ONCE UPON THE ERIE CANAL ERIE CANAL CONSTRUCTION & HISTORY DOCUMENTARY MD52004
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Directed by Elton Robertson and produced by students at Syracuse University, this brief history of the Erie Canal draws on historical photographs, art and etchings to tell its story. It was made for the Canal Museum of Syracuse, now known as the Erie Canal Museum.
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We sang the 'Erie Canal' song in grade school in the late 1950's.
Likewise in East Cleveland, Ohio. But my children and grandchildren (west of the Mississippi) had no concept or patience to listen to it.
@Rick Boyd Yes, we did. Then we had a moment of prayer. This was public school life in the 1960's.
We also had nuclear attack drills every week, duck and cover!
Our fifth grade social studies class in Iowa in the later Fifties had some references to the Erie Canal--pretty superficial stuff, if I remember rightly.. We also sang about how the "Ee-ry-ee is arisin'" as well as "Buffalo Gals". Nobody at the time thought it odd for us to be focusing on drunken Irish laborers lamenting the lack of enough whisky on the job, and their lustful eagerness to engage whores when they got to Buffalo.
@@greggi47 , Buffalo Gals, won't you come out tonight, come out tonight, come out tonight/ Buffalo Gals won't you come out tonight, and dance by the light of the moon .......pretty little girl with a red dress on, a red dress on, a red dress on, pretty little girl with a red dress on, who do you think you are?...."
Yeah we did it unless 60s and early seventies
These videos remind me of those days in elementary school when you walked into class and saw that old school movie projector on the cart with wheels.. if it was after recess or gym class we would be able to catch a 20-30 minute nap
Nah, I didn’t sleep, that was the best 20-30 minutes of the day, seeing something new and different…said this guying watching CZcams the same way 😀
@@davidcarroll8735 Me too!
@@davidcarroll8735 exactly and there's one film that really stuck with me. My 6th grade English teacher met her husband stationed in West Germany but he defected to the west and one of the few things he brought was a few reels of film. He was nice enough to share and one was of a family trip across Europe to Bulgaria in the early 80s. They took their little Trabant and towed a tiny trailer full of camping gear. When they got tired they camped just off by the road with other families. Anyway the trip ended in place called Nessebar in Bulgaria just south of Varna where I now live with my wife and 2 kids that are dual citizens. Ironically my in laws had a Trabant too. 😆
@@southjerseysound7340 that is very cool, thx!
Oh yeah man I remember those days.
1:17 “Come and sit next to a stranger under a bridge. It’s story time.” Lol 😂
Such innocent times.....
Yea very creepy when he asks kid to come down not nowadays
That was the first thing I thought of also. When I was a kid about the same age as the one in the film(about 1970) it was still much like that, not for much longer though. Don't know when the film was made, 50's or 60's Ima thinkin. Our parents were just starting to warn us about being careful around "strangers".
Thanks to the efforts of the non-profit Parks and Trails New York, much of this old man's dream has come true and thanks to Periscope Films for finding and posting this video!
Buffalonian here. This was VERY interesting & informative.
Thank you for these classic videos. Better Times for sure . Im 63 🇺🇸
Its always cool to see an old time documentary about a small thing in your home state
I remember watching this in elementary school in the early 80's. Wow
My father's ancestors became canal builders after working on the construction of the Erie Canal. They lived near the start of the canal where they built boats, Constanoga wagons and buildings so did any carpentry work while building the locks, barges and bridges and buildings along the way. They went on to build canals in Ohio and Indiana before going up by Detroit to build a proposed canal there. That project got cancelled so they stayed there building boats, transport wagons and railroad cars. My father's grandfather grew tired of that so relocated with his family to a little growing town next to Chicago in Indiana called Hammond. There he built cabinets and installed trim in the new housing and commercial buildings for the next 40 years. His father decided more income could be earned as a steam locomotive mechanic with my dad deciding to become an union industrial electrician specializing in constructing and maintaining transformer stations since he wouldn't be working at one location for any length of time.
It amazes me that this canal was operative for 100 years! Dang, if we could only get our interstates to go 20 years without repair I would be a happy motorist.
What makes you think the canal got by without continual maintenance?
