‘A tour of hope and optimism’
Seneca Chief makes 20-mile trek through Orleans, part of 3-week journey on the canal
Photos by Tom Rivers
The Seneca Chief heads west on the Erie Canal on Thursday. The replica of the famed boat that carried Gov. DeWitt Clinton across the newly constructed Erie Canal in 1825, is shown in Albion in a photo taken from the Presbyterian Road Canal Bridge.
The Seneca Chief travelled from Holley to Medina on Thursday. The boat carries a crew from the Buffalo Maritime Center. Each stop it also gives a ride to about a dozen people. This group, including Orleans County mascots Orly the Ox and his brother Scout, were able to ride the boat from Albion to Medina.
Because the replica has no engine, the 33-foot historic wooden tugboat C.L. Churchill is used to push and maneuver the vessel along the Erie Canal.
Volunteers at the Buffalo Maritime Center worked for four years to recreate the Seneca Chief. The 73-foot-long replica received great fanfare last year as part of the 200th anniversary celebration of the Erie Canal. It went from Buffalo to New York City and spent the winter in Waterford near Albany.
The Seneca Chief is doing a “Back to Buffalo” tour this month. It leaves Medina today for North Tonawanda, and then on Saturday will reach its destination in Buffalo.
It was raining pretty hard when the Seneca Chief passed under the Main Street lift bridge in Albion around 2:30.
Two brothers from Oakfield, Titus (right) and Jed Dart, pour water from the Erie Canal in Medina into a barrel. The Buffalo Maritime Center did a similar “Gathering of the Waters” ceremony last year on the 200th anniversary voyage of the Seneca Chief, collecting water at each stop and then using it to water an Eastern White Pine tree in New York City.
This time the water collected along the journey will be used to water an Eastern White Pine in Buffalo.
Last year, the Maritime Center had a tree planted at each stop, including one in Medina that is at State Street Park close to the canal.
Paul Winnie watches the two brothers pour the water into the barrel. Winnie is a member of the Tonawanda Seneca Nation. He noted the Eastern White Pine symbolize peace and represent a chance to bury quarrels among people.
Brian Trzeciak, executive director of the Buffalo Maritime Center, said the journey across the canal last year and this year has been a goodwill mission, helping to bring the communities together.
“This is a tour of hope and optimism,” he said.
Debbie Padoleski, the mayor of Medina, thanked the Buffalo Maritime Center for their effort sin creating the Seneca Chief replica and for bringing it to Medina the past three years. Medina was included in the boat’s test run in 2024 before the big journey last year from Buffalo all the way to New York City.
The “Back to Buffalo” journey went from near Albany to Buffalo.
The Seneca Chief pulls up along the canal wall in Medina’s Canal Basin at the end of Thursday’s trip that started in Holley.
