The Chenango Canal was a towpath canal in central New York in the United States which linked the Susquehanna River to the Erie Canal. Built and operated in the mid-19th century, it was 97 miles long and for much of its course followed the Chenango River, along New York State Route 12 from Binghamton on the south end to Utica on the north. It operated from 1834 to 1878 and provided a significant link in the water transportation system of the northeastern U.S. until supplanted by the region's developing railroad network.
Construction
The canal was first proposed in the New York Legislature in 1824 during the construction of the Erie Canal, prompted by lobbying from local leaders in the Chenango Valley. It was authorized by the legislature in 1833 and completed in October 1836 at a total cost of $2,500,000—approximately twice the original appropriation. In 1833 a grand ball was held in Oxford, New York, which feted the canal's approval. The great American civil engineer John B. Jervis was appointed Chief Engineer of the project and helped in its design. This was an era of extensive canal building in the United States, following the English model, in order to provide a major transportation network for the eastern United States.
The excavation began in 1834 and was largely done by Irish and Scottish immigrant laborers, digging by hand, using pick and shovel, chipping through rock and wading through marsh. They were paid $11 per month, which was three times a common laborer's wages at the time. Skilled workers came from the completed Erie Canal project and brought new inventions, such as an ingenious stump-puller, which used oxen or mules for animal power. Work camps for the laborers were established along the route and as many as 500 men stayed in each camp. The canal opened in October 1836, and was billed as the "best-built canal in the state".
The Chenango Canal was 42 feet wide at the top and 26 feet wide at the bottom and averaged 4 feet deep. It had 116 locks, 11 lock houses, 12 dams, 19 aqueducts, 52 culverts, 56 road bridges, 106 farm bridges, 53 feeder bridges, and 21 waste weirs. The Chenango was unique in that it was the first reservoir-fed canal in the U.S. In this design, reservoirs were created and feeder canals were dug to bring water to the summit level of the canal. This had been done previously in Europe, but had not been tried in the US. This project had to succeed by getting almost 23 miles of waterway up an incline with a 706' elevation, to the summit level in Bouckville, and back down a descent of 303' to the Susquehanna river in Binghamton. At a time when there was only one engineering school in the country, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and hydrology was not yet a scientific discipline, Jervis and his team were able to design a complex waterway that was considered the best of its day.
System
The main artery Erie Canal was built between 1817 and 1825 and provided the key link in a water highway to what would become the Midwestern United States, connecting to the Great Lakes at Buffalo. It connected the Great Lakes to the Hudson River and then to the port of New York City. The Erie made use of the favorable conditions of New York's unique topography which provided that area with the only break in the Appalachian range—allowing for east-west navigation from the Atlantic coast to the Great Lakes. The canal system gave New York State a competitive advantage, helped New York City develop as an international trade center, and allowed Buffalo to grow from just 2,000 settlers in 1820 to over 18,000 people by 1840. The port of New York became essentially the Atlantic home port for all of the Great Lakes states. It was because of this vital and critical connection that New York State became known as the Empire State.
The Erie Canal represented the first major water-works project in the United States. It proved the practicality of large-scale water diversions without disrupting the local environment. The canal connected the waters of Lake Erie to the tidewater of New York harbor in a multi-level route that followed the local terrain and was fed by local water sources. All of the New York branch canals would follow this model. With the Erie, as with all of the branch canals, water flow was required for several purposes: filling the canal at the beginning of each spring season; water for lockage, i.e., water loss from higher to lower levels; water loss by seepage through the berm and towpath banks and water diverted for industrial power usage. Consequently, flooding and droughts were perennial problems for all of the New York canals.
The Chenango Canal operated from 1834 to 1878, from April to November each year. The opening of the canal cut the shipping time from Binghamton to Albany from nine days to four days, and reduced the cost of shipping goods dramatically. It was intended to connect Binghamton and surrounding communities, by water route, to the port of New York City and to the Great Lakes States.
The northern terminus of the Chenango Canal was in Utica at an entry lock near present-day N. Genesee Street and the Erie Canal. The southern terminus was in Binghamton at a turning basin near present-day State and Susquehanna Streets. State Street in Binghamton was built on the path of the canal in 1872. The village of Port Dickinson and the hamlets of Port Crane and Pecksport owe their origins and names to being stops on the route. With the coming of the Chenango Canal, Port Crane, being located on the line of this waterway, developed rapidly, with stores, hotels, boat yards and repair and dry docks being built in that village. For some time beginning in 1837, the canal afforded shipping facilities to these and other such isolated areas, which were gradually improved. Between 1840 and 1865, for example, the village of Port Crane reached the height of its prosperity. Overall, the construction of the canal led to a widespread manufacturing and building boom in the Chenango Valley.