@GrislyAtoms12
The Erie canal paid for itself within one year of operation. (It was built 1817-1825)
Within a few years the canal was being upgraded (aqueducts for the canal boats over rivers, etc.) Within 10 years
the locks were being widened and the canal being dug deeper, wider. By 1903-1918 the Erie canal had a complete refurbishment. At this point the barges were motorized and new channels were built.
For awhile the Erie canal was part of the "Barge Canal (System)" Now the canal system is called the "NY State Canal
System" and the individual canals are again being called by their original names.
I grew up with the lyric "fifteen miles on the Erie Canal". This film has "fifteen years", which makes more sense and is much sadder.
I had the same memory. Maybe they was jus' messin' with us! :)
I had a record with this song on it, and it was "15 miles".
I learned the song from an album of patriotic and historical American songs. The producers certainly bowdlerized some of the other songs' lyrics, such as those of "Sweet Betsy from Pike": maybe they thought that making Sal walk up and down the tow-path for fifteen years sounded too mean.
Tranquil pleasant quaint rustic many uses opportunities past present..its fitting at end of film elder passes gate keyed wisdom story of thee ERIE CANAL. thanks for posting
Lock 8 of the Erie Canal passes right in front of where I live.
I read that title as a line from a piece by Edgar Allen Poe.
“Once upon the Erie Canal,
Came the sounds of something banal,
Rooks and crows flew by the score,
Quoth the raven, “Nevermore!”
Best comment!
@@Manic_Drone_Idiom Thank you!
@Rick Boyd pluck the Raven nevermore
Means don't pull feathers out of a Ravens backside.... Lol
@@goplayintraffic6180 but it doesn’t say “pluck the raven never more”?
I grew up around here. Cool to see how it used to look
By the way, thank you for uploading. Keep them coming. Enjoy your week.
So interesting !
The start of the canal......the beautiful city of Troy,NY,at the time was America’s third most industrialized city.
Very interesting
I was hoping to watch the construction of the canal
The Erie Canal is ancient, Clinton just modified it. The megalithic sections show this.
Nice vid
That was neat, really enjoyed that.
"Come down here boy, to catch a big fish underneath this here bridge."
stranger danger alert!
This film could use the MST3K treatment!
I live in Rochester, about 2/3 from Albany to Buffalo.
And I remember every word to the Erie Canal song, and there were other verses not sung on the film.
Yep sang it 1952 Henrietta schools
Got several sections of it down south ,near where I live
I lived in the Great Lakes area. I just found out that there was a canal a few years ago.
I got the worst ear infection in my life from swimming in the nasty Erie canal. There was a reason it was called scum jumping
What year was this? Has the water quality improved in that section of the canal since then ?
All that sacrifice, then abandoned, now people bicycle next to it, or in it: at least here in northern Ohio. Some canals on have been amazingly maintained, or even improved.
My father's side of the family tree were carpenters helped to build the Erie Canal. They built the locks, buildings and barges. Once it was done they continued building canals in Ohio and Indiana. They went up by Detroit to build one but the project was cancelled so they stayed there building boats, transport wagons and railroad cars and coaches.
@@billwilson3609 hard to play in the mud, Clay, sandstone, bridges that hold water, doors that hold by the nature of being pushed shut by the water itslef: mosquitos killing so many yellow fever, occasionally dysentery, night time you sleep next to your work or in a tent with other stinky fellas, didn't get paid but good thing you are in the middle of the woods - nothing to buy.
Thank you so much for the sacrifices. I love the portions still being used, from pedestrians, bicycles, wagons, horses, boats....it is still awesome. Thank you.
@@JimKJeffries From what I was told, they worked as a subcontractor on the project so probably lived comfortably and ate well.
@@billwilson3609 beautiful to hear sir.
@@JimKJeffries I don't think Yellow Fever was really an issue on the Erie Canal. Too far north. The primary mosquito vector for that disease only can live in the tropics. There are some cases of Yellow Fever breaking out briefly in the summer in some northern coastal cities (when ships brought mosquitos), but these were always limited by the weather.
Everything looks ancient. Like it was dug out and reparied.
Dope! Thank you!
The soundtrack did remind me of the Witcher 3, or maybe Elder Scrolls Oblivion.
@@bugman2333 that feel when I can’t afford either of those games but I live near Erie Canal lol
@@bugman2333 I love the soundtrack cuz of nostalgia feels; imagine how diff life was even just back then. So cool to me
Sure Jimmy,...hang out with the old man under the viaduct.
