Building the five combines

Time was when the State of New York was mostly wilderness and when Lake Champlain, Lake George and the Hudson River were the only north and south means of travel in the state. Before there was anything faintly resembling today's network of highways, travel by water routes was by far the easiest and cheapest. For this reason the Erie and the Black River Canals were born and made possible, to a large degree, by the geographical fact that Northern Oneida County sits astride the divide separating two principal river systems, the Mohawk and the Black. Canals operated with water. Here were the headwaters and the man-made waterways were off and building.

The Black River canal was fed with water from the Black River taken at Forestport. It flowed through a canal feeder into what was known as a basin at Boonville. From here the waters operated the canal both north and south. North to High Falls and the Black River and south through the Lansing Kill Gorge to Rome and the Erie Canal. Boonville was the summit level.

The historically famed five combines as they were in 1920.

The lore and legend of the Black River Canal lingers on in memory, in literature, and in photographic history. Many are often trying to ascertain data regarding the waterway. Here are a few facts:

Fifteen years before the Erie (then known as "Clinton's Ditch") was opened in 1825 people had started talking about building a canal from Rome to Boonville and High Falls, later to be known as Lyons Falls. In fact, the politicians tossed the canal talk around for 29 years. In 1839 construction actually started. Started with pick and shovel and with horsepower and ingenuity.

Not until 1848 was the first "testing" water let into the feeder at Forest Port, later known as Forestport. In 1850 it was partially completed. One boat made it from Rome to Boonville. In 1851 the first boat made it to High Falls. Five years later, 1856, it was officially completed and connected with the Erie at Rome.

For those statistically minded, the canal was 35 miles in length. From Rome to Boonville the lockage elevation was 693 feet. From Boonville to High Falls the lockage descent was 386 feet. Constructed were 109 locks which measured 90 feet in length by 15 feet in width. Also constructed were 5 aqueducts, 11 waste-weirs, 4 dams, 33 road bridges, 36 farm bridges, 2 guard locks, 6 stop gates, 2 drawbridges, and 33 lock houses. The ditch measured 42 feet in width at the top and 26 feet in width at the bottom and the average depth was four feet. It could take boats of 70 tons. Adding together the navigable feeder, the canal, the Black River and two miles of navigation on the reservoir above the State dam, it amounted to 90 miles of navigation.

Depending on the weather, opening dates for navigation varied from April 1 to May 2. From 1875 through the late 1880's the canal was enjoying its best days. In 1890 it was abandoned from Boonville to Lyons Falls. In 1897 and 1898 many bad breaks occurred, most of which were maliciously caused and most of which were on the feeder. Not only did these often halt traffic on the canal but they were costly to repair.

A Sunday cruise

In 1910 construction was started on the Lake Delta dam, near Rome, to be used as an Erie (and later Barge Canal) feeder. By 1915 business on the ditch was not good. The Utica and Black River Railroad held the death warrant of the Black River Canal. Nineteen twenty saw the end of the venture and the boatmen. It had been a noble undertaking promoted for the general good. It had been an engineering marvel. For those times it had cost a lot of money - $3,581,954.

But the death of the Black River Canal seems to have been greatly exaggerated. It won't completely die. The ghosts still linger on - along the lines of the canal. It's a fine part of the North Country heritage.