Dewitt Clinton News

Brian U. Stratton was appointed Director of the New York State Canal Corporation in April 2011, to oversee the operation and development of New York’s 524-mile Canal System, including the historic Erie Canal. The canal system, a historic system of waterways that dates back almost 200 years, was begun in 1817. Opened in its entirety in 1825, the Erie Canal is widely considered the engineering marvel of the 19th Century. But the canal system spans much more than the Erie Canal. It’s potential as an inland marine highway is undeniable.

April 2011 marks the 200th anniversary of the key decisions for the construction of the Erie Canal, a monumental public works project that transformed the economy of New York State. Two centuries ago, on April 8, 1811, the state Legislature approved a measure that set into motion the construction of the Erie Canal. This followed the delivery of a report on March 2, 2011 of a report by the original Commission. Brian U. Stratton, Director of the New York State Canal Corporation, "Two hundred years ago, visionary New Yorkers set forth a plan which would revolutionize communication and transportation throughout a young nation, lead to unprecedented prosperity and growth, and forever establish New York the Empire State.

Of all the waterways in fable and lore, the Erie Canal is famed least for its maritime nature. Lake Superior may have swallowed the Edmund Fitzgerald, and the North Atlantic holed the Titanic, but they sing of the Erie Canal for a mule named Sal. The triumph of the canal was over land, not water. Fully 363 miles long, scaling mountains 500 ft. above sea-level with 83 locks, fording natural rivers on aqueducts or "water bridges," it was a pick and shovel and trowel job of a stupendous scale, so grandiose that some called it madness. Yet the original "Clinton's Ditch" helped write the destiny of North America, so greatly that in return it required expansion and major rebuilding twice, within its first ninety years.