Lock 24 Lockkeeper's Station in Baldwinsville

Mule Across from the Weighlock Building

Weighlock Building

Canal boats traveling along the Erie Canal passed through the Weighlock Building where the weight of the cargo could be calculated. Syracuse Then and Now explains a bit more about the history of the building, including how we almost lost it and City Hall to the Interstate coming through town. Who dreams up these desecrations? 

Mural of the Erie Canal at Canastota

Today the trains fly through Canastota fast and elevated. The New York State Thruway skirts the north end of town, where there is an exit.

Back, way back (around 1825 to the early decades of the 20th century )the original Erie Canal put and kept Canastota on the map. 

Today most towns honor their segments of the Canal with parks, murals and museums. The state  improved the towpath for bicycles and walking. In Syracuse the Erie Canal Museum lives in the only remaining weighlock building in the United States.

Historic Postcard: Junction of Erie and Oswego Canals, Syracuse, N.Y. and Modern Remnants

Facing west near the corner of Erie Blvd. and Warren St. The Oswego Canal diverged north along the present first two blocks of N. Warren St.

Also note the addition of a brick face to the back of the Syracuse Savings Bank, replacing the adjoining wall lost when the building next door was torn down.

Clinton Block by Hall Groat, Hangs in the Syracuse Savings Bank: Detail of a Carriage Crossing the Old Erie Canal

Digital Erie Canal in Downtown

First, the image viewed from across the corner, so viewers can see how detailed it seems, like a huge photo. Our eyes fill in so much missing information. Scroll down to see details of this amazing creation.

Park in Canal Bed in Jordan

Baldwinsville: Erie Canal Lock 24

Weighlock Building and Erie Canal Museum

Syracuse Savings Bank Building

The Syracuse Savings Bank Building was built in 1875. Two canals, the Erie and the Oswego, met near a corner of the building.

Appropriately, another name for High Victorian Gothic style is Venetian Gothic although Syracuse does not resemble Venice except perhaps at that moment in history, at that corner.

I get much of my information about historical Syracuse architecture from Evamaria Hardin's Syracuse Landmarks, first edition 1993, for which I am very grateful.

Old Erie Canal at Cedar Bay

Sal

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal

Fifteen years on the Erie Canal

She's a good old worker and a good old pal

Fifteen years on the Erie Canal

We've hauled some barges in our day

Filled with lumber, coal, and hay

And every inch of the way we know

From Albany to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down

Low bridge for we're coming to a town

And you'll always know your neighbor

And you'll always know your pal

If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

These are close to the original words written by Thomas S. Allen in 1905, after the days of mule power. The song has seen some changes since it was written. 

Who here doesn't know a version? It's sometimes seen as a childrens' song and is widely used to teach upstate history. It still gives me a strong sense of long days on the early canal, which is less than a mile from where we live, and a deep sense of community and accomplishment. The canal was dug and the locks built by Irish immigrants.

Pete Seeger and many others have recorded memorable versions. My favorite is Bruce Springsteen's.

Click here to view thumbnails for all participants in City Daily Photo's May Theme Day: Statues

The statue of mule and driver is beside Erie Boulevard across from the Weighlock Building in downtown Syracuse.

Erie Canal

The Erie Canal opened in 1825 creating a critical route for expansion of trade and travel across upper New York "from Albany to Buffalo" and beyond into the Great Lakes and westward. At that time Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan were called the Northwest Territories.

The canal was dug by hand mostly by newly landed immigrants, 40 feet wide and 4 feet deep. There is very little left to see of the earliest canal, for it was widened and deepened, and in places relocated. The historical route that remains holds water and is used for canoeing, and the towpath is well maintained for walking and biking. 

This series of pictures taken at the aquaduct near Fayetteville shows the modern narrow passage for small craft over Limestone Creek; the modern cement work of that passage; modern cement that blocks the canal from falling into Limestone Creek; and two shots of the towpath crossing the creek which flows beneath three arched sections. In these and the second picture you can see the original flat stone supports for the canal bed, constructed of planks, as it crossed the creek.