Published: June 27, 2008 01:03 pm            

ERIE CANAL DISCOVERY: Hurry-up boat

There was one boat that had priority over all other boats on the Erie Canal, even the packet boats, in the same way that a fire engine had priority on land. It was a craft called the “hurry-up boat,” and it was just that, an emergency boat that was dispatched to the scene of any break in the canal wall to make emergency repairs that would stop the flow of water out of the ditch.

One of the most difficult phases of canal construction was the building of channels that would hold water. Where the soil was porous, it might leak for three years or more after it was built, even though a thick layer of clay, called “puddle,” was applied to its sidewalls. After a period of seasoning, it could be expected to harden enough to contain the water successfully. A continuous lookout to guard against breaks in the walls had to be maintained along the entire length of the canal by watchmen, called “towpath walkers.” Whenever they spotted a break or leak, if it were serious enough, a call would go out for the hurry-up boat.

The rush of a hurry-up boat to the scene of a break was a matter of great excitement. The horses towing the boat were allowed to gallop full speed to the spot, and the boat itself stirred up such strong waves that all other boats on the canal had to lay to for a quarter of an hour before they could resume their journeys. The men on the emergency boat were expert in patching leaks, but time often was an important factor in preventing a major disaster, one that might lower the water level of a canal section to the extent that boats would be unable to travel or, worse, might even be “mudlarked”-stuck in the mud of the canal bottom.

The walls of the canal were terribly damage prone. Erosion of the sides was a natural, weakening process that had to be fought all the time. Waves caused by speeding boats were another major contributor to the deterioration of the channel. But perhaps the most persistent enemy was the happy little muskrat. A single industrious muskrat could bring boat traffic on the canal to a complete halt simply by digging a hole in the sidewall in a critical place. Rewards for the capture of muskrats, dead or alive, were offered by the Canal Commission. If that sounds cruel, consider that in 1872 it was estimated that muskrats were doing $50,000 damage to the canal each year. Sometimes, to be sure, the muskrats were not the only guilty party-eels, moles, minks, and even crawfish were considered enemies of the canal.

The following story is a case in point and is reprinted from the NY Tribune of 1864. “A very serious breach occurred in the Erie Canal yesterday afternoon at what is known as the Oxbow Bend, in the Town of Perinton, twelve miles east of this city by water and a mile or more west of Fairport. At this point there is a heavy embankment on which the towpath is laid. On the berm-side there was a space of wide water, extending to the old canal. A muskrat probably bored a hole through the bank under the towing path, about six feet from the top and thus caused the disaster. The leak was seen by a man when it was small, but he could do nothing to avert the mischief. The sand washed away very fast, and in two hours the level was very low. The water rushed out in a torrent upon the flat below, submerging the land. About fifty thousand square yards of earth were washed out of the canal bank. There are seventeen miles of water on the level where this occurred.”

Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. Contact him at 434-7433. The Discovery Center is open for the season.

        

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