The Black River Canal was a 35 Mile canal that went from the
Erie Canal in Rome to Lyons Falls. The lower part of the canal still functions as a feeder canal to the Barge Canal. The canal left Rome following the headwaters of the Mohawk River. The summit was in Boonesville. where it started following the Black River north. At Lyons Falls, boats could continue 42 miles on the Black River to reach Carthage. The Black River drains into Lake Ontario. It was authorized in 1836 as a navigable feeder canal because construction had begun on the Enlarged Erie Canal, and it needed more water. So the canal was used to divert water from the Black River to the Erie Canal. By 1851, boats were using the canal. The canal survived the 1877 abandonment of most lateral canals because of its importance as a feeder canal. Because the quarries that supplied material for the construction of the Delta Dam were north of Booneville, "the locks north of Boonville were refurbished once again in the hopes that the canal would be used up through the Black River and Carthage and the canal remained in a navigable condition into the 1920s. And yet, only eighty-four boats left Boonville for Rome in 1921, three in 1922, and none in 1923. The canal was un-officially abandoned by disuse." "An interesting footnote of BRC history was the close examination of the
Morris Canal’s (New Jersey) inclined planes to replace the need for the great number of locks that were proposed along the canal. In all, the BRC was to use 109 locks over the thirty-five miles between Rome and Lyons Falls, which means about four locks per mile. In contrast, the Erie Canal used eighty-three locks along it’s 363 miles between Albany and Buffalo." (Delta Dam's reservoir engulfed Locks #7-#13.) Since the canal was abandoned after the railroads and roads in the area was built, many of the remnants are still visible compared to other 1800s canals. [
AmericanCanalSociety]
"Built in the mid-19th century, the canal holds the record for the most locks along the shortest distance – 109 across 35 miles....The Forestport Feeder to Boonville was completed in 1848 after 10 years of construction, from which point it could be said that the headwaters of the Erie flowed from the Adirondacks. The first boat to climb the 70 locks and 693 feet from Rome arrived in Booneville in 1850. The rest of the canal, 386 feet down to Lyons Falls was completed in 1855. From there, barges were towed to and from Carthage along the Black River. Plans to extend the waterway to Lake Ontario or the St. Lawrence River never came to fruition." [
AdirondakExplorer] (That is 3.1 locks per mile.)
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BlockRiverCanalMuseum
"Timber, sawn lumber, and other wood products (pulp wood, firewood, shingles) were by far the most important commodities shipped on the canal, accounting for more than 90 per cent of the tonnage in the early years. In 1866, 29,000,000 board feet of lumber, 135,000 cubic feet of timber, and 10,000 cords of wood were shipped on the canal, destined primarily for Capital region, the Hudson Valley, and New York City." Farming developed on the cleared land, but farm products never generated the volume of freight that the timber industry provided. "Cheese and butter were shipped on the canal, as
were wheat, rye, maize, and root vegetables. Over time, potatoes became the dominant export crop....The principal reason for the decline in canal business, however, was the fact that the region’s vast forests had been largely cleared.
By 1892, when 2.8 million acres were set aside for the Adirondack Park , at least two-thirds of the area had been logged at least
once. Timber--the mainstay of the canal--was no longer present in quantities large enough to sustain the canal as a viable
enterprise. Although logging remained an important industry, the emphasis shifted to the local manufacture of furniture and
paper products." |
Several trails have been built along the canal.
The 10-mile feeder canal and the Black River Canal south of Boonville still has water because it now feeds water to the
New York State Barge Canal. The water is diverted from the canal into Lansing Kill, which dumps into the Mohawk River. It appears the diversion is at
Hidden Falls.
The canal is dry south of Hidden Falls, but I don't see much water in Lansing Kill.
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| Google Earth, Dec 2005 |
The Lansing Kill River has carved an impressive gorge further downstream.
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| 1904/04 Boonville Quad @ 62,500 |
I copied the GPS coordinates because I did not want to risk the link breaking.
Features that I have noted so far from south to north
