About the Mohawk River and the Erie Canal
- The Erie Canal was proposed to open the country west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlers and to offer a cheap and safe way to carry produce to a market.
- This cross-state canal was called the Erie because it connected Lake Erie to the Hudson River.
- The construction of a canal was first proposed as early as 1768, but the actual plan which links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east was proposed in 1808 and completed in 1825.
- An engineering marvel when it was built, some called it the Eighth Wonder of the World.
- When finally completed on October 26, 1825, it was the engineering marvel of its day, stretching 363 miles from Buffalo on the west to Waterford (Albany) in the east.
- It included 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over ravines and rivers, and 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.
- It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight.
- A ten foot wide towpath was built along the bank of the canal for horses, mules, and oxen led by a boy boat driver or “hoggee.”
- The Erie Canal was begun on July 4, 1817 in Rome, NY. It was completed on October 26, 1825 at a cost of $7M.
- The canal was enlarged a number of times over the years to make it wider and deeper, and so more and bigger boats could pass through the locks.
- All but 34 miles of the 115-mile stretch of the Erie Canal in the Mohawk Valley follows the course of the Mohawk River. In addition to the river and tributaries along the way, the water that fills the canal comes from two 4 1/2 square mile reservoirs: Lake Delta on the Mohawk River north of Rome and Hinckley Lake on West Canada Creek north of Herkimer. (Source: MOHAWK – Discovering the Valley of the Crystals, Copyright 2005
- The Mohawk River is divided into regions. Eastern Erie Canal Region, in which the Maritime Center is located, begins in Central New York, north of Syracuse at Sylvan Beach on the east shore of Oneida Lake and runs through the Mohawk Valley, ending in Waterford, NY north of Albany in Saratoga County.
- The Mohawk connects to the Hudson River and the Champlain Canal in the Capital Region.
About the Capital Region Maritime Center (CRMC)
- CRMC began in June 1992.
- The waterfront Center was dedicated on May 18, 2001.
- The CRMC is located in Alplaus, NY in the Town of Glenville, Schenectady County.
- CRMC is the only nonprofit Maritime Center with a river-edge educational facility in northeastern New York.