The Chemung Canal is a former

canal Canals or artificial waterways are waterways or engineered channels built for drainage management (e.g. flood control and irrigation) or for conveyancing water transport vehicles (e.g. water taxi). They carry free, calm surface flow un ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, United States. The canal connected Seneca Lake at Watkins Glen to the

Chemung River The Chemung River ( ) is a tributary of the Susquehanna River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map, accessed August 8, 2011 in south central New York and northern ...

Elmira, New York Elmira () is a city and the county seat of Chemung County, New York, United States. It is the principal city of the Elmira, New York, metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses Chemung County. The population was 26,523 at the 2020 cens ...

. It was planned to connect the Finger Lakes region and Pennsylvania's

Susquehanna River The Susquehanna River (; Lenape: Siskëwahane) is a major river located in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, overlapping between the lower Northeast and the Upland South. At long, it is the longest river on the East Coast of the ...

watershed with New York's

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

system. The latter connected the Great Lakes with the Hudson River and ultimately the Atlantic port of

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The state government allocated $300,000 for the construction, which started in 1830 and was completed in 1833. Opening to full service was delayed because of damage from a rainstorm in May 1833. Damage by rain and seasonal flooding was a yearly problem during the use of the canal. Forty-nine locks were needed to raise and lower barges passing through the canal. The selection of the Chemung Canal's route was a disappointment to

Ithaca, New York Ithaca is a city in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. Situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, Ithaca is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca metropolitan statistical area. It is named a ...

, which had hoped to make the Erie–Susquehanna connection via

Cayuga Lake Cayuga Lake (,,) is the longest of central New York's glacial Finger Lakes, and is the second largest in surface area (marginally smaller than Seneca Lake) and second largest in volume. It is just under long. Its average width is , and it is a ...

. In 1854, the completion of the

Junction Canal The Junction Canal was a canal in the states of New York and Pennsylvania in the United States. The canal was also called the Arnot Canal, after the name of its principal stockholder, John Arnot of Elmira, New York. History The canal was built a ...

extended the length of the canal system southward from the Chemung River into Pennsylvania. A feeder canal connected the Chemung Canal to the

Corning, New York Corning is a city in Steuben County, New York, United States, on the Chemung River. The population was 10,551 at the 2020 census. It is named for Erastus Corning, an Albany financier and railroad executive who was an investor in the company t ...

area. The canal fell into disuse and disrepair by 1878, and parts of its right of way were sold off. Subsequently, the poor drainage of the canal remnants required expenditures to correct the nuisance of undrained water. Like many other canals, the Chemung Canal could not compete with the

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

companies. While it was in use, the Chemung Canal enabled

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when dea ...

lumber Lumber is wood that has been processed into dimensional lumber, including beams and planks or boards, a stage in the process of wood production. Lumber is mainly used for construction framing, as well as finishing (floors, wall panels, wi ...

, and agricultural products to be shipped from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

and the

Southern Tier The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York region of New York State, consisting of counties west of the Catskill Mountains in Delaware County and geographically situated along or very near the northern border ...

of New York northward, where the

could move the goods into the world market. Canal barges were towed the length of Seneca Lake from Watkins Glen to

Geneva Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevra ; rm, Genevra is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland (after Zürich) and the most populous city of Romandy, the French-speaki ...

and the

Cayuga and Seneca Canal Cayuga often refers to: * Cayuga people, a native tribe to North America, part of the Iroquois Confederacy * Cayuga language, the language of the Cayuga Cayuga may also refer to: Places Canada *Cayuga, Ontario United States *Cayuga, Illinois * ...

system, which connected to the Erie Canal. The growth of Southern Tier cities such as Elmira and Corning was enhanced by the canal. Parts of the Catharine Valley Trail are built along old Chemung Canal towpaths.

References

External links

{{coord missing, New York (state)Emerson, Gary. (2004) ''A Link in the Great Chain: a History of the Chemung Canal''. Elmira: Chemung County Historical Society. Canals in New York (state) Transportation buildings and structures in Chemung County, New York Buildings and structures in Schuyler County, New York Transportation in Schuyler County, New York Canals opened in 1833 1833 establishments in New York (state)