Canal boatman: My life on upstate waterways

by Richard Garrity

The author's own sixty-five years of experience on the Erie Canal and Barge Canal System and interviews with other former boatmen make up a history of the old canal days of upper New York State.

222 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1920

Reviews

[Kristi · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great glimpse into history of a life lived on the canals, in particular the Erie and Barge Canals, of New York State authored by a man who lived it.

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating window into canal life in New York State in the early to mid-twentieth century. Many anecdotes from the author's childhood, teens, and young adult life that illuminate the workings of and life on the old Erie Canal, and sharp observations of his environs as he and his family travelled back and forth on the canal and its connected waterways. Interesting info about the period of construction of the NYS Barge Canal and the period when the old Erie Canal was retired in favor of the re-routed Barge Canal.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An extremely interesting life story by Richard Garrity, a canal/Great Lakes boatman/engineer, which demystifies the life of the string of cities along the Hudson and Canal - Albany, Troy, Schenectady, Utica, Rome, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo. I had no idea all these cities were extensively involved in shipping - or were on the Canal (although I knew Albany and Buffalo were the termini of the Canal). The book explains how the locks on the Canal worked, and gives technical details on the various barges used, as well as the later enlarged Barge Canal. The barges would go day and night with the 2 crews working 6 hours on 6 hours off. The canal system is still kept up by NYS, even though the age of rail led to drastic fall-off in shipping, and then the advent of the St. Lawrence Seaway in 1959 made shipping through NYS to/from the E. Seaboard/Europe to the Great Lakes less practical, and business fell off even more. However, there was still plenty of work around Buffalo, where the author was based and around the Great Lakes, which connect many industrial centers and agricultural areas in Canada and the US. It is still practical to ship large volumes of grain, sand, and at one time coal, gravel, iron ore, and so forth, via barge or other boat, rather than by rail or truck - also, there are oversize items that cannot be shipped on anything but barges. I thought this was a great book because of the matter-of-fact objective way the author reported on all he experienced from the turn of the 20th C up until 1970, working on his dad's canal boats at first, and then on tugs, and Great Lakes steamers. He was also crew on board vessels that sailed to Lake Champlain and Seneca Lake, going through very scenic areas. He survived the Depression, supporting a family including several children, although he was perpetually in debt. It was many years before he had enough money to even take a brief vacation - to Chautauqua Lake in NY. A treat was breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, and coffee - for 25 cents. This is a very interesting account of a tough survivor - despite many different situations on the Canal barges powered at first by mules and later by steam and still later by diesel, and on various Great Lakes vessels, as well as working in industrial plants in Buffalo such as a paper mill; quitting, getting fired, being laid off, jobs ending, others starting, shoveling coal and ashes, working on engines, unloading lumber, all sorts of jobs, continual issues and problems that might crop up, despite all that fate threw his way, he had a very interesting life. I definitely recommend this book to anyone who may wish to find out about the busy commercial life on and along the Canal in Upstate NY, until the age of rail, and later highways, made that life mostly a memory.