A western extension, commonly known as the Extension Canal, was begun in 1840. The Extension continued west along the south side of the Susquehanna River, as far as Vestal. Officially named the Chenango Canal Extension, it was for the purpose of "making connection with the Pennsylvania canal system, and thus to complete a route to the vast coal fields in that state, the New York Legislature, on April 18, 1838, passed an act (chapter 292) directing the canal commissioners to cause a survey to be made from the termination of the Chenango canal at Binghamton, along the valley of the Susquehanna, to the State line near Tioga Point, at the termination of the North Branch canal of Pennsylvania, and to cause an estimate of the cost of this continuation to be made." Also it would connect with western New York through the Junction and Chemung canals, Seneca lake, and the Cayuga and Seneca and the Erie canals.
In the original plan, the Chenango Canal was supposed to connect the Erie Canal with the Pennsylvania Canal. But the connecting canals in the southern part of the state and in northern Pennsylvania were never fully completed nor totally operational. One section would fall into disrepair before the rest of the line was completed. Also, this canal was begun at the close of the canal era, and the era ended before the line could be completed.
The extension was not the only segment with operational problems. The Chenango Canal had its problems, as well. Most significantly, the Chenango Co. had difficulty performing its regular maintenance due to the often prohibitively high repair costs. As with most canal lines in the East, they began operation carrying too much debt. If the company did not show a wide enough margin from the user fees during the season, they would end the year at a deficit. Also, as with many similar canals, the Chenango's greatest error was that they initially installed a system using wooden locks. With New York's frigid winters and freeze-thaw cycles, the wood never held up for very long. As soon as one section had been repaired, another would give out, and it usually took more time and money than was available before they were all in operation. The original structures were incrementally all rebuilt. Ultimately and at great cost, the process culminated in the construction of stone locks.
Operation
The competition kept the freight rates low. Before the canal was built, it took between 9 and 13 days to ship goods by wagon from Binghamton to Albany, for a cost of $1.25 per 100 pounds. A canal boat made the trip in less than four days and cost $ .25 per 100 pounds. Records also show an example of a fare on a packet line that ran between Norwich and Binghamton. The fare was $1.50 per person, departing at 6 am, arriving sometime between 6 and 8 pm.
Many classes of boats frequented the Chenango Canal and included packet boats, scows, lakers and bullheadsthe name for the freight barges, which were the most common boats seen. The bullhead was so named because of its blunt and rounded bow. They were about 14 feet wide and 75 feet long and were sometimes loaded so heavily that they would periodically drag along the bottom of the canal. The packet boats and barges were drawn at an average speed of four miles an hour by horse or mule teams on the towpath. The passenger boats were usually pulled by horses, which were changed every ten miles. The freight barges were pulled by mules, which were changed every four to six hours. Each barge had two cabins: one at the bow to stable the animals, usually horses or mules, that pulled the boat, and one at the stern which served as a living quarters for the captain and crew, and sometimes a whole family. The packet boats bore names like The Madison of Solsville, with Captain Bishop, or Fair Play, with Captain Van Slyck, and were manned by a minimum crew of three. Each boat needed a driver walking on the towpath controlling the animals, a bowsman controlling the movement and direction of the bow and a steersman on the aft deck. The passengers were seated in chairs on the top deck. When the boat would near a town, the crewmen shouted: "Low bridge!" and everyone would retreat to the lower deck to avoid being swept overboard by a bridge.
Impact
The first packet boat, The Dove of Solsville, arrived in Binghamton from Utica May 6, 1837, officially opening the canal, and was quickly followed by new development along the canal's route. The area benefited from the arrival of new settlers, new and needed merchandise and the provision of a means of shipping finished goods and product in and out of the local areas. Mills and factories sprang up along the southern end of the canal, while stores and hotels arose all along the retail corridor. Numerous and varied supporting businesses also flourished, including taverns, inns and boat yards- for building and repair. Farmers now had an efficient, affordable and dependable means of transportation enabling them to sell their perishable milk production to butter and cheese factories; the factories could readily ship their product to market. Apple cider and cider vinegar were shipped from Mott's, at what is now the Bouckville Mill. Lumber mills had affordable availability of their resources and access to their markets. In a few instances, however, mills were forced to cease operation. Such was the case with Madison's Solsville Mills, whose water supply from Oriskany Creek was diverted away to be used for the supply of the canal.