Chenango Canal
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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[1].
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The canal was first proposed in the New York Legislature in 1824 [2] 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. The excavation was largely done by Irish immigrant laborers, using pick and shovel, who were paid $1 per day. 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, and reduced the cost of shipping goods dramatically. It was intended to connect Binghamton and surrounding communities, by water route, to the port of New York City and to the Great Lakes States. The northern terminus was in Utica at the Erie Canal, the southern terminus was in Binghamton at a turning basin near present-day State and Susquehanna Streets. State Street was built on the path of the canal in 1872. A southern extension was the Vestal Canal which continued west along the south side of the Susquehanna River. The present-day villages of Port Dickinson and Port Crane owe their origins and names to being stops on the route. 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 never a financial success, and was sold off piece-by-piece and largely filled in. Portions of the old channel, stone aqueducts, locks, and other structures remain in place along its route, and are most easily visible at Chenango Valley State Park.
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