From the July 23, 2017, Chicago Tribune by Stephanie Reynolds.
As we mark the 200th anniversary of the beginning of construction on the famous Erie Canal, connecting the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, a huge step in American transportation and quite an undertaking without the equipment we have today, here is a look back.
It was 1836, the same year as the Battle of the Alamo in Texas, David Sprague Crandall left his hometown in Lockport, N.Y., to travel on the Erie Canal and the Ohio and Mississippi rivers all the way to Galveston, , Texas.
He took paddle-wheel steamers and slow-poke line boats pulled by mules on a tow path. Along the way, he encountered an alligator, a horse race that pitted Tennessee against Kentucky and President Andrew Jackson.
Fortunately for us, he kept a journal of his trip for his 9-year-old grandson, George Lee Thurston II.
Crandall was a journalist and eventually became the owner of the Lockport Courier. But, on August 8, 1836, he boarded a "shovel-nosed line boat" that was propelled by two mules and a ragged boy." He was in poor health and going west to seek a change of climate.
he was heading west to Buffalo, NY, at the western end of the canal, at a speed somewhat slower than a person walking.
But, at least he wasn't doing the walking.
--DaCoot
Showing posts with label canal boats. Show all posts
Showing posts with label canal boats. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
Tuesday, February 10, 2015
Two Canal Boats Found in Lake Ontario--- Part 2
But, then, you have to wonder what the canal boats were doing in the lake when they sank?
Two divers using deep-sea apparatus filmed the wrecks, located some 200 feet down. The identification of the two has not happened but it is believed that the vessels were built in the mid-1800s when the Erie Canal was widened to accommodate larger boats.
Records of the more than 600 Lake Ontario shipwrecks didn't turn up a match for either one.
Jim Kennard thinks that they weer probably being towed when they sank. Both show damage indicating their cargoes may have shifted during fast-changing weather conditions. They were likely older boats whose owners tried to get one more voyage out of them on the lake, which is connected to the Erie Canal by the Oswego Canal.
Mystery Solved? --Cooter
Two divers using deep-sea apparatus filmed the wrecks, located some 200 feet down. The identification of the two has not happened but it is believed that the vessels were built in the mid-1800s when the Erie Canal was widened to accommodate larger boats.
Records of the more than 600 Lake Ontario shipwrecks didn't turn up a match for either one.
Jim Kennard thinks that they weer probably being towed when they sank. Both show damage indicating their cargoes may have shifted during fast-changing weather conditions. They were likely older boats whose owners tried to get one more voyage out of them on the lake, which is connected to the Erie Canal by the Oswego Canal.
Mystery Solved? --Cooter
Monday, February 9, 2015
Two Canal Boats Discovered in Lake Ontario-- Part 1
From the Jan. 22, 2015, USA Today "Shipwreck hunters make unusual find" by AP.
First, there was the possible discovery of LaSalle's Griffin and now this. But why would canal boats be in Lake Ontario?
The wrecks of two 19th-century canal boats have been found on the bottom of Lake Ontario. This is a very unusual discovery because this type of vessel would not be good for use on open water.
A team of New York shipwreck hunters made the announcement on Jan. 21st.
The three-member team from the Rochester, NY, area discovered the boats using side-scan sonar last year while searching for shipwrecks on the east end of Lake Ontario.
The sunken canal boats-- one 65-feet long and the other 78 feet long-- were found within a few miles of each other about midway between Oswego and Sackets Harbor (a name I have come across often in connection with the War of 1812).
More to Come. --DaShipWreckCoot
First, there was the possible discovery of LaSalle's Griffin and now this. But why would canal boats be in Lake Ontario?
The wrecks of two 19th-century canal boats have been found on the bottom of Lake Ontario. This is a very unusual discovery because this type of vessel would not be good for use on open water.
A team of New York shipwreck hunters made the announcement on Jan. 21st.
The three-member team from the Rochester, NY, area discovered the boats using side-scan sonar last year while searching for shipwrecks on the east end of Lake Ontario.
The sunken canal boats-- one 65-feet long and the other 78 feet long-- were found within a few miles of each other about midway between Oswego and Sackets Harbor (a name I have come across often in connection with the War of 1812).
More to Come. --DaShipWreckCoot
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