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Satellite, 343 photos)
Much of the embankment is covered by trees, but here we see part of it.
Erie Canal Museum
posted three images with the comment:
For this week’s #WhereIsItWednesday, we are featuring the Great Embankment which carries the Canal over Irondequoit Creek in Pittsford.
The Great Embankment was the brainchild of James Geddes. The Irondequoit Creek runs through a narrow valley, just east of Rochester in Pittsford. This valley’s low point was more than forty feet below the upper rims, and the upper rims of the valley were about a mile apart. Geddes, having to find a way to build the canal through this section of terrain, came up with the plan to fill in this valley by building a huge embankment with the Irondequoit Creek flowing through a culvert at the base of the valley.
But there were many challenges with this plan. The soil in the area was too crumbly to support the massive weight of the embankment. There was also quicksand present in the valley, again presenting a challenge in supporting this embankment. The engineers were forced to bring in dirt from further away and put over 900 20-foot pilings into the ground to create the necessary earthen support for the project.
Ultimately, the Great Embankment was successful, created with primarily immigrant labor, and built in its entirety in 1822. The Great Embankment also created a special effect for original travelers on the Erie Canal because of the high elevation which allowed for a view over the valley. Additionally, when the Marquis de Lafayette traveled the route of the Canal in 1824, he was reportedly amazed that the canal “pursued an aerial route.” But there have been two breaches– the first in 1912, during the construction of Barge Canal, requiring extensive repairs and clean up; and the second in 1974, when the culvert at the bottom of the embankment broke open, causing flooding.
[According to some comments, the
Brook Hollow area got flooded by the 1974 breach.]
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Old canal.
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| 1900/00 Macedon Quad @ 62,500 |
New Canal. Ketchum Road is now Marsh Road.
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| 1952/54 Fairport Quad @ 24,000 |
A 50/50 mix of the above two maps is rather busy, but you can at least compare the two blue lines for the canals.
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| A 50/50 mix of the two topo maps |
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