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Learn More About: the Erie Canal, the New York Branch

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Learn More About: the Erie Canal, the New York Branch Learn More About The Erie Canal, the New York Branch Canals & Our Canal Heritage in Perspective Compiled by Preston E. Pierce Ontario County Historian 2018 Each of these publications is readily available at your local school or public library, or through their Interlibrary Loan programs. Some of them can be accessed on the Internet. A few others can be found at the Ontario County Historical Society, or purchased at the Society bookstore. Most are available from on-line booksellers. This is not a comprehensive bibliography. There are many other publications about the New York State canal system in all media formats. Some, however, are difficult to obtain. These sources are widely available and provide broad coverage of the subject. They focus on New York State, the Finger Lakes Region in particular, and include a few general references to provide perspective. General History and the Perspective of Other States (Pennsylvania): Drago, Harry Sinclair. Canal Days in America: The History and Romance of Old Towpaths and Waterways. New York. Bramhall House. 1972. [A general look at all Northeastern canals, the Erie Canal is featured. This is a good book for perspective on the “canal era” in America.] Ellis, David M; James A. Frost; Harold C. Syrett and Harry J. Carman. "Building the Transportation Network." A History of New York State. Ithaca, NY. Cornell Univ. Press. 1967. pp. 244-255. Harlow, Alvin F. Old Towpaths: The Story of the American Canal Era. Washington, DC. Westphalia Press. 2014. (1ed. A. Appleton Co. 1926; Reprint Kennicat Press. 1964.) [This paperback reprint provides brief overviews of many American canals and is often called a classic introduction to the subject.] Jacobs, Harry A. The Juniata Canal and Old Portage Railroad. Holidaysburg, PA. Original publication by Blair County Historical Soc. 1941. Repr. 1997. [A slim 31-page booklet, the author was Past President of the Blair County Historical Society when he originally wrote the booklet as a 1934 paper. Brief account of the canal and its significance focusing on the Portage Railroad.] Kapsch, Robert J. Over the Alleghenies: Early Canals and Railroads of Pennsylvania. West Virginia Univ. Press. Morgantown, WV. 2015. [This massive 449-page book is filled with color and black & white illustrations, charts, and documents relating to the various efforts to April 14, 2018 edition Page 1 establish highways, canals and railroads the length of Pennsylvania. Indexed with extensive bibliography and notations.] Lewie, Chris J. Two Generations on the Allegheny Portage Railroad: The First Railroad to Cross the Allegheny Mountains. Shippensburg, PA. Burd Street. Press 2001. [This regionally published paperback tells the story of the Portage Railroad from a family and community perspective.] McCullough, Robert and Walter Leuba. The Pennsylvania Mainline Canal. York, PA. American Canal and Transportation Ctr. 1976. [A well-written history with many images of the Pennsylvania canals and their remains in the 1950s. Particularly good account of the “canal boom” of the 1820s and its impact on the state.] National Park Service. US Dept. of Interior. Allegheny Portage Railroad. DVD. 19 min. Color. [This is the orientation film used at the Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. It explains, through reenactment and original images, how the unique combination of canal boats inclined planes, and railroads worked to overcome the need to traverse the crest of the Allegheny Mountains in Pennsylvania.] Shank, William H. The Amazing Pennsylvania Canals. York, PA. American Canal and Transportation Ctr. 1997 Shank, William H. Towpaths to Tugboats: A History of American Canal Engineering. York, PA. American Canal and Transportation Ctr. 1988. (1ed. 1968.) [A 72-page booklet filled with sketches and images of various canal engineering feats stretching back to antiquity. Includes information on early European canals; “canal visionaries;” and early American canals in several states. Bibliography and index. The author is a Professional Engineer.] Way, Peter. Common Labor: Workers and Digging of North American Canals, 1780-1860. Baltimore, MD. Johns Hopkins Univ. Press. 1993. (1ed Cambridge Univ. Press. 1993). [An academic study with useful charts and statistics relating to the recruitment, working conditions, community relations, and labor unrest among workers recruited to work on early American canals.] Weinhold, John D. “The Inclined Planes of the Allegheny Portage Railroad.” Canal History and Technology Proceedings. XVII. Mar. 4, 1998. pp.203-249. [Well-documented and illustrated with sketches and statistics.] Welch, Sylvester. “Sylvester Welch’s Report [on the Allegheny Portage Railroad]” Gettysburg, PA. Thomas Publications. 1988. [A reprint of the 1833 report, this 22-page booklet includes sketches, maps, and a great detail about the workings of the Allegheny Portage Railroad planes, in particular. A good primary source with a brief introduction by William H. Shank, PE.] April 14, 2018 edition Page 2 Erie Canal (NY): Adams, Samuel Hopkins. The Erie Canal. New York. Random House. 