Stop 22- Halfway Points: Of 363, 350, and 339

 GPS- 43.054804, -76.309833

While the de-facto halfway point in the canal was Syracuse due to it being the major city between Albany and Buffalo, the true halfway point of the canal is just to the west of the city

Just past Camillus Landing,...

 ....you will come upon a split path and road.

After the canal days, the Towpath was converted into a road for the 

Camillus Sportsman Club.

And not far down the path you'll come to a sign:

And across the way, in case you missed it,...

...is the halfway point on the Enlarged Erie.

This stretch is the improved, straightened and widened channel, 

70ft wide and 7ft deep.

You are halfway from Albany and halfway to Buffalo 

This is due to the specs of the Enlarged Canal

But where was the halfway of the original Clinton's Ditch?

For that you will come to this sign in Memphis, NY!

But "Halfway" is a movable term depending on which canal you are talking about and where that point is marked. The original halfway point was the Village of Canton...Later the Village of Memphis just a few miles west

And the halfway point of Clinton's Ditch actually lies about just east of here.

The first incarnation of the Erie Canal, now lovingly, but once slanderously called Clinton's Ditch or Folly was a much longer route 363 miles winding its way the easiest and cheapest way to dig and fill a ditch, often hugging hillsides and going around curves. It worked for a time but at 4ft deep and 40ft wide its winding ways became impractical for larger vessels.

The reality is that the middle was just a mile or so east of Memphis, 

but past the crossroads of Newport. 

But once you made it to Memphis, 

you knew you were halfway in your cross-state journey

In its day, Canton, whose name was later changed to Memphis, 

was a bustling village and stop along the canal

 

map c.1859

Bird's eye view from the hills south of Memphis

The Enlarged Erie flowing past the Hotel. 

The building, although much altered, is extant today.

Looking south from just over the railroad tracks.

But where is the halfway point today?

When the canal eventually switched in the 1918, the Modern Barge Canal used today was completed and replaced the "old" Erie Canal. 

It is now about 339 miles long just and uses natural waterways whenever possible. 

Why the change? 

Two reasons: aging infrastructure and the widespread use of mechanical engines made using natural waterways plausible. And so the new "Halfway" point changed once again as the route changed and now lies about a mile east of Baldwinsville Community Park.

So lined up on an old map from 1874,

and on a modern map...

But while we have passed the middle of the canal and we are one mule step closer to Buffalo, the other piece of good news is we are more than 2/3 though our journey across the county!

 So after staying overnight in a nearby hotel

(a proper bath does wonders for the spirits...

and food you don't have to cook on a hot summer day),

we are reminded of faster mode of transport nearby....

That will one day make this channel of water next to the tracks obsolete...

because people and goods move faster by train...

...And still do around here!

But we continue on the next day with our imaginary team of mules, well-fed and rested, and our boat captain and family, well-fed and rested, and travel on to our next stop...

Stop 21- Sim's Store: Stores and Markets

GPS- 43.052605, -76.303531

All these goods being transported along the canal would have been useless if there was no people on the other end who wanted them.

That's not a business model that last very long.

Without markets and stores to trade goods and services, 

the canal would have been nothing more that an expensive water feature

Here in Camillus a the Liz and Dave Beebe Erie Canal Park,

you can visit Sim's Store.

This building is a replica built for the park. 

The original store, Dill's Store stood across Devoe Rd 

on the path of the original Clinton's Ditch, 

which is still barely visible in the landscape on the trail 

behind the building 

This is a picture the original building along the canal

Here it is depicted in a painting

The Dill property on the 1859 map

The original Dill Homestead was extant until it burned in the 1960s

In this view from the 50s, the Dill House can be seen on the bottom edge 

by the dry section of the canal.

Its foundation walls are still visible in the overgrowth, 

on the trail on the western side of Devoe Rd

(pics from the Canal Park)

What made this place so special? Canal Stores were the link between farmers and tradesmen and getting their goods to market. Only so much product could be purchased locally, but markets in the big cities could get higher prices for goods. They also could add variety to life in area where basics abounded...but what fun luxuries like lace, cloth, and fine goods couldn't be produced locally....plus they could provide the local gossip if you stayed around for a game of checkers long enough 😎...

Camillus really became part mill town, part agriculture in its economy due to the canal, turnpikes, and later the railroad

Celebrating being along the old Erie Canal for 200 years...

this section opened up before the 1825 completion date!

Finally, farmers had an easy way to get their goods to market.

Also Nine Mile Creek (which is really 21.75 miles long), the one we just passed over to the east, provided power to a mill race, kept water levels up on the Jordan Level with the Camillus Feeder, and provided power for more mills both upstream and down from Camillus.

These stones were once part of a gate that controlled water flowing into the feeder

Located originally in the village, they were moved and put on display here.

So why does this part of the old Erie Canal still have water flowing in it?

Why didn't it suffer the same fate as Gere's Lock not far away?

(pic by Cori Wilson)

The answer is Liz and Dave Beebe.

They learned that Solvay Process intended to continue 

dumping waste into the canal bed in this area.

They bought the land on their own

and stopped Solvay Process in its tracks 

from dumping west of Warner's Rd.

Liz and Dave Beebe bought this property and saved it from being a dump for Solvay Process. They painstakingly and lovingly restored it with the help of many volunteers to make it the great place it is today.

https://eaglenewsonline.com/new/2012/03/02/camillus-erie-canal-park-celebrate-40th-birthday/?fbclid=IwAR0f0xYmwHm22yQX3Qu0ZDMwXB6f7H6_NBbY8rtQEkD6E87askOiJTee7vs

And at just over 50 years, the efforts of Liz and Dave Beebe and their army of volunteers 

have made this a stellar stop to learn about the Erie Canal

More about it here
https://eriecanalcamillus.org/

We stopped for a spell here at the Dill's Landing to unload some goods from Syracuse and load some goods up destined for Rochester. We have caught up on the recent news from newspapers and the Dills. We have resupplied our vessel with extra provisions...

and so we head off to our next stop...

