Research

Scope and Content Note

These records consist of appointment calendars of canal engineer Edson S. Barnes of the Syracuse Regional Office. Calendars contain daily travel schedules, which include detailed descriptions of work performed or to be completed on specific canal locations. Entries regarding repair of ice damage, gates being opened and closed, bridge and dam inspection, dredging, and other day to day maintenance tasks and activities appear. Site measurements and statistics are often included, along with travel mileage.

These calendars are of particular importance because the Syracuse Regional Office's primary responsibility was water management and regulation for the extensive canal system in central New York, which included management of the Oneida, Oswego, and Seneca Rivers along with the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes, as well as various feeders and reservoirs. The calendars appear to have been created at the Weighlock Building, used by the Regional Office at the time and later converted to the Erie Canal Museum.