The old Erie Canal of NY State.

Pappy

Pappy

Living the Dream
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Moved back to NY from Florida. 🤓 2025
This was taken in Utica, NY. The canal had to pass under many low bridges. Hence, this song was popular back then.

[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]I've got a mule, 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 we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Chorus:[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge cause 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[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]Get up there Sal, we've passed that lock,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
And we'll make Rome before six o'clock
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]One more trip and back we'll go
Through the rain and sleet and snow
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo[/FONT][/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot]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

[/FONT]14AFA964-E9EC-4385-B11E-AA26439776F4.jpeg[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot][FONT=&quot] [/FONT][/FONT]
 

I live on the canal, and have taken several of the canal boat tours in my area. They give an interesting history of the canal.
 

Pappy, great topic for a thread!!!

This is a photo of the Erie canal in downtown Syracuse NY, imagine how exciting it must have been for a 12 year old Hoggee leading a team of mules to see the big city skyline for the first time!

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The young boys that led the mule teams along the Erie Canal towpath were considered the lowest of the low for the dirty menial job that they performed.

This is a mean little chant that children would sometimes shout as they passed by.

Hoggee on the towpath,
Five cents a day.
Picking up horseballs,
To eat along the way!

This statue in Syracuse NY is a tribute to the young Hoggees and the mules that toiled along the Erie Canal.
hoggee.jpg
 
Haste, then, my brother, no time for delay,
But throw out the lifeline and save them today.

The Rescue Mission floating church Good News in the turning basin behind the Syracuse NY City Hall. The Good News was originally a circus boat named Kitty that was owned by the Sawtelle Brothers Circus. The Good News burned to the waterline in 1894, three mission workers were asleep on board. All three jumped into the canal for safety as the fire swept the barge, two of the men drowned.

1894-rescuejpg-0f95e61c97532a59.jpg
 
Pappy said:
A little history of the Erie Canal.

View attachment 44205
Click to expand...
The amazing thing to me is that it took only about eight years to build and only about nine years to completely pay for with revenue generated by the canal. Today's politicians should be required to study the Erie Canal!!!

These are some of the many souvenir dishes that were made in England and sold in America at the time the canal was completed.

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This is a time lapse video of 7 days condensed to 8 minutes on a 41' boat the "Jubilee" as it voyages from Croton-Hudson NY to Wellesley Island in the St. Lawrence River. The route goes through the Erie Canal and Lake Ontario.
 
On June7, 2017, when President Donald Trump needed an example of big-thinking ingenuity, he turned to a historic landmark in his home state: the Erie Canal.

To illustrate his point, the Republican president mentioned former New York Gov. DeWitt Clinton, who spearheaded construction of the historic canal more than 200 years ago. On October 26, 1825, Governor DeWitt Clinton, was on the first boat to travel through the Canal, and deposited a Keg of water from Lake Erie into the New York Harbour.
 
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Back in the late 80's, when we were traveling with the sprint car, our club, the United Racing Club used to show up at Fonda, NY on Memorial day week-end each year as part of the schedule. Fonda Speedway (formerly Montgomery County Fairgrounds) backs up against the Erie Canal and race cars have occasionally flown off the back stretch into the canal, fortunately without fatalities. Never happened to us or any of our club but folks that ran there on a weekly basis used to joke about it.
 
DaveA said:
Back in the late 80's, when we were traveling with the sprint car, our club, the United Racing Club used to show up at Fonda, NY on Memorial day week-end each year as part of the schedule. Fonda Speedway (formerly Montgomery County Fairgrounds) backs up against the Erie Canal and race cars have occasionally flown off the back stretch into the canal, fortunately without fatalities. Never happened to us or any of our club but folks that ran there on a weekly basis used to joke about it.
Click to expand...

Been to Fonda raceway many times in my younger years. A lot of Canal history there.
 
2D025C33-B2FB-4311-993A-67643FEFA4A2.jpeg This is lock 20 in Marcy, NY. It was a 26 foot rise and a bit scary the first time we used it on our way to Oneida Lake. We owned a 34 foot Trojan houseboat named Capricorn.
 

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