The New York State Barge Canal System is 524 miles long of which 348 miles is within the Erie Barge Canal. Although water depths vary, the depth of the water in the Lockport section is approximately 8 - 12 feet. The Lockport Locks Nos. 34 and 35 would accommodate a barge up to 43.5 feet wide, 15 feet high and lift them 49 feet vertically.
In 1825, when the Erie Canal was opened, a single horse or mule would tow a boat. Teams of horses or mules were later used when the canal was enlarged to accommodate larger vessels.
The boats would often carry two shifts of animals and crew who would rotate for six hour work periods. Work was sometimes hazardous - especially at night or when the towpath was slippery - since the towpath was often high above the water with no safety rail being possible due to the tow lines needed. Animals and riders were lost by falling off the towpath into the water - especially in walled sections of the canal or where no "horse holes" or areas to be helped up the steep banks or walls were present.
Strong winds could hold an empty boat against the bank or wall and make towing impossible and sinking boats would slow down other traffic. Sinking boats that were top-heavy would often capsize and dump their cargo; others went down cargo and all; grain boats would swell up and necessitate the use of dynamite and dredging. Concrete barges were tried experimentally, but minor accidents created holes or cracks that were difficult to mend and they sank decisively. Salvage, pumping, dredging and towing to drydocks were critical operations to maintain the flow of traffic.
Commercial enterprises were present along the canal with stores and shops built as close to the towpath as possible. Farmers with produce stands, grocers, and other merchants selling goods and supplies all contended for the potential business offered by passing vessels.
Although the commercial traffic has passed its prime on the canal, recreational use of the waterway is estimated at 55,000 pleasure craft per year, and the towpath provides many miles of hiking or bicycling potential. The "widewaters" in the canal - previously used as a boat turnaround - has provided areas for marinas in Lockport and other cities and villages. Much of the adjacent land along the canal offers pleasant use as park and greenspace for leisure activities.
(Waterways & Vessels) Includes location, directions, 13 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Founded in 1833 as the weekly Michigan Statesman and St. Joseph Chronicle, this newspaper, edited by Henry Gilbert, followed the United States Land Office when it moved from White Pigeon to Kalamazoo in 1835. It first appeared as the Kalamazoo Gazette on January 23, 1837. On March 26, 1872, under Andrew J. Shakespeare, it became a daily publication. In 1925 the Gazette moved to its present location. It celebrated its 150th anniversary of publication in 1987, the year of the Michigan Sesquicentennial.
The old Coach Road ran from Oshkosh to Stevens Point and connected the towns of Rural and Amherst.
Plainwell, formerly know as Plainfield, became an incorporated municipality in 1869, and later became designated as a city on March 12, 1934. The community is nestled along the banks of the Kalamazoo River and the Mill Race giving it the unique distinction of “The Island City”. Main Street in Plainwell, also known as 10th Street or Old US-131, at one time was part of the Old Plank Road that extended from Grand Rapids to Kalamazoo.
The massive pebbly Connoquenessing Sandstone, one of the “Salt Sands”of the driller, forms Coopers Rock. The “Salt Sands” produce oil and natural gas in West Virginia and commercial brines on the Kanawha and Ohio Rivers.
Revolutionary Soldier 1780–81. First white child born in West Virginia. Son of Frederick Ice, who hewed these millstones from the adjacent hill, installed them on Buffalo Creek, Barrackville W. Va. in the mill operated by his descendants for 135 years.
(preface)
Medal of Honor
The Jubilee Springs began supplying water to the village of Black Rock in 1827. Wooden water mains fed pumps at various locations throughout the village. Today the spring supplies water to a small pond in Forest Lawn Cemetery. Black Rock Heritage Trail - 2011.
Originally planned as a coeducational philanthropic school for white children, and financed by Christopher R. Robert, who founded Robert College in Constantinople and gave liberally to Hamilton College and Auburn Theological Seminary. It was founded here in 1866. Buildings were first used as a hospital for Federal officers. It discontinued in 1872.
In the 1870's the Village of Shelbyville was created by the arrival of the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad. Shelbyville was named after the first railroad station agent, Mr. Shelby. Since there was already a Michigan town named Shelby, the “ville” was added to his name. Shelbyville was one of the largest shipping points between Kalamazoo and Grand Rapids. Just south of the depot were livestock yards, where droves of cattle, hogs and sheep came for shipment.
The oldest denomination of Christians west of the mountains on the Waters of the Cheat and Monongahela Rivers in the Commonwealth of Virginia (now West Virginia).
Settled in 1831 by the Hull Sherwood and Giles Scott families of Rochester, New York, the Pine Creek area was first called “New Rochester.” Allegan County’s first grist mill was constructed here in 1834, attracting customers from miles around, and the area’s first bridge across the Kalamazoo River was built the following year. The town site was quickly overshadowed by nearby Otsego, and the idea of New Rochester as an important center never happened. It instead became known generally as Pine Creek and with its hotel named the Pine Creek House, a couple of blacksmith shops and a three-story grist mill, the area largely served farmers and their families living west of Otsego.
