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Part II: New York Waterways
Exploring the Canals
In 1808, while still mayor of New York City, De Witt Clinton began championing a grand vision: a system of canals providing the first all-water commercial shipping link from western New York and the Great Lakes to New York City, and from there to the rest of the world. At the time, many considered "Clinton's Ditch" to be a huge folly. Even President Thomas Jefferson, a fount of great visions himself, considered the idea of a 340-mile long, hand-dug canal from Albany to Buffalo to be "just short of madness." Nevertheless, in 1817, Clinton, now governor of New York, convinced the legislature to begin funding construction of the Erie Canal.
Still, given all of the negative press and sentiments of the times, the project took form and one of the greatest engineering marvels of its day, the Erie Canal, was completed in 1825, after eight years of incredibly torturous labor. The construction of other New York canals soon followed and within a few years, by 1840, New York City had surpassed Philadelphia as the nation's chief seaport. New York was well on its way to becoming the "Empire State." And though most canals in America have long since vanished from the landscape, the New York Canal System lives on, enduring in the 21st century as a powerful magnet for tourism and recreation.
Thursday: To Ticonderoga
After leaving the Eisenhower Locks in Massena, NY, we're ripping along US 11 east, following the general route of the historic Military Trail. Countries vying for control of the New World used many of the upstate New York waterways to conduct their military campaigns, and the relatively flat terrain between Massena, on the St. Lawrence River, and Lake Champlain provided the shortest overland route for armies portaging from one waterway to another....
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