ALMOST as great in number as the cities which disputed the honor of Homer's birthplace, were the claimants of the original idea of the Erie Canal. George Washington, making a tour of New York State shortly after the close of the Revolutionary War, was perhaps the first one to suggest a waterway as a means of more ready communication between the Eastern States and the vast rich lands of the little known West; but actual work was not begun, however, until many years later, after much heated debate over the subject of routes and the manner of building. Finally, the Erie Canal, as brought to a successful construction through the enterprise of Governor DeWitt Clinton and at the expense of New York State alone, astonished the world, for it was an undertaking of such magnitude that the like of it had hitherto been accomplished only by the greatest empires of the Old World and by means of the labor of slaves.
It is but natural, therefore, that the unique spectacle of the celebration of the opening of the great waterway, upon a stage stretching from Buffalo to New York, before an audience composed of a large part of the population of the State, should appeal to English artists in search of American views, and that their sketches should be used to decorate the pottery of Staffordshire. It is with pride mingled with wonder and no little amusement that one reviews the story of the opening celebration, as it is recorded in the old-china illustrations.
The celebration began at Buffalo, the junction of the canal and Lake Erie, continued at each little hamlet and city along the banks, culminating at last in a blaze of glory and patriotism as the waters from the Great Lakes were mingled with the Atlantic in New York harbor. No resplendent Doge of Venice standing upon the prow of his gayly bedecked Bucentaur and casting the jeweled ring into the waters of the Adriatic, thereby symbolizing the marriage of Venice to the sea, was ever more proud than was Governor Clinton as, standing upon a primitive canal boat draped with the Stars and Stripes, he poured a barrel of Lake Erie water into the Atlantic Ocean, thereby accomplishing the union of our West and East.
The first illustration presents a view of the harbor entrance of the canal at Buffalo, with sail boats in the bay, low warehouses on the dock, and a packet boat upon the canal, which sailors are tying to the warf. The study of this scene kindles one's imagination, and in fancy he hears the pealing of the bells at nine o'clock upon that beautiful morning of October 26, 1825, and he beholds the throngs of people gathering at the Courthouse. After prayer has been offered and speeches have been made, the procession marches to the dock where the flotilla is in waiting, ready to make the long voyage down the canal. With something akin to awe one listens to the sound of that reverberating cannonshot, which, fired at Buffalo and repeated in succession by cannon stationed along the entire length of the canal, proclaims in one hour and twenty minutes to the people of New York City that the little fleet is under way. Four gayly bedecked horses then proudly prance along the tow-path drawing the canal boat Seneca Chief, which bears Governor Clinton and his associates, followed by the canal boats Superior, Commodore Perry, and Buffalo. At the end of the procession is Noah's Ark, from the "unbuilt city of Ararat," having on board a bear, two eagles, two fawns, birds and fish, besides two Indian boys in native costume—all taken along to gratify the curiosity of the effete New Yorkers in regard to the wild West.
One smiles at the allegorical picture, painted in honor of the occasion, which hangs in the cabin of the Seneca Chief, for in it may be seen Hercules resting upon his favorite club after his labor of finishing the canal, Governor Clinton in a Roman toga standing by his side, gazing upon the placid water and inviting Neptune and his Naiads, who coyly hang back as if hesitating to approach domains not theirs by right, to enter through the open lock. Upon the deck stand two brightly painted kegs marked "Lake Erie"—the water from the lake which is to be used in the celebration in New York. A quantity of bird's-eye maple and cedar wood is stored below deck for the purpose of making boxes and medals with which to commemorate the coming event. While the little flotilla proceeds on its way to the accompaniment of gay music and the salutes of guns, the citizens of Buffalo repair to the Eagle tavern for a banquet and speeches, the day ending with a grand ball where, an eye-witness tells us, "beauty, vieing conspicuously with wit, contributed to the enlivening enjoyment of the scene."
It is to be regretted that there are no illustrations of the canal at Lockport, for in that village is one of the most difficult and picturesque pieces of engineering to be found the entire length of the canal—the great locks which lift and lower the boats. As the little flotilla passes through the locks the passengers are greeted with salutes of a cannon which Commodore Perry thirteen years before had used in his gallant Battle of Lake Erie, here adding to its service a record of peaceful achievement. The first day of the celebration ends at Lockport with fireworks and illuminations, and a banquet at the tavern where the guests are introduced to a local celebrity—the man who planted the first orchard and built the first frame barn west of Utica.
A number of pieces of pottery record the scenes of the celebration in Rochester. In that city the canal is obliged to pass over the Genesee River, and the necessary aqueduct is a marvel of construction for that early time.
Rochester was an important city of western New York in the year 1825, and had materially aided and encouraged the canal project, therefore her preparations for the celebration of the opening have been elaborate. But alas! rain is pouring down upon the crowds waiting along the banks of the canal for the arrival of the fleet, eager to catch the first glimpse as it comes out of the West. When at last it arrives, the following dialogue takes place between the Young Lion of the West, the Rochester boat stationed at the entrance of the aqueduct to challenge all newcomers, and the flagship Seneca Chief:
"Who comes there ?"
"Your brothers from the West on the waters of the Great Lakes."
"By what means have they been diverted so far from their natural course?"
"By the channel of the Great Erie Canal."
"By whose authority and by whom was a work of such magnitude accomplished?"
"By the authority and the enterprise of the patriotic people of the State of New York."
After the surprising ignorance of Rochester has been thus dispelled, the Young Lion gives way, and the flotilla with the Governor in full view floats into the basin amidst the cheers of the wondering crowds. There follows a mass meeting in the church, with appropriate speeches, and at the hotel are held a banquet and a ball. The next morning the fleet, adding to its train the Young Lion of the West, bearing the first citizens of Rochester and carrying wolves, foxes, raccoons and eagles from the forests, and Rochester-made cedar tubs, continues its journey.
The china which illustrates the canal scenes of Rochester are beautiful specimens of the early Staffordshire potters' art. Upon it is preserved a view of the old aqueduct which to-day is but a memory, the aqueduct scene being sometimes combined with views of prominent American buildings, or with those of castles and landscapes of England. In the border of the vegetable dish are medallion portraits of George Washington, General Lafayette, DeWitt Clinton and Thomas Jefferson. General Lafayette had visited many of the canal cities while he was the nation's guest but a few months before the celebration, and therefore he is given a place in the illustration; while Washington and Jefferson, it is claimed by some, appear through ignorance of the potters in regard to the dates of our political history.
Upon reaching the town of Syracuse, the party is again greeted with speeches and a banquet. At Rome, they are forced to call to mind that Fourth of July of the year 1817, the day the first ground for the section of the canal lying between Utica and Rochester was broken at this place by Governor Clinton. The Romans, for whom the present ceremony is one of mingled emotions, owing to the placing of the new waterway outside the limits of their town instead of inside it as they had wished, undertake to convey their complex feelings in the manner of their reception. The citizens form in line as the little fleet comes in sight, and, to the sound of muffled drums, they convey a black barrel filled with water from the old canal and empty its contents into the new one just completed. Having thus figuratively disposed of their chagrin, they march in quick time back to the tavern and forget their disappointment in hospitable festivities.
The "Utica Inscription" illustration commemorates the opening of the section of the canal between Utica and Rochester, the lines which fill the center recounting the usual list of benefits which this waterway conferred upon the villages through which it passed:
"Utica, a village in the State of New York, 30 years since a wilderness, now inferior to none in the western section of the State in population, wealth, commercial enterprise, active industry and civil improvement."
The border pictures canal boats, aqueducts and locks, framed in graceful medallions. It is Sabbath day when the flotilla reaches Utica; the company is conducted to services in the meeting house, and later to the old Academy to listen to rousing speeches and songs.
The illustrations which picture the aqueduct at Little Falls, with the Mohawk River raging underneath, seem, like the Rochester aqueduct scenes, to have made strong appeal to the English potters, for they too are accompanied with portraits of our four canal worthies, with sketches of American buildings or with "Picturesque Landskips" and "Romantick Gentlemen's Seats" of old England. At this place occurs another celebration of welcome—lengthy orations and odes of congratulation delivered amid bonfires and illuminations upon the banks of the Mohawk River.
Leaving Little Falls, the gayly bedecked flotilla floats serenely along the man-made river, the guests seated upon the open decks (as quaint views of the celebration preserved in old prints record) enjoying the scenery and returning the huzzas of greeting from the