(PS- This widewaters area, now a pond, was in front of the original store on Clinton's Ditch)

 

Stop 20- Camillus Aqueduct: The Power of Dream

GPS- 43.059145, -76.285402

The Camillus Aqueduct: The Power of A Dream 

The Camillus Aqueduct, aka the Nine Mile Creek Aqueduct, 

carries the Erie Canal over Nine Mile Creek

Why is this sign in the past tense, and there is water there now?

Weren't canal structures left to basically decay in situ?

How did the wooden trough survive this long?

While the stone work is original, the wooden trough is a restoration.

Well, this aqueduct is the only restored original aqueduct 

on the old Erie Canal

due to 

one couple's dream, determination, and hard work.

But first, this wasn't the first aqueduct here.

 

This is a map showing Clinton's Ditch.

The aqueduct crossed Nine Mile Creek about 100 ft east of here

 

The original canal, 4 ft deep is still imbedded 

in the landscape

An illustration showing what the original aqueduct looked like. 

It was much simpler in design.

The specs from the Erie Canal Mapping Project

All that remains of this aqueduct is the tumbled rocks into Nine Mile Creek

And it is a protected site.

A fun fact: Nine Mile Creek is actually almost 22 mile long...

our forefathers had quirky naming practices 😎

Where the rapids are in this picture is the place

where the original aqueduct crossed 

Nine Mile Creek.

When the canal was enlarged starting in the late 1830's,

the volume of the water tripled 

from 160 sq ft/ per linear foot to 490 sq ft/ linear foot.

Crossing the creek wasn't an easy task for the canal builders. 

This body of water had too high a volume for an "easy" culvert...

but canal engineers and builders had to make it connect.

The canal was quite windy through here and surveyors came through in 1834 to map out existing areas so that improvements could be made. 

Here is the 1820 Aqueduct on the 1834 map.

As canal boats got larger, getting around all those curves could prove to be difficult

And so,  the canal was straightened and widened and 

the 1844 Aqueduct was built over a straighter route

The specs of the 1844 aqueduct

And while there were gentle curves is its path, 

nothing as winding as the original

A picture of it in the late 1800s...

packet boats would take people and goods across it daily. 

On the left you see the Towpath, which was on the north side of the canal. 

The south side was for pedestrians and other traffic.

As the canal era wound down, and boats were more likely to be self-propelled, 

the ban on pedestrians and carriages on the towpath was lifted

This view was taken from what is now the Thompson Farm.

The family had owned it since canal days.

Then it fell into disrepair after the Erie Canal was replaced with the Modern Barge Canal. The wooden troughs that carried the water over the canal need yearly maintenance and occasional replacement. With the Barge Canal up and running there was no need to maintain something that wasn't being used. And so the boards were removed and it was left to time...for a time... (pic from Tug44)

But it was built so well that the stones held together even in neglect. Its stones weren't "salvaged" for other projects and stood like sentinels across Nine Mile Creek for nearly 90 years! (photo from unknown source).

But then enter Dave and Liz Beebe who investigated, researched, and figured out that restoring it WAS possible...and made it happen by 2010

More about the restoration

Today this is the only restored aqueduct on the old Erie Canal. Its waters once again connect land on the east and west sides of Nine Mile Creek

Notice the curved courses of limestone (from Split Rock) that were cut, dressed and fitted into something not only functional, but beautiful

More about the restoration work
http://www.eriecanalcamillus.com/aqueduct.htm?fbclid=IwAR21CJFUSfO6753bdTqP9Vb25efRgD1T-og4bP5e8Dd0X-H3naXWvbeUV74

https://www.eriecanal.org/9MileCreek.html?fbclid=IwAR1VVhD4sqjGQnYAxOEEj9B1k1-2dXC9nfOOvoLxc5E73FdC11OA1LkjqB4

https://eriecanalway.org/find-resources/case-studies/nine-mile-aqueduct?fbclid=IwAR1dQm2trsR7uLHkC-jHv62ieFLP43ymm92nhhDJMuEg26lOQrgqkIqVBKw

http://www.tug44.org/canal.history/nine-mile-creek-aqueduct/?fbclid=IwAR2qhCKywkxS6U7_xBKSuKVItobFqd3zrfPClkPWRRa2V7ctrUyr98rgfNo

And now you can take a tour boat across it

And now you can take a boat tour across it!

http://www.eriecanalcamillus.com/boat.htm?fbclid=IwAR0Bk24fCn_mLlyWg0LrOObMLFRfAO3JAT1oHs2gSy2ByJH2fVvE_80o6l8

Or paddle on it or beneath it...

two members of the Onondaga Creek Rats touring Nine Mile Creek

And now celebrating 50 years of hard work restoring this section of the canal, 

Liz and Dave Beebe 

deserve all the thanks of a grateful community...

pics by Cori Wilson

Even today, it requires an army of volunteers to keep this section 

of the canal the beauty it is today...nature always wants to reclaim its own. 

With the preservation movement these two started, 

their vision is poised to carry on for the next generations 

to enjoy and learn about and learn from.

And so as we cross this body of water, we know that we are about two-thirds of the way across the county in our packet boat. But we mustn't dilly-dally here. 

And so we float on to our next stop...