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Source of View:
The view is based on a water color by James Eights. The
original water color is believed to be in the collections
of the Albany Institute of History and Art, Albany, New
York. The view was made into an engraving by Rawdon, Clark
& Co., Albany. The engraving was printed by W.A. Davis and
published in the Memoir Prepared at the Request of the
Committee of the Common Council of the City of New York, by
Cadwallader D. Colden, New York, 1825. This memoir,
containing speeches and an account of the festivities, was
presented to the mayor of New York at the celebration of
the completion of the Erie Canal.
Title of the Engraving: Entrance of the Canal into
the Hudson at Albany.
Some Variations in Size and Type:
Plates: 6 and 10 inches
Pitchers: 8.25, 9 and 9.5 inches (Reverse, View of the Aqueduct Bridge at Little Falls)
Pitchers: 6.25 and 9 inches; creamer 3.5 in (Reverse, Aqueduct Bridge at Rochester)
Washbowls: 11, 12, and 13 inches
Description: A canal passenger boat can be seen in
the right foreground of the image with a canal freight boat
shown in the center foreground. Behind the two boats, on
the bank of the river near the arches, stands a warehouse
owned by Mr. Ebenezer Wilson. The Hudson River is visible
in the middle of the image flowing from right to left (
behind Wilson's warehouse), joined by the canal at the
center. In the background, on the far right, is the large
manor house of the Van Rensselaer family, which was torn
down about 1890. The small house near the center of the
image (to the right of Wilson's warehouse) was known as the
"Tea House." The tall building on the far left is the house
of Stephen VanRensselaer, afterward St. Peter's Hospital.
Historical Background: A canal connecting the Hudson
River to Lake Erie was an early dream for many New York
residents. The morass of forest, swamps and underbrush that
was much of New York State in the early nineteenth century
was hardly conducive to overland travel, and much of the
western part of the state was considered unreachable. The
distance proposed for the Erie Canal was 363 miles, longer
than had ever been attempted in the United States. The
project was considered impossible by many who cited lack of
funds, untrained engineers, and unforgiving terrain. Thomas
Jefferson, when petitioned for federal funds, refused to
support the canal; "It is a splendid project," he
responded, "and may be executed a century hence."
On 4 July 1817, excavation for the Erie Canal was started
at Rome, New York and on 4 November 1825, the first canal
boat reached New York City from Lake Erie. When the
363-mile canal was completed on 26 October 1825, an
extended celebration began at the western terminus at
Buffalo, New York. A procession of barges and other water
craft carrying Governor DeWitt Clinton and many other
notable persons, passed through the canal to Albany and
then by way of the Hudson River, to New York City.
Residents all along the canal including villages and cities
like Buffalo, Rochester, Syracuse, Utica, Albany, and New
York, joined in the festivities. All of the major cities
along the canal were honored by the British potters with
some manner of commemorative china.
The effect of the Erie Canal on New York State was
immediate and dramatic and settlers poured west. The
explosion of trade along this new transportation route as
predicted by Governor Clinton began. Increased production
and trade were spurred by a dramatic reduction in freight
rates when shipping along the canal from Buffalo to New
York rather than hauling goods by road. Shipping rates were
set at $10 per ton when shipped by canal, compared with
$100 per ton if hauled by road. In 1829, there were
approximately 3,600 bushels of wheat transported along the
canal from Buffalo to to points east. By 1837, shipments
had increased to 500,000 bushels and four years later,
shipments reached one million. Within 10 years, canal tolls
more than recouped the almost $9,000,000.00 cost of
construction.
Within 15 years of the opening of the canal, New York City
was the busiest port in America, moving more tonnage than
Boston, Baltimore, and New Orleans combined. The impact on
the remainder of the state can be seen by looking at a
modern map. With the exception of Binghamton and Elmira,
every major city in New York falls along the trade route
established by the Erie Canal, from New York City to
Albany, through Schenectady, Utica and Syracuse, to
Rochester and Buffalo. Nearly 80 percent of upstate New
York's population lives within 25 miles of the Erie Canal.
The Erie Canal's success was part of a canal-building boom
in New York State in the 1820s. Between 1823 and 1828,
several lateral canals opened including the Champlain, the
Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca Canal. Between 1835 and the
turn of the century, this network of canals was enlarged
twice to accommodate heavier traffic. Between 1905 and
1918, the canals were enlarged again. This time, in order
to accommodate much larger barges, planners decided to
abandon much of the original man-made channel and use new
techniques to "Canalize" the rivers that the canal had
originally been constructed to avoid; the Mohawk, Oswego,
Seneca, and Clyde rivers and Oneida Lake. A uniform channel
was dredged; dams were built to create long, navigable
pools, and locks were built adjacent to the dams to allow
the barges to pass from one pool to the next. When it
opened in 1918, the whole system was renamed the New York
State Barge Canal.
With growing competition from railroads and highways, and
the opening of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959, commercial
traffic on New York's canal system declined dramatically in
the latter part of the twentieth century. Today, the
waterway network has been renamed again. As the New York
State Canal System, it is enjoying a rebirth as a
recreational and historic resource. The Erie Canal played
an important role in the transformation of New York City
into the nation's leading port, a national identity that
continues to be reflected in many songs, legends and
artwork today.
The New York State Canal System was designated as the
nation's 23rd National Heritage Corridor in 2001, and
joined the ranks of America's most treasured historical
resources. Comprising four canals, the canal system is
historically significant for the many contributions it has
made to establish New York State as an international center
of commerce and finance.
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