The Genesee Valley Canal is a former canal that operated in central New York between 1840 and 1878. It ran for a length of 124 miles, passing through 106

locks Lock(s) may refer to: Common meanings *Lock and key, a mechanical device used to secure items of importance *Lock (water navigation), a device for boats to transit between different levels of water, as in a canal Arts and entertainment * ''Lock ...

. Its course was later used by the

Genesee Valley Canal Railroad The Genesee Valley Canal Railroad was a part of the Pennsylvania Railroad system in western New York. It was built on the former Genesee Valley Canal alignment. History Genesee Valley Canal: 1836-1878 On May 6, 1836 an act was passed in New York ...

and today comprises portions of the

Genesee Valley Greenway The Genesee Valley Greenway is a rail trail in western New York's Genesee River valley. The trail stretches for along a former Pennsylvania Railroad right-of-way as well as adjacent land from the Genesee Valley Canal. The low grade path is a m ...

History

Demand for a canal had increased in the first third of the 19th Century as new settlers cleared the fertile lands along the

Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides h ...

to plant crops such as wheat. Farmers sought a way to transport their crops north to Rochester as the Genesee's

cataracts A cataract is a cloudy area in the lens of the eye that leads to a decrease in vision. Cataracts often develop slowly and can affect one or both eyes. Symptoms may include faded colors, blurry or double vision, halos around light, trouble w ...

made boat transport ineffective. On 6 May 1836, an act was passed in the

New York Legislature The New York State Legislature consists of the two houses that act as the state legislature of the U.S. state of New York: The New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly. The Constitution of New York does not designate an official te ...

authorizing the construction of the Genesee Valley Canal. It was to run from the

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 ...

on the south side of

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

south-southwest along the Genesee River valley to Mount Morris, Portageville, and

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdom ...

, and then cross-country to the Allegheny River at Olean, with a branch from Mount Morris paralleling Canaseraga Creek to Dansville.

Construction

According to New York State archives, the reservoir supplying the summit level impounded of water. A non-navigable feeder creek carried water to the summit at Hinsdale after crossing Oil Creek on an aqueduct. Thirteen feeder creeks fed the Genesee Valley Canal. The Ischua Creek runs north to south to the Allegheny River and the still waters of the Ischua run deep, the town of Ischua was the perfect area to build a dam and utilize the water-way. Routing the canal through the Ischua-Hinsdale area enabled merchants to transport commerce from Rochester to Pittsburgh. The contract for the culverts on the Ischua feeder, as well as on lock sections 98 through 101, in Maplehurst, was awarded to Joseph T. Lyman and Dauphin Murray on Oct. 11, 1839. The canal builders faced considerable difficulty getting past the Portage Falls gorge in what is now part of

Letchworth State Park Letchworth State Park is a New York State Park located in Livingston County and Wyoming County in the western part of the State of New York. The park is roughly long, following the course of the Genesee River as it flows north through a dee ...

. This resulted in the building of a 400 foot aqueduct that ran 50 feet above the Genesee River.

Opening

On 1 September 1840, the

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 flo ...

was opened to

navigation Navigation is a field of study that focuses on the process of monitoring and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another.Bowditch, 2003:799. The field of navigation includes four general categories: land navigation, ...

from

to Mount Morris. The extension to Dansville opened in the fall of 1841, and by then the split between the Dansville branch and the main line was set at Sonyea, southeast of Mount Morris. After some partial openings, the full line was opened at the beginning of navigation in 1862, running to Olean on the Allegheny River and beyond to Mill Grove, on the river just north of the Pennsylvania state line. However, by then, the

Main Line of Public Works The Main Line of Public Works was a package of legislation passed by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1826 to establish a means of transporting freight between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It funded the construction of various long-proposed can ...

and Pennsylvania Railroad had been completed, opening up the interior of Pennsylvania without depending on New York, and there was no interest in improving the Allegheny River, which proved to only be able to handle large ships when its water level was at its highest in the spring. Instead, the

Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad Share of the Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Rail Road Company, issued 31 March 1860 The Buffalo, Bradford and Pittsburgh Railroad was formed on February 26, 1859, by the merger of the Buffalo and Pittsburgh Railroad and the Buffalo and Bradford ...

, connecting to the river at Carrollton, west of Olean, was used as a reason to continue building the canal.

Closing

On 4 June 1877, the legislature approved an abandonment of the canal on or after 30 September 1878. The canal was sold on 6 November 1880 to the

, which had been chartered 15 July of that year.

Visible remnants

The canal is long gone, but its remnants form the

. Sites like the remnants of the Ischua Dam can be seen by visiting the Town of Ischua Historical Society and Park, on the corner of Route 16 and Farwell Road in the Town of Ischua. Further down Route 16, the Hinsdale

VFW post The Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW), formally the Veterans of Foreign Wars of the United States, is an organization of US war veterans, who, as military service members fought in wars, campaigns, and expeditions on foreign land, waters, or ...

has highlighted the remnants of the lock system of the Genesee Valley Canal located there, both in Cattaraugus County near the Olean terminus. Cuba Lake, originally known as Oil Creek Reservoir, located in the town of Cuba in Allegany County, was created in 1858 to help maintain water levels on the Genesee Valley Canal. Cuba Lake and its surrounding land is owned by New York State. Today, cottage and home sites on the lake are officially leased from the state as part of the Cuba Lake District.

References

* ''Locking the Heights: The Rise and Demise of the Genesee Valley Canal'', David L Kipp, 1999

External links

Remembering the Genesee Valley Canal
by Richard Palmer * http://www.letchworthparkhistory.com/gvcanal.html * https://web.archive.org/web/20080509100215/http://www.history.rochester.edu/canal/bib/whitford/1906/Chron10.html {{coord, 42, 16, 21, N, 78, 14, 00, W, display=title Canals in New York (state) Genesee River Buildings and structures in Allegany County, New York Transportation buildings and structures in Cattaraugus County, New York Buildings and structures in Livingston County, New York Transportation buildings and structures in Monroe County, New York Buildings and structures in Wyoming County, New York Greenways Canals opened in 1840 1840 establishments in New York (state)