New York State Canals

The Erie Canal became America’s most important inland waterway, opening the American frontier, carrying tens of thousands of settlers and immigrants west, fostering villages, towns, and cities along its route, spreading commerce from the Hudson Valley to the Midwest, and helping transform New York into the Empire State and the nation into an economic superpower. Put into service in 1825, it was enlarged from 1834 to 1862, again in the 1890s, and then underwent its last and largest expansion when it opened as the New York State Barge Canal in 1918. As demand grew for larger barges and bigger cargoes, and self-propelled boats in the 20th century allowed the canal’s path to shift onto New York’s lakes and rivers, its infrastructure evolved from cut stone to poured concrete, from wooden lock gates to giant steel versions, and from hand-operated cranks to electrified push-button controls. Modernized Barge Canal locks, designed for steel barges carrying 3,000 tons of cargo, could handle boats with 100 times the capacity of those from the 1820s. By the 1960s, the canal could no longer compete with modern commercial transportation and the St. Lawrence Seaway, so although it is still used commercially, recreational use became its primary function, with tour boats, pleasure boats, canoes, and kayaks largely replacing steel fabricated oil barges. The 524-mile New York State Canal System includes the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca canals, running through New York’s heartland past farmland, battlefields, canal towns, and wildlife preserves, and it can also be enjoyed along hundreds of miles of Canalway Trail and at numerous parks and picnic areas.

Perinton, New York · United States