Document Index

Erie Canal Time Machine - 1918

Images used in the Erie Canal Timeline section of Throughout the Ages

Barge Canal. Photograph of Dynamos and Gasoline Motor Generator in Powerhouse, Tribes Hill (1920). This is an image of one of the new engines used to power the larger, bigger locks after the Barge Canal expansion. New York State Archives

Barge Canal. Photograph of Temporary Footbridge at Medina (1914). Schoolchildren pose on a temporary footbridge across the Barge Canal. In 1914, the Barge Canal was still under construction. The expansion would widen, deepen, and reroute the existing Erie Canal. New York State Archives

Barge Canal. Photograph of Standard Oil Company's Tanker in Lock 7 (1921). The Barge Canal cost $170 million by the time it was finished. Big barges carried cargos of wheat, molasses, fertilizer, wood, sugar, oil, and cars up and down the Barge Canal. In 1951, commercial traffic on the Barge Canal reached its height. After that, traffic declined because competition from railroads and highways increased. New York State Archives

Black River Canal. Photograph of a Lock at Rome (1920). Before the Barge Canal expansion, Erie Canal locks were small and usually constructed from cut stone. To construct the Barge Canal, New York State used concrete to build much larger locks that enabled boats with 100 times more cargo to pass through them. New York State Archives

Barge Canal. Photograph of a Typical Section of Completed Canal near Medina (1918). The original Erie Canal, completed in 1825, was four feet deep and forty feet wide. By 1903, the Canal had been enlarged twice, once in 1836 and again in 1862. By 1918, the Barge Canal was 123 feet wide and twenty feet deep. Boats were no longer pulled by mules; they were self-propelled, or were pulled by tugboats. New York State Archives

Barge Canal. Photograph of Interior of Powerhouse: Generators and Switchboard, Crescent (1915). The Barge Canal expansion enlarged and rerouted the older Canal. It also enlarged the system of locks that lifted boats up and down, like stairs, to reach the different levels of the canal. The five famous locks at Lockport were replaced with just two newer, larger locks, which were powered with engines like the one shown here. New York State Archives

Barge Canal. Photograph of Construction of Barge Canal Lock 5, Waterford (August 1908). This photograph of the construction of Lock 5 at Waterford shows the massive concrete structures of the Barge Canal locks. Wood frames that were used as forms for pouring cement hang from the lock's walls. New York State Archives

Erie Canal. Article from the Rome Daily Sentinel Newspaper (October 24, 1903). A newspaper article titled "The Barge Canal in Rome" from the Rome Daily Sentinel, October 24, 1903. This newspaper article outlines the benefits of expansion: cheap coal and raw materials, and a stretch of water 128 feet wide. New York State Library

Erie Canal. Broadside to Vote No, Binghamton (October 26, 1903). This broadside encourages the citizens of Binghamton to "Vote No" on the plans to enlarge the Erie Canal to create the Barge Canal system. Broome County Historical Society

Erie Canal. Photograph of Canal at Lyons (1910). This is a photograph of a boy driving a team of mules on the Erie Canal at Lyons, New York, 1910. Canal Society of New York State

Erie Canal. Sheet music for "Low Bridge Everybody Down" (1913). Sheet music for the song "Low Bridge Everybody Down" by Thomas S. Allen, 1913. New York State Library

Erie Canal. Photograph of Pleasure Trip at Auriesville (1890). This photograph shows passengers waiting to transfer from train to boat on the Erie Canal in Auriesville, New York, 1890. Canal Society of New York State