Visit “A Guide to Canal Records" in the New York State Archives. The site describes 360 series of records documenting New York’s Canals from the earliest Erie Canal surveys to the completion and operation of the Barge Canal.
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Classroom Tools
Learning Resources
In-Class Ideas
In-Class Ideas
- Canal Activity Book
- Write or re-enact a play about what life was like along the Canal System.
- Build a replica of a Canal barge.
- Build a replica of a lock.
- Have students write a fictitious journal about a week-long journey along the Canal System. It can be in the past or the present. If the present, the students can research local attractions and places to see and visit along their trip. They can contact tourism offices for additional information.
- Create an art exhibit of drawings or paintings which feature the Canal.
- Learn songs about the Canal System and hold a concert for parents and friends.
- Research and find out what kinds of boats were used on the Canal for hauling goods. Calculate distance and loads based upon their cargo and destinations.
- Use the Internet and find out about current rental boat companies. Calculate how much a day and/or weeklong trip would cost a student and/or their family. Where would they go and what would they see and do?
The Erie Canal Song & Poem
The Erie Canal Song & Poem
The Erie Canal Song
Low Bridge
written in 1905 by Thomas S. Allen
I've got a mule, her name is Sal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
She's a good ol' worker and a good ol' pal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay,
And we know ev'ry inch of the way,
From Albany to Buffalo.
Chorus:
Low bridge, ev'rybody down!
Low bridge, for we're comin' to a town!
And you'll always know your neighbor,
You'll always know your pal,
if you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.
We better get on our way, old pal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
'Cause you bet your life I'd never part with Sal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
Get up there mule, here comes a lock,
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock,
One more trip and back we'll go,
Right back home to Buffalo.
*Some versions substitute "fifteen miles" for "fifteen years".
The Erie Canal Poem
Building the Erie Canal
written by Gabrielle Toborg
The Erie Canal
DeWitt Clinton made us start diggin'
We'll build the Erie Canal.
Some immigrants from Ireland came over to help us.
We'll build the Erie Canal.
We invented the wheelbarrow and the stump-puller.
We'll build the Erie Canal.
Mosquitos have bitten us and we've gotten sick,
But we'll build the Erie Canal.
Someday the boats-packets, freighters, and barges-
Will travel the Erie Canal.
They will pass through our locks and our aqueducts,
When we've finished the Erie Canal.
The hoggees will drive the mules that will pull
When we finish the Erie Canal.
And when ships get mudlocked, we'll have us a laugh
Then settle back to enjoy
Our hard handy-work: the Erie Canal
Cause now that we've started,
Surely, we'll finish
Building the Erie Canal.
Image Gallery
Image Gallery
Additional Resources
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See CBS Sunday Morning broadcast about Canal history.
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As we enter the Canals Bicentennial, read about its Centennial by Roy Finch. civil engineer and New York politician, to get Erie Canal history from an insider.