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Twelve and a Half Miles the Erie Canal in Cayuga County the Web Edition Section Three by Michael Riley

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Twelve and a Half Miles the Erie Canal in Cayuga County the Web Edition Section Three by Michael Riley Twelve and a Half Miles The Erie Canal in Cayuga County The Web Edition Section Three By Michael Riley 1 Table of Contents for Section Three Chapter Page Twelve- Montezuma 3 Thirteen- The Cayuga and Seneca Canals 12 Fourteen- The Seneca River Aqueduct 15 Fifteen- The Cayuga Marshes and Seneca River 22 Sixteen- Bridges 27 Seventeen- The Barge Canal 29 Bibliography 32 Other Sections include; Introduction One– Maps of the Trail and Canal Two- Clinton’s Ditch Three- The Canal Enlargement Four- Locks Five-Culverts and Ditches Six- The Water Supply System Seven- Cold Spring Pump and Fountainville Eight-Weedsport Nine-The Centerport Aqueduct Ten- Centerport Eleven-Port Byron This web edition was written as an updated version of the book “Twelve and a Half Miles” which was self published in 2002. It is intended by the author to be free as a pdf file. February 1, 2012 2 Twelve- Montezuma Montezuma had been around for almost thirty years before the Erie Canal came to the area. A small salt spring had been found in a creek to the north of the present village and the manufacture of salt had started as early as 1792. The salt trade, along with fishing and transportation of goods along the Seneca had given the impetus to the settlement of the small village. In 1810 DeWitt Clin- ton made these observations about Montezuma: “Montezuma is in No. 80 Brutus, in the town of Mentz, and is situated on a strip of land be- tween the river and Cayuga marshes and marsh in the rear, and cannot therefore be healthy. It con- tains few houses, which have sprung up in a short time. The hill furnishes a beautiful prospect of the marshes, and the Seneca and Canandaigua Rivers winding through them. A few scattering trees of willow and elm are to be seen. The whole was clearly a lake, choked up by alluvions. The channel of the river is said to be in the tract of the greenest grass. Dr. Clark, one of the present proprietors, for- merly of New York, and John Swartwout, the former proprietor, have handsome houses on this hill.” The journal then goes on to talk about the nature of the salt works, and the manufactory of red earthenware in Montezuma. From 1813, we get this description: “Here is an extensive manufactory of salt and a hand- some compact village of about 30 houses, and the place bids fair to increase rapidly in business and population. In 1810, the whole population of this township was 1207.” Montezuma was an important place before the canal was constructed. Being on the Seneca River, it became a shipping point for rafts and river boats. But this business would not last. As sec- tions of the canal were completed, they would be filled with water and brought into use. This would spur development and generate much needed tolls. Montezuma would lose its standing as a river port and take on a new role as the western end of the canal. The construction of the canal was rela- tively easy from Utica to Montezuma and it was completed in December of 1819. Boating to points east began in 1820. For people traveling west on the canal, their boat ride would end at Montezuma and they would need to board stagecoaches to continue their journey. From Montezuma, the trav- eler would ride the stage south toward Seneca Falls following the Genesee Turnpike or west toward Rochester along the Montezuma Turnpike. This business would last until 1822 when the canal con- tractors were finally able to complete the canal through the swampland that lay between Monte- zuma and Clyde. Unfortunately, the route of the canal ran south of the old village, dictated more by topography then loca- tion of existing settle- ments. As Clinton’s Ditch was developed, the village had to move slightly south from the location of the 3 The map shows Montezuma in 1834. The Erie Canal runs from right to left, the canal to the salt wells is on the top with the basin, the Cayuga and Seneca runs off the bottom. salt springs and river to the banks of the new canal. Some period maps reflect this shift with notes stating, “To old village”. In a 1824 gazetteer, we get this brief look at the village: “Montezuma Village has a Post- Office of the same name, a small collection of houses, some salt springs, and it had a manufactory of salt, but I believe little is now done here in this way.” In the early 1800’s the salt springs produced a good amount of brine. From 1810 to 1813, 60,000 bushels of salt was produced. By 1824, the quan- tity was down to 18,000 bushels although the wells were being drilled deeper in search of more and better quality brine. What is curious is that the gazetteer fails to mention the canal. With the new canal came an easier way to ship salt produced in Montezuma. A side cut canal was dug from Clinton’s Ditch to the salt springs located slightly to the north. But it is hard to say how 4 Montezuma in 1853. Notice the salt wells to the north of the village. A small canal was built from the main canal to the wells. Although the enlarged canal was not yet in use, the newer canal is shown as the black line, Clinton’s Ditch as the dashed line. At this time, the idea was to bridge the Seneca River on two aqueducts, one on each side of Kipp’s Island. This plan was changed later, and the smaller river channel was rerouted into the larger channel. much this side cut was actually used since the salt springs were already becoming an on-again, off- again business. The Seneca River was both a blessing and a curse. The canal had to cross the river (more on this later), yet the river offered a connection to points south and even west. Between 1820 and 1828, boats could exit the canal by floating out into the river. From here, the boats could head west along the Clyde River toward Clyde, or head south to Cayuga Lake and Ithaca. Once the canal was constructed to the west (1822) and south (1828) the river lost its importance. The Enlargement The enlargement of the canal in the 1850’s made some changes in the alignment of the canal in the village. Certainly the most notable of the changes was the construction of the second longest aqueduct on the canal (more on this later). The building of the aqueduct necessitated some changes to the canal in the village. The most drastic change was to lift or elevate the canal up off the low land just to the west of the village. This elevation change was needed to lift the canal up to the height of the new aqueduct that was to cross the river. This new aqueduct eliminated the need for the problematic river crossing, and got the canal out of the flood plain. (again, more on this later). It also allowed the canal to be straightened to the east of the village. In many of the maps in this chap- ter, the old canal can be seen as a series of dotted lines. The enlargement also made way for another feature, the large basin. 5 The Basin During the construction of the enlargement, a six hundred foot basin was built just to the east of the C&S junction. This was much like truck parking lots today. Boats could pull out of the line of the traffic as the crews rested or waited to meet other boaters. Unlike the small basin in Weeds- port, this basin was built and maintained by the State. It was never allowed to silt up and thus was in use until the end of the canal. Along the bank of the basin stood icehouses which were used to store ice cut from the basin. This ice could only be used for cooling beer, and had to carry the labeled “canal ice”. But, there is most likely a larger reason for this basin. If you noticed at Lock 51 and Lock 52, the canal, if we were to look at it as a profile, is stepping down from Jordan to the Seneca River. So by canal standards, the canal at Montezuma is about sixteen feet lower than it is at Jordan. And if we were to come from the west, we would find ourselves stepping down from Lake Erie to Monte- 6 zuma. So, in short, Montezuma is at the bottom of a large bowl. And as the water flows downhill from the east and west, it meets at Montezuma. So the basin served as a expansion tank, a place to allow the energy of the water to dissipate. As you might be able to make out in the postcard view, it was a very large body of water. Another source describes Montezuma as it was in 1860; “Montezuma is located upon the Se- neca River in the west part of Town. The Seneca and Cayuga canals here unite with the Erie Canal. Salt and some other articles are manufactured. Population 650. Salt was first manufactured in Mon- tezuma about 1798, but the business was abandoned about 1840 in consequence of the brine be- coming too weak to successfully compete with the salt springs of Syracuse and Salina. Strong brine springs have lately been discovered and the manufacture of salt has been successfully resumed. These salt springs like those of Onondaga, belong to the State." By now, the springs were producing a few hundred bushels per year.
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