Just above Cohoes, the Erie Canal crosses the Mohawk upon a stately
aqueduct, twelve hundred feet long, and it then descends through the
town by an elaborate series of eighteen locks to the Hudson River
level. This great water way made the prosperity of New York City, and
is the monument of the sagacity and foresight of De Witt Clinton,
Governor of New York, who, despite all obstacles, kept advocating and
pushing the work until its completion. The construction began in 1817,
and it was opened for business in 1825. The first barge going through
had a royal progress from Buffalo, arriving at Albany at three minutes
before eleven o'clock on the morning of October 26, 1825. There being
no telegraphs, a swift method was devised for announcing her arrival,
both back to Buffalo and down the Hudson River to New York. Cannon
placed within hearing of each other, at intervals of eight or ten
miles, were successively fired, announcing it in both cities, the
signal being returned in the same way. By this series of cannon-shots
the report went down to New York and came back to Albany in
fifty-eight minutes. When the first barges from Buffalo reached New
York they were escorted through the harbor by a grand marine
procession, which went to the ocean at Sandy Hook, where Governor
Clinton poured in a keg of water brought from Lake Erie. The original
Erie Canal cost $7,500,000, but it was afterwards enlarged and
deepened, and further enlargements are still being made. It is
fifty-six feet wide at the bottom and seventy feet at the surface,
with seven feet depth of water. The barges are stoutly built and carry
cargoes of seven to nine thousand bushels of grain. The canal is three
hundred and fifty-five miles long, and gradually descends from Lake
Erie five hundred and sixty-eight feet to the tidal level of the
Hudson River, there being seventy-two locks passed in making the
journey. This work, with its feeders and connections with the St.
Lawrence River by the Champlain and Oswego Canals and the
enlargements, has cost New York $98,000,000, and the maintenance costs
$1,000,000 a year. It carries a tonnage approximating four millions
annually, and is now free of tolls. Usually it carries half the grain
coming to New York City. There are various projects for its further
enlargement to twelve feet depth to accommodate larger boats, and its
future usefulness is a theme of wide discussion. Its route across New
York State is naturally the one of easiest gradient, passing from
Buffalo over the flat plain of Western New York, descending to the
lower level of the Genesee Valley, then crossing the plain immediately
north of the central lake district of New York, and finally by the
Mohawk Valley, getting an easy passage through the narrow mountain
gorge at Little Falls, and thence alongside that stream to the Hudson.
Closely accompanying the canal, the great Vanderbilt line, the New
York Central Railway, crosses New York from Albany to Buffalo. It runs
for seventeen miles, from Albany to Schenectady, and then follows up
the Mohawk Valley. This seventeen miles of road is probably the oldest
steam railroad in the United States--the Mohawk and Hudson Company,
chartered in April, 1826. The commissioners organizing it met for the
purpose at John Jacob Astor's office in New York City, July 29, 1826,
and sent an agent over to England to inquire into its feasibility, and
he came back with the plans, and was put in charge at $1500 salary.
This was Peter Fleming, the first manager. The original power was by
horses, and afterwards steam was used in daytime only, horses
continuing the night work, it not being considered safe to use steam
after dark. One car, looking much like an old-fashioned stage-coach,
made a train. There were fourteen miles of level line, the remainder
being inclined planes, where horses did the most work. When the car
approached the station the agent met it, blocking the wheels with a
wedge, which was removed when the car started again. As business
increased, more cars were added to the trains, and then a guard was
put on top of the first car back of the locomotive, to watch the train
and see that everything moved right. He frequently notified the
engineer to stop when a car was seen bobbing about sufficiently to
indicate that it was off the track. This primitive road was the
beginning of the New York Central Railroad, which was gradually
extended westward.