1953. [Reminisences of stories of the construction of the canal and its early operation remembered from the author’s grandfather.] Albany Institute of History and Art. Building the Erie Canal. Available on the Internet at: http://www.albanyinstitute.org/building-the-erie-canal.html (Accessed Sep. 3, 2015) [Includes many primary source images.] Bartley, Theodore J. Life on a Canal Boat: The Journals of Theodore D. Bartley, 1861-1889. Fleishmann’s, NY. Purple Mountain Press. (Copyright by Lake Champlain Maritime Museum.) 2004. [The author of the journals was a canal boat captain on the Champlain, Erie and other canals throughout his 25-year career. The 1500 pages of journals were transcribed by a descendant; edited and annotated by Russell P. Bellico. Introductory essay by Director of the Champlain Maritime Museum.] Bernstein, Peter L. The Wedding of the Water: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation. W. W. Norton. 2006. [Much information about people, politics, and financing and little on the actual construction of the canal. 448 pps.] Brunger, Eric and Lionel Wyld. Adventures in Western New York History: The Grand Canal New York’s First Thruway. Buffalo, NY. Buffalo and Erie County Historical Soc. V. XII. 1964. [A well-written booklet of 20 pps. Emphasis is on western NY. Good one-page bibliography.] Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County. Research the Erie Canal at the Central Library of Rochester and Monroe County. Available on the Internet at: http://www3.libraryweb.org/uploadedFiles/MCLS/Local_History_New/Pathfinders/RPL_Resear chErieCanal_F.pdf (Accessed Sep. 3, 2015). [Advice on researching the canals of New York at the Central Library. Materials recommended come from several different collections of the library. (For example: “The Erie Canal in Art and Music.”) Library call numbers are provided. This site also addresses the canals as recreational assets. The guide can be downloaded as a pdf file.] Chalmers, Harvey II. The Birth of the Erie Canal. New York. Bookman Associates. 1960. Chalmers, Harvey. How the Irish Built the Erie. New York. Bookman Associates. 1965. Condon, George. Stars in the Water: The Story of the Erie Canal. New York. Doubleday. 1974. [A well-received book now considered somewhat of a classic. 338 pps.] The Erie Canal. Website hosted by Genesee Gateway. Copyright Frank E. Sadowski, Jr. Available on the Internet at: http://www.eriecanal.org/index.html (Accessed Sep. 10, 2015). [This site provides scanned documents and images of the New York State canal system. There is April 14, 2018 edition Page 3 a clickable map to tour the old canal across the state and many current images of canal remains including extensive coverage of the aqueduct at Montezuma.] Erie Canal Museum. Erie Canal Museum: Photos from the Collection. Syracuse, NY. The Museum. 1989. Flick, Alexander C. (ed.). “The Canal System and its Influence.” History of the State of New York. Conquering the Wilderness. V. New York. Columbia Univ. Press. 1934. pp. 297-336. [Part of the 10-vol. series comprising the definitive history of New York to the date of publication. Extensive coverage of the Lock Navigation Companies and the politics of canal approval.] Garrity, Richard. Canal Boatman: My Life on Upstate Waters. Syracuse, NY. Syracuse Univ. Press. 1977. [A first-person account of a life spent working on the Erie Canal in a family business.] Grasso, Thomas X. and Craig S. Williams. “The Erie Canal’s Great Embankment Across the Irondequoit Valley: Bushnell’s Basin to Pittsford, New York.” Canal History and Technology Proceedings. XVII. Mar. 4, 1998. pp. 113-133. [Published conference proceedings by the National Canal Museum and Canal History and Technology Press, this article provides maps and extensive information about the Great Embankment along which runs Rt. 96 between Bushnell’s Basin and Pittsford.] Grasso, Thomas X. et al. “Three Erie Canals in Western Wayne County. Study Guide.” n. p. Canal Society of New York State. 2011. [A profusely illustrated and documented guide to the Erie Canal in Wayne County. Contact the Society. Prof. Grasso is on the faculty of Monroe Community College.] Hawley, Jesse [Hercules]. Introductory Essay by Jesse Hawley. Available From the on the Internet from the xRoads page of the University of Virginia at: http://xroads.virginia.edu/~ma02/volpe/canal/hawley_intro.html (Accessed Sep. 12, 2015). [Hawley’s introductory essay, published in Geneva/Canandaigua, is transcribed here together with an introduction to Hawley’s essays generally and their importance. Hawley always claimed to be the person who should be considered the “father of the Erie Canal.” An essay about his claim by Mervin S. Hawley was published by the Buffalo Historical Society in 1866 and is also available in print-on-demand format from several publishers. Hecht, Roger. The Erie Canal Reader. Syracuse, NY. Syracuse Univ. Press. 2003. [A collection of poems, travelogues, and essays by a variety of British and American writers related to the canal. The author is a professor of writing at Ithaca College.] Hosack, David.
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