Happy Birthday, Erie Canal
188 years ago the canal opened, turning Orleans County into a hot spot
Photo by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Erie Canal opened 188 years ago. It was a marvelous day.
The new man-made wonder ran 363 miles, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean, greatly reducing the time and cost of shipping goods and personal travel.
Gov. DeWitt Clinton rode a canal boat from Buffalo to New York City to celebrate the new waterway. He convinced the state Legislature in 1817 to commence on the monumental task of digging a 40-foot-wide ditch that would be 4 feet deep.
The canal would turn Orleans County and several of its villages and hamlets into thriving communities.
I took the photo of the flag this evening in Albion with the Ingersoll Street lift bridge in the background. Here’s wishing the canal many more years of good health.
