Life on the Erie Canal: "I've Got a Mule..." Quiz

Answer: passengers on top of a canalboat needed to duck to fit under many bridges

Bridges for road traffic crossing the canal were barely high enough for boats to pass under. For freight boats that didn't matter, but in good weather, passengers liked to sit on chairs or luggage on the roof. "Every Bridge makes us bend double if seated on anything, and in many cases you have to lie on your back.

The Man at the helm gives the word to the passengers: 'Bridge,' 'very low Bridge,' 'the lowest in the Canal,' as the case may be. Some serious accidents have happened... [but] in general it affords amusement to the passengers who soon imitate the cry..." --From an 1836 trip on the canal quoted at http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/eriecanal.htm Trivia about the song: It was written in the early 20th Century when the canal had shifted away from animal power, as a nostalgic look back, but was never sung on the actual 19th Century canal. See http://daveruch.com/erie-canal-song/

Answer: the animals on shore pulled them by a rope

Boats were towed by a long rope, connected to horses or mules walking along the towpath beside the canal. A worker, often a boy, needed to be on the towpath with the animals and he was generally discouraged from riding, though the temptation was great. The canalboat's upper speed was as fast as the boy could walk or ride, 3-4 miles an hour.

Answer: the locks acted as stair steps to raise or lower a boat to different levels

Each section of the Erie Canal was perfectly level, usually for many miles. When the surrounding land finally rose or fell so much that the next section had to be at a new higher or lower level, a lock was used to raise or lower boats to the new level, using only water power. There were 83 locks in the original 363-mile Erie Canal.

Answer: the canal connected the Hudson River to Lake Erie, opening cheap water transportation

In the very early 19th century, when the Erie Canal was planned and construction began, water was the cheapest, easiest way to transport goods. There were no railroads yet, and roads were impossible to maintain without modern pavement. The canal-building era opened up new areas for farmers and others to sell what they produced. Anything that could be taken to Lake Erie could now go by water along the canal, then down the Hudson River, and onto a boat at New York City bound anywhere.

The reverse was true also.

The new artery for transportation also allowed people to travel more to visit family back east or to head west to settle, or just to travel for pleasure; a new idea gaining popularity. When railroads arrived, they competed with canals, but canals still outdid them in some areas, such as shipping freight slowly but cheaply, if time didn't matter.

Answer: a rudder and tiller in back

Each boat had a rudder worked with a large tiller at the back. Someone had to attend the tiller to counteract the very slight pull of the animals toward the shore, but the work was easy. At locks, the boat had to be disconnected from the animals and guided into the narrow lock, which took a bit more skill.

Answer: the animals rode on the boat during their rest period

Shifts could be changed to keep the boat going 24 hours or it could pull over at night. The resting mules or horses were kept in stables on board the boat, so they were always right there when needed, but could eat, relax, lie down or sleep, just like their corresponding human crew.

Answer: water is let in through sluices in the upper gate and the boat floats up to the new higher level

Once the water in the lock and your boat that's floating on it are all equal to the new higher level, the lock-keeper opens the gate in front of you and you can hitch up the animals again and go on. Here's a wonderful animated gif showing how a lock works, by Terry Pepper on the "The Erie Canal" website at http://www.eriecanal.org/locks/lockani.gif

Answer: DeWitt Clinton

Clinton embodied the enthusiasm of Americans for westward expansion and turning the wilderness of America into a civilized, productive land. He prophesized the success of the canal, and doubters had all kinds of names -- Clinton's ditch, Clinton's folly -- but his predictions of prosperity became true. Though the canal cost over $7 million to build, it paid for itself in ten years.

Answer: it carried the canal over a road or river

Just like a road, the canal sometimes needed to cross a river or regular dry road. For that purpose, the canal used an aquaduct, which looked somewhat like a bridge filled with water. The canal's water needed to be kept isolated from the river's water, or each would seek its own level within the other's banks and a mess would occur. With an aquedect, the canal boat could keep floating along level on its own pool of water, while the river could flow below it or traffic on the road could travel below it.

The aquaduct needed to be incredibly strong to support the weight of all the water, plus a little dry towpath for the animals, but it was supported on stone, just another example of the engineering that had to go into the canal. If flowing water was small enough, such as a creek or small stream, it was drained through a stone culvert under the canal, just like a culvert under a road. Rivers, though, needed bridged with aqueducts.

Here's a photo of a typical aqueduct, this one in Pennnsylvania, and perhaps it's easier to picture how the canalboat and horses would travel left or right on the stone structure, with a little towpath walkway for the animals, while the river flows underneath, neither disturbing the other: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wiconisco_Canal_aqueduct.jpg

Answer: three horses for passenger boats, two mules or horses for freight or cheap passengers

Thomas S. Woodcock wrote about his 1836 trip on the Erie Canal: "[The best packet boats] have three Horses, go at a quicker rate, and have the preference in going through the locks, carry no freight... There are other Boats called Line Boats that... carry freight, have only two horses, and consequently do not go as quickly." Woodcock's account is quoted at http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/eriecanal.htm .

His summary fits general observations that three fast-walking horses were the most that a canalboat would have, while two slower mules or horses were more typical for freight boats.