Tag Archives: Erie Canal

public–private partnership

We seem to like anniversaries, counting the years with our trusty calendars. I’m pretty sure I was vainly proud to graduate from school the year of the United States bicentennial, and I know I was very enthusiastic about the Civil … Continue reading

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“3½ or 4 miles per hour”

This year is the 200th anniversary of the official opening of the original Erie Canal. On October 26, 1825 New York Governor DeWitt Clinton boarded the packet boat Seneca Chief in Buffalo at the western terminus of the canal. The … Continue reading

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rebirth again

________________________________________________________ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote a poem that seems pertinent. MIDNIGHT MASS FOR THE DYING YEAR Yes, the Year is growing old, And his eye is pale and bleared! Death, with frosty hand and cold, Plucks the old man by … Continue reading

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shovels ready

I’ve lived near canals and/or old defunct canals almost all my life, so I’m a little disappointed that I forgot to mention the 200th anniversary of work beginning on the Erie Canal back on July 4th. On the bright side … Continue reading

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dress code

From a Seneca County, New York newspaper presumably sometime in 1866: [pointing finger] A FEMALE CANAL DRIVER. – On Thursday last a canal driver was arrested in Lockport, on suspicion of being a woman in male attire. On being taken … Continue reading

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hot stove

I embrace hibernation. Reconstruction lacks the excitement of the combined naval-infantry assault on Fort Fisher (already a year ago), and it’s harder to find material. I might be historied out, but lying dormant for a bit sure seems good to … Continue reading

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