark canoe, the early trade routes of the Northeast utilized New York's waterways. The Lake Champlain-Hudson River Route and the Lake Ontario-Oswego River-Mohawk River Route were utilized by native Americans, fur traders, missionaries and colonizers. Fortification along the these routes still stands as testimony to their importance in exploration, trade and settlement.

The birchbark canoes were supplemented by bateaux, longer heavier boats rowed or pulled by several men, which by 1791 would haul a cargo of 1 1/2 - 2 tons. Bateaux grew in size, and so did the problems with their use. These natural waterways had several rapids and falls where they had to be unloaded and hauled past the rough water, refitted and sent on their way. They also had to fight currents, floods and low water. In march 1792 the Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company came into being and improved navigation on the Mohawk River. Also in that year, this company built small canals 3′ deep with locks of 12′ x 74′ around the falls and rapids of the river. By 1796 bateaux had grown into Durham boats with capacities of 15-20 tons. Although business was brisk, maintenance on the wooden locks and channels depleted revenue and the operation folded d a few years later.

Committed to preserving the only existing weighlock building in the United States, the Erie Canal Museum collects and conserves Canal material, champions an appreciation and understanding of Erie Canal history through educational programming and promotes an awareness of the Canal's transforming effects on the past, present and future.

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