Evening journal., 1897-10-23
1RAvEL eY CANAL PAoker.
Luxurious Journeying before the
Days of Palace Cars.

Luxurious JOurncyinE before the
Days of Palace Cars.
Sitting in the shade of his curious
little shanty at lock 65, reporter one
afternoon recently found Daniel Hib- |
bard, the oldest lock tender, ia point of
service, in the state. Every canal man
who has been on the ditch any length
of time knows "Dan" Hibbard, as the
veteran is affectionately and generally
known.
"Yes, I'm Dan Hibbard," declared the
gray-haired man, laying aside his pipe
as the newspaper man made isinquiry.
"Oldest lock tender? Well, yes-oldest
In service. There are few men older
in years than be, butnone of them has
served 40 years at n post of this kind.
But I've been servin' on the canal for
80 years altogether, for Ileftmy fathers
farm when was l6 and drove team of
horses on the ditch. 1 was mighty glad
to get away from the tolls of the farm
and thought it was fun driving horses
for $12 month and board on the boat"
Before his long term as lock tender
began Hibbard saw little packet-boat
life.
"Riding on board n packet was
luxury, too, can tell you" recalled Mr..
Hibbard. "None of these Wagners or
Pullmans were finer for downright
comfort, and for sociability of the pns-
sengers I never saw anything that sur
passed a packet. People became thor
oughly acquainted, for sometimes they
were together for several days. The
passengers slept and ate on the boat.
and the service was always good. There
were four lines running in those days.
There was a line from Buffalo to Roches-
ter, another from Rochester to Syracuse,
another from Syracuse to Utica, and the
fourth was from Utica to Schenectady.
There was no packet line from Schenec-
tady to Albany, for two reasons. The
first was that too much time had 20 be
consumed in passing the nine locks at
Schenectady, and the second reason
was that there were but few towns Of
any importance along the line. Stage
coaches ran through the country, of
course, so that Albany was not entirely
isolated from the rest of the world
every day a boat used TO leave from
Rochester in the morning and every
night there would be another. The
horses would go on trot so that pret-
ty good time was made. The boat
that left Rochester in the morning
would get in Buffalo the same night,
and the boat that left at night would
reach its destination the following
morning. The day boats served meals
while the night boats were provided
with sleeping accommodations. One
hundred and fifty persons could be
well taken care of at night.
'The meals were good, and the boat
captains used to buy fruit cheap from
the farmers. Peaches were 25 cents q
bushel and plums and apples were
worth barely anything. There were g
barber shop and bar on board. Every
thing at the bar was three cents excep
brandy; that was sixpence. Most Of tn,
passengers on the day boats would rid,
on deck TO see the beautiful country
through which the canal passed.
1.-The ride from Rochester to Buffalo
was especially enjoyable on account ot
the great sandstone quarries at Medina
and the fine sight of the big locks a
LoclSport. There the boats had to over
come an elevation Of 200 feet. The roal
of the water used 70 frighten timid pas
sengers. The fare was three cents
mile with board on the boat and also
berth. Thus in two days a persor
could make the journey from Science
tady TO Buffalo and have a fine time OF
the way.
Sometimes we had trouble, especial
ly at the locks. There were single lock-
altogether then, and the boat that ar
rived locked through, save whei
there were packet boats, and these wer
supposed to have the right Of way. One
in awhile the men on the packet boa
would have to fight for the lock, an,
then there would be high old time.
remember a fellow called Sleepy Jim,
who used TO travel simply for the op
portunity to fight. The packet boat
generally won out, however. r."-Roches
ter. Post E,rnreee