Times have changed.
Sometimes for the better.
was thinking the same thing. "hey kid come over here off the beaten path I wanna show you something"
Or maybe for the worse. In those days if someone did something like that they most likely would get a death sentence and it would be carried out within about 3 months of the crime. Now we laud vultures like that and give them prizes, and no kid is safe in his own back yard.
We would never see this sort of construction today. Too many screaming environuts, and 500 years of Environmental Impact twaddle.
Should put AOC in bottom of canal
Bull-puckey. The Erie canal was first proposed in the 1780's but cheapskates in Congress, people with no vision and unable to see past the ends of their noses, argued against spending the money *for decades* ---- sound familiar ? ---- and so it wasn't until 1809 that a commissioner was appointed and construction didn't begin until 1817. It was the fledgling US's first major infrastructure project. and it paid for itself in ten years. Although not used much for shipping nowadays, it still adds value to local economies as a recreational waterway, except perhaps in areas where industrial pollution still lingers, put there by greedy, shortsighted capitalists who used the canal as a sewer, because it was a cheap way to dispose of their messes, and because they could.
@@davidmiller6981 Can't. Pollution and environmental regs.
@@Sennmut YuckYuck!!!!😇😇
@@davidmiller6981 Thank-you. I guess.
I didn't know Pee-wee Herman got his start in this that poor kid
😂That was my first thought too! Guess that was Captain Carl there with him.
...all too soon the railroad put the canals out of business
Not really. There is a lot of traffic on the Erie Canal today. They’re carrying different cargo, and are there for different reasons. But, a fair amount of traffic.
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
And the Fords and Rockefellers (auto and oil) put the railroads out of business. 3rd world countries have high speed rail nowadays.
@@davidburke2697
I think that you’re re partly right. Other variables were at work too.. Firestones were in there too. Them, coupled with Fords, put bus companies out of business too. Another variable was the blatantly arrogance of railroads. They thought that they could do any darned thing they wanted to, and America had to accept it. They continued to think that way as the trucking industry kept getting the freight carrying business away from them, because trucking was a bit more customer oriented. Kind of a shame, because shipping by rail is cheaper than by road, but railroads were too bullheaded and arrogant to change.
Today, I don’t care how fast or slow a train is, I won’t wait around for a train to come pick me up. They don’t go WHERE I want to go. They don’t GO WHEN I want to go. And they don’t transport me around when I get there, nor when I’m back home again. IE: railroads simply don’t fill any of my transportation needs. And, most Americans seem to think similarly.
Courtesy of Half Vast Flying
@@davidburke2697 ...the railroads were kings of people movers until just post WWII when the economy took off and the auto became even more ubiquitous than it had been during the pre-war era andair travel became popular...the trains persisted to the 60s but their days were coming to an end as passenger movers...when I was n Germany (Nov '71 - Jul '74) I rode their superb train system everywhere...Benzine (gas) is expensive and sold by the litre...until ca 1973 gas was cheap (relative to today's prices) yet the treehugging luddites refuse to sanction high speed rail service between population centers
@@jackvoss175 Modern America was built around the car, so, trains don't work. I've been to maybe 25 or 30 countries and I never needed a car in any of them. I've been in China for almost 10 years and I don't have a car. I don't need one. A bus ride costs 30 or 35 cents. Subway and light rail costs the same. Taxis cost $1.50 to 2.50 depending on distance. No tips. In America, I bet I drove a million miles alone. In China, I never travel alone and I prefer that as I meet many people in transit. The high speed trains between cities here are affordable, very efficient and fun.
2 NPCs interacting.
That boy is lucky to get away from there alive.
What a troll !
@@welshpete12 - I know. right?
...ooops - meant for FB...
I live right along the original Clinton’s ditch
Hand build by our finest president. Joe Biden
@@TugIronChief Bigly!
Republicans have to make stupid political comments on unrelated videos .
@@TugIronChief phuk tRump?
@@TugIronChief who cares ?
@@TugIronChief Cry lil' con...buwhahaha
R v invention!
Motorhome
Somebody is bad at edits
Films would commonly break and teachers would have to fix them, snipping out a couple frames. All school movies were like this.
But it's all water under the bridge now ain't it...
i fell asleep
I call bullshit