The New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal) is a successor to 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 ...

and other

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 f ...

s within

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 * '' ...

. Currently, the system is composed of the

, the Oswego Canal, the

Cayuga–Seneca Canal The Cayuga–Seneca Canal is a canal in New York, United States. It is now part of the New York State Canal System. The Cayuga–Seneca Canal connects the Erie Canal to Cayuga Lake and Seneca Lake. It is approximately long. History The S ...

, and the

Champlain Canal The Champlain Canal is a canal in New York that connects the Hudson River to the south end of Lake Champlain. It was simultaneously constructed with the Erie Canal for use by commercial vessels, fully opening in 1823. Today, it is mostly used b ...

. In 2014 the system was listed as a national

historic district A historic district or heritage district is a section of a city which contains older buildings considered valuable for historical or architectural reasons. In some countries or jurisdictions, historic districts receive legal protection from cer ...

on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in its entirety, and in 2016 it was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places liste ...

. The Erie Canal connects the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between Ne ...

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also ha ...

; the Cayuga–Seneca Canal connects Seneca Lake and

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 ...

to the Erie Canal; the Oswego Canal connects the Erie Canal to

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York. The Canada–United States border sp ...

; and the Champlain Canal connects the Hudson River to

Lake Champlain , native_name_lang = , image = Champlainmap.svg , caption = Lake Champlain-River Richelieu watershed , image_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = New York/ Vermont in the United States; and Quebec in Canada , coords = , type ...

History

In 1903 New York State legislature authorized construction of the "New York State Barge Canal" as the "improvement of the Erie, the Oswego, the

Champlain Samuel de Champlain (; Fichier OrigineFor a detailed analysis of his baptismal record, see RitchThe baptism act does not contain information about the age of Samuel, neither his birth date nor his place of birth. – 25 December 1635) was a Fre ...

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 ...

s". In 1905, construction of the Barge Canal began; it was completed in 1918, at a cost of $96.7 million. It opened to through traffic May 15, 1918. The Barge Canal's new route took advantage of rivers (such as the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk ...

, Oswego River, Seneca River,

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 ...

and Clyde River) that the original Erie Canal builders had avoided, thus bypassing some major cities formerly on the route, such as

Syracuse Syracuse may refer to: Places Italy * Syracuse, Sicily, or spelled as ''Siracusa'' * Province of Syracuse United States *Syracuse, New York **East Syracuse, New York ** North Syracuse, New York * Syracuse, Indiana *Syracuse, Kansas *Syracuse, M ...

and

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 ...

. However, particularly in western New York State, the canal system uses the same (enlarged) channel as the original Erie Canal. In 1924 the Barge Canal built the Gowanus Bay Terminal in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

to handle canal cargo. ''Note:'' This includes an
''Accompanying photographs''
/ref> Since the 1970s, the state has ceased modernizing the system due to the shift to truck transport. The canal is preserved primarily for historical and recreational purposes. Today, very few commercial vessels use the canal; it is mainly used by private pleasure boats, although it also serves as a method of controlling floods. The last regularly scheduled commercial ship operating on the canal was the ''

Day Peckinpaugh ''Day Peckinpaugh'' is a historic canal motorship berthed at the Matton Shipyard on Peebles Island, Cohoes in Albany County, New York, United States. Early years ''Day Peckinpaugh'' was built in 1921 by the McDougall-Duluth Shipyard in Dulu ...

'', which ceased operation in 1994. Since 1992, the Barge Canal is no longer known by that name. Individual canals in the New York State Canal System, formerly collectively known as "the Barge Canal," are now referred to by their original names (Erie Canal, Oswego Canal, Cayuga–Seneca Canal, and Champlain Canal). Today, the system's canals are deep and wide, with 57 electrically operated locks, and can accommodate vessels up to 2,000 tons (1,800 metric tons). The canal system is open for navigation generally from May 1 through November 15. Payment of a fee for a permit is required to traverse the locks and lift bridges with motorized craft. In 2004, the

New York State Canal Corporation New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

reported a total of 122,034 recreational lockings on the canal, along with 8,514 tour boat lockings and 7,369 hire boat lockings, and a total of 12,182 tons of cargo valued at approximately $102 million was shipped on the canal system. In 2012, the system's annual cargo volume reached 42,000 tons. Travel on the Canal's middle section (particularly in the Mohawk River valley) was severely hampered during destructive flooding in Upstate New York in late June and early July 2006. Flood damage to the canal system and its facilities was estimated to be at least $15 million. In 2011, newly elected Governor

Andrew Cuomo Andrew Mark Cuomo ( ; ; born December 6, 1957) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 56th governor of New York from 2011 to 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected to the same position that his father, Mario Cuo ...

appointed

Schenectady Schenectady () is a city in Schenectady County, New York, United States, of which it is the county seat. As of the 2020 census, the city's population of 67,047 made it the state's ninth-largest city by population. The city is in eastern New Y ...

Mayor

Brian Stratton Brian U. Stratton (born 6 September 1957) is a former mayor of Schenectady, New York. He is a member of the Democratic Party. Stratton received his Bachelor of Arts degree from the State University of New York at Oswego in 1980. He began his c ...

as director of the Canal Corporation, which runs the Canal System. At the end of August 2011

Tropical Storm Irene The name Irene was used for thirteen cyclones worldwide: 12 tropical and one extratropical. Of the tropical cyclones named Irene, seven were in the Atlantic, two were in the South Pacific, and the Western Pacific, South-West Indian Ocean and Austral ...

caused closure of almost the entire canal due to flooding. At the beginning of September 2011,

Tropical Storm Lee The name Lee has been used for seven tropical cyclones worldwide. In the Atlantic, it replaced the name ''Lenny''. In the Atlantic: * Tropical Storm Lee (2005), a short-lived, minimal tropical storm * Tropical Storm Lee (2011) Tropical Storm ...

added more flooding to the system. Damage to several locks was severe enough to close the canal from Lock 8 (Scotia) through Lock 17 (Little Falls) from late August. The canal was fully open for the start of the 2012 navigation season. Over 200,000 tons of cargo was expected for 2017, the largest shipping volume since 1993.

Funding and maintenance

Erie Canal Split Sign at Waterford New York (cropped)

The

is responsible for the oversight, administration and maintenance of the New York State Canal System. In 2012, the Canal Corp., then a subsidiary of the

New York State Thruway Authority The New York State Thruway Authority (NYSTA) is a public benefit corporation in New York State, United States. The NYSTA was formed in 1950 with the responsibility of constructing, maintaining, and operating the New York State Thruway, a syste ...

, employed 529 people, consisting of 458 full-time employees and 78 seasonal workers. Its spending accounted for about 10 percent of the Thruway Authority's total $1.1 billion in annual spending. In 2012, the Canal Corp.'s operating budget was $55.7 million and its capital budget was $51.4 million. An August 2012 report by state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli said the canal system "contributed to the deterioration of the Authority's financial condition over the past decade", even as canal traffic had dropped nearly one-third since the period immediately before the Thruway Authority assumed control. Effective January 1, 2017, the New York State Canal Corporation became a subsidiary of the

New York Power Authority The New York Power Authority (NYPA), officially the Power Authority of the State of New York, is a New York State public-benefit corporation. It is the largest state public power utility in the United States. NYPA provides some of the lowest-co ...

. The move was authorized in April 2016 through the state budget process. Its headquarters then moved from the Thruway Authority's offices to 30 S. Pearl St., Albany, the New York Power Authority's regional offices.

References

External links

History

Funding and maintenance

See also

References

External links