Benjamin Wright, an engineer for the Erie Canal, was hired to lay out the route for the D & H Canal, and chief engineer John B. Jervis constructed a double-arch aqueduct of cut stone to carry the canal across Rondout Creek at a cost of about $8,000. The setting of the keystone in 1828 was marked by a ceremony in which Freemasons marched from Kingston and refreshments were served at the nearby Depuy Canal House. This stone aqueduct remained in use until the canal enlargement program of 1847–52 allowed for larger canal boats. In 1849, John A. Roebling built a larger aqueduct at a cost of about $16,500, using a heavy timber trough supported by a cable suspension system. Roebling lived in High Falls for seven months while supervising construction, and 20 years later he went on to design the Brooklyn Bridge. He built a total of four aqueducts for the D & H Canal Co., and one survives as a bridge on the Delaware River northwest of Port Jervis. In 1918, fire destroyed the timber part of the Roebling aqueduct, and the iron parts were scrapped during World War I. The stone-arch aqueduct survived until 1956, when it was demolished.

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Photo: Steve Stoessel

Stone Ridge, New York · USA