The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1899-01-28

travel in the interior, being patronized by
country merchants and the well-to-do
farming folk, while young people celebrat-
ed holiday with trip TO some neighbor-
| ing town, enjoying the music which was
waited on the breeze as the boat glided
smoothly along, or keeping time with its
rhythmic strains by an inpromptu dance
on the deck.
Travel upon the canal in those early days
was not without its dangers. Old canalers
! tell story, the scene of which is laid
near Rome, where the route was built
/ through dismal swamp. Upon dark
night a boy who was driving a horse along
/ the towpath was seized by q panther.
dragged into the forest and devoured, while
| the horse jumped into the canal.
The recital of this story is said to have
! so terrified the canal drivers that it was al
most impossible to persuade one to drive
/ through rhe swamp after dark, and many
4 boy is said to have run off and left his
| team through fear of a lurking panther.
The danger of accident also threatened
! travellers. Originally the canal was car
| ried through all the principal intersecting
creeks by the creation of dams sufficiently
high to keep the canal at its usual depth.
In the springtime freshets were of fire.
quent occurrence, and at times dams were
washed away, carrying down packets lad
en- with passengers or scows loaded with
freight
One night in May a gay party Of twenty
five, half of whom were women and chill
dren, were journeying form Utica to Sche-
nectady. The water was high and the
current strong, when their boat. the Hud-
son broke its tow rope and drifted, stern
first, upon the dam at Schoharie Creek.
The current swung the boat around broad
side to the stream and forced II over the
dam into the creek, ST or seven feet be-
low. Some OF the passengers were thrown
into the water and were rescued in canoe
when they were nearly exhausted. Several
lost their baggage and considerable sums
of money. The windows of the boat were
smashed and the furniture broken.
No wonder that friends on shore wept
sad farewells to those who stood on deck,
as they hoated down the water towards
Albany. And the week that would elapse
before the return Of the traveller was
fraught with fearful suspense, while the
stories told upon the return, of adventures
on water and in the wicked city Of AL
bany," rivaled those tales of Paris and the
briny deep that meet our ear today
The canalboat of today Is much the same
craft as that of fifty years ago-an "elong-
ated tub" The present style has not been
improved for upward of thirty years. ex
dept in few cases, where steam has been
introduced The packets disappeared when
the railroad was built The present boats
o< l,a1. oe
grain, equal to 24O tons. The boat is load
ed to six feet in depth, and as there are
only seven feet of water in the canal, there
is but one foot of water beneath loaded
boat
There are about 1890 boats navigating
the Erie Canal OF which LIT carry grain.
The others bear lumber, coalan coarse
freight. The great majority of these boats
are old and rotten, and only require a
slight accident 10 sink them. A boat lad
en- with rye went down recently. Upon
being raised it was discovered that its bot
tom was not over an inch thick in many
places.
In the past ten years few new boats
have been built. Excepting the few boats
propelled by steam, all others are drawn
by mules or horses. In the latter method
practically no improvement has been
shown. The average canalboat costs ST.,
500, and 90 per cent Of them are owned by
individual boatmen, who, on board with
their families, lead a migratory existence
between New York and Buffalo. One boat
will make seven or eight trips per season
but the profit derived therefrom has, in
recent years, been exceedingly small. The
prices for carrying cargoes have been 80
low that boatmen have been able only to
eubsist.
The antiquated methods of transporta-
ton on the canals, the rotten and worm
eaten transports. the lamentable condition
OF the canal affairs generally, have been
subjects for wailing. loud and long, in the
reports of recent canal urSintendents.
The Erie Canal IS closed in the winter
yearly between the months of December
and April. During this time there is no
water in the narrow channel, and the soft
mud on the bottom is usually frozen hard.
The canal boats during this interval of in
activity seek Ravens in New York, Albany
and Buffalo. In New York harbor, the
Erie Basin frequently affords a winters
berth for 800 canal boats. Most OF the
canal mules and horses are wintered on
farms in the interior, the farmers receiv-
ing s. a month and the use of the animals
for keeping them on hay and straw.
With the single exception of lock length
enng and the ordinary repairs, no con-
siderable improvements or extensions have
been made to the canals since 1886. This
fact. and the great advances made in rail-
reading. is largely responsible for the de-
cline Of traffic. The thirty-ton freight en-
CINE has been replaced by the seventy-ton
engine Freight trains of fifteen or TWEEN
ty cars have been succeeded by trains of
over fifty cars. The twenty-ton car has
replaced the ten-ton car. Curves have
been Strengthened and grades have been
lowered. Air brakes have been supplied.
and every appliance that would assist in
increasing cargoes and attaining speed has
been utilized by the railroads. The canal
has also suffered seriously from the ex-
orbitant terminal charges in the harbors
OF the cities OF Buffalo and New York
During the season OF 1877 the total num-
Der of tons OF freight carried upon the ca
mails in he State was 3.sIs.So4. In 1885 it
was $500. 314. being the smallest since 1857,
when the number was 2.S440sl tons.
The railroads can deliver grain at New
York from Buffalo in three or four DAYS
while by the canal from twelve % fifteen
days are required. The advantage OF a
more rapid delivery of cargoes generally
i OF great benefit to receiver. Besides. a
slight increase in railway rates can be az
forded. and the railroads san get the pref
arar~s IN CARVING the ra-rn This = -bn