Published: December 01, 2008 12:23 am         

FARLEY: Erie Barge Canal deliberations

When Theodore Roosevelt became governor of New York state in January 1899, one of the most important and difficult questions he had to solve was that of the state canals. His Republican Party had narrowly escaped defeat, largely due to backlash from mismanagement of a $9 million waterway improvement appropriation authorized by the legislature of 1894.

Gov. Roosevelt was extremely anxious to correct the mistakes of his party and equally anxious to decide the fate of the canals as their dominance gave way to rail transportation. After considering various projects, Roosevelt finally decided to appoint a committee of private citizens, to serve without pay, to study the question and make a report to him that would be used to form the basis for his recommendations to the Legislature. He appointed this committee in March 1899 and Major General Francis Greene was selected as chairman.

The governor requested that the committee study the canal problem and give him advice. The committee was asked to answer the following question: Should the canals be abandoned, maintained in their present condition or enlarged, and if so, to what extent and at what estimated cost? In order to reach an educated conclusion, the committee gathered statistical information concerning transportation costs by rail, the ocean, the lakes and the canals.

It was claimed by many canal antagonists that canal transportation was antiquated and altogether out of date. Some felt the railroads, with their durable roadbeds, powerful locomotives, larger cars, greater speed and more certainty of delivery, would be able to reduce the cost of transportation below what was possible on the canals. If that hypothesis was correct, it would be unwise and improper to expend any more public money on the canals.

A careful study of the actual facts in regard to transportation rates led the Canal Committee to the following opinion: “In our judgment, water transportation is inherently cheaper than rail transportation. It varies slightly with the size of the vessel and the restriction of the waterway. The phenomenal growth of the enormous tonnage on the lakes and the prosperity which it has brought to the states bordering on the lakes convinced us that a proper waterway across the State of New York would bring similar prosperity to this State.”

The committee members also studied water transportation in Europe. They were able to show the huge development of inland navigation by means of canals and rivers that had taken place in France, Belgium, Germany and Russia. In all of these countries, the traffic on internal waterways had increased much more rapidly than transportation by rail.

The Canal Committee devoted most of 1899 to study the subject and they made a report to Gov. Roosevelt in January 1900. It was a printed document of 231 pages with seven maps, 36 charts and 69 tables of statistical information. From a consideration of all the facts, the committee reached their conclusion and unanimously proposed that “canals connecting the Hudson River with Lakes Erie, Ontario and Champlain should not be abandoned, but should be maintained and enlarged.”

The governor promptly gave the report to the legislature, hoping they would adopt the recommendations that it contained. In the meanwhile, additional surveys and cost estimates were prepared under the direction of the state engineer. The state printed an edition of several thousand copies of the canal report and distributed it throughout the state for examination and discussion. The project was finally ratified and adopted by an overwhelming vote of the people of the state of New York in a referendum during the election of 1903 and the Erie Canal was given a new life through its larger sibling, the New York State Barge Canal.

Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center in Lockport. The ECDC is now closed for the season but will open for any group. Call (716) 434-7433 for details.