Erie Canal (Lockport, New York)

Our next stop as we moved through July 2018, was Lockport, New York. This town grew from the banks of the Erie Canal, and is located in the center of Niagara County, about 18 miles east of Niagara Falls and the Canadian border. We set down for two weeks in Lockport, a little longer than our previous stops, and a nice respite from the faster pace we’d been traveling. While we were here, we took a boat tour of the Erie canal.

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal, fifteen miles on the Erie Canal… low bridge, everybody down…

If you know this song, you’re probably singing it in your head right now, and if you know the history of the song, you know it’s connected to the construction of the Erie Canal, the 363-mile waterway between the Hudson River, Niagara River and the Great Lakes. Built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, it was the second largest canal in the world (after the Grand Canal in China) when completed in 1825.

Our cruise took us through the portion of the canal that runs through Lockport, where we experienced our boat rising 50 feet as three million gallons of water filled Locks 34 & 35. When the water in the locks was at the appropriate level, our boat was allowed to pass through. During our cruise we passed under several bridges, and saw  many historical buildings along the banks as our captain chronicled the construction of the canal and a history of the area.

As for the song, the mule named Sal, the fifteen miles and the low bridge? Mules were one of the methods used in the 1800’s to haul boats through the canal; one canal worker’s work mule was named Sal; one version of the song alludes to the average distance a mule would tow a barge – 15 miles – before resting or being relieved by another mule; travelers who would typically ride on top of the boats would have to duck under low bridges to allow safe passage.