Uncovering Historic Lockport’s Mill Race Article 3 – “Clinton’s Ditch” by Dr. Scott Geise

On July 1st, 1817, DeWitt Clinton took office as Governor of New York, and only 3 days later, the project he had been working so tirelessly for, finally began to materialize. On the 4th of July, a group of dignitaries gathered at a spot just south of the village of Rome, NY. There they dug the symbolic “first shovelful” to begin the construction of the Erie Canal.

As the first segment of the canal proceeded east from Rome towards the Hudson River, many of the actual canal workers were the farmers along the route, and they were contracted to construct their own tiny portion of the vast canal.

In this way, a large portion of the project was taken care of simply by landowners carving out a four-foot deep ditch across their own properties, but a whole lot more manpower was needed. Soon, immigrants from Britain, Germany, and Ireland would swell into the area providing the necessary muscle to expand the canal with just raw determination and a shovel. These workers would only make pennies a day, which was much more than they could earn in their home countries.

The canal was also heading west towards Lake Erie, through the swamps of Central New York. This area had many natural obstacles to overcome, and the swampy areas proved to be harder than they looked. The swamps already had standing water, but the men had to remove trees and other larger obstacles along the way. The tiniest of concerns, however, proved to be the most deadly, with mosquito-borne malaria killing over 1,000 men during a single season.

In November of 1822, Governor DeWitt Clinton was not nominated to run for re-election, and lost his position as Governor. Even so, he maintained his post as President of the Erie Canal Commission, and continued to oversee the canal project. By 1823, the canal was finally reaching the Niagara Escarpment, and a new set of engineering challenges presented themselves. The steep climb up 60 feet of pure dolomite necessitated the building of a twin, five lock system, something that had never been done before. Lockport was the only place along the original Erie Canal that has always had double locks, or two set of locks in parallel. These were some of the final construction tasks completed before the opening of the “Grand Canal,” and while the stones were being laid for these locks, the “deep cut” was already underway.

Heading west from the Niagara Escarpment, it was critical to establish a means by which the waters from Lake Erie could move solely by gravity eastward, and over the escarpment, but to do this, they would have to dig down 40 feet. The canal had to be chiseled out of solid dolomite, working with only crude instruments – dynamite had not been invented yet. For 7 miles the laborers wore down the rock, sometimes using fires to heat up a section, and then dousing with water to create cracks. All the while, large wooden cranes were positioned to hoist the rock fragments out of the deep cut at Pendleton.

In April of 1824, a majority of Clinton’s political rivals, the Bucktails, voted in the New York State Legislature to oust him from the Erie Canal Commission as well. All of this trampling of Clinton’s character and hard work caused such a wave of indignation, that he was nominated for Governor by the “People’s Party”, and was re-elected to that office, just in time to reside over the opening of the Erie Canal.

The fanfare began with Governor DeWitt Clinton filling two kegs full of water from Lake Erie, stepping aboard the Seneca Chief packet boat, and simultaneously setting off a wave of canon fire. The canons had been placed just within hearing distance of each other. Upon hearing the shot, the next canon would fire, and by so doing, set off a signal wave alerting everyone along the canal that Clinton was on his way. The signal reached NY City in 81 minutes – the fastest communication the world had ever known at the time. Clinton’s entourage reached New York City on September 4th, and there, he consummated the “Marriage of the Waters” by ceremoniously emptying the Lake Erie water into the Atlantic Ocean.

The entire length of the Erie Canal was now open for traffic. The boats were already lining up to head westward, and the unexpected byproduct of flowing water that was constantly dropping 60 feet at the Niagara Escarpment, was power.

The Canal was going to be an immense success with both freight and passenger traffic, but who would have the vision to harness that free waterpower, and for what use?

Until next time,

Dr. Scott Geise

Historic Lockport Mill Race Corporation

“Preserving and Promoting Lockport’s Most Overlooked Assets”