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Chenango Canal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Chenango Canal was a towpath canal that existed in the middle 19th century in upstate New York in the United States. It was 97 mi (155 km) long and followed the Chenango River for much of its course, from Binghamton on the south end to Utica on the north end. It provided a significant link in the water transportation system of the northeastern U.S., connecting the Susquehanna River to the Erie Canal.
The canal was first proposed in the New York Legislature in 1824 during the construction of the Erie Canal, prompted by lobbying from local leaders in the Chenango Valley. It authorized by the legislature in 1833 and completed in October 1836 at total cost of $2,500,000, approximately twice the original appropriation. It was 42 feet (13 m) wide at top and 26 feet (8 m) at the bottom. It had 116 locks, 11 lock houses, 12 dams, 19 aqueducts, 52 culverts, 56 road bridges, 106 farm bridges, 53 feeder bridges, and 21 waste weirs. Packet boats and barges were drawn by horse and mule teams on the towpath.
It operated from 1834 to 1876, from April to November each year. The opening of the canal cut the shipping time from Binghamton to Albany from 9 days to 4 days. Its construction led to a manufacturing boom in the Chenango Valley. The construction of a railroad in the Chenango Valley after the American Civil War rendered the canal obsolete. It was closed in 1878 by a vote of the state legislature. The canal was sold off piece-by-piece and filled in. Portions of stone aqueducts, locks, and other structures remain in place along its route, in particular at Chenango Valley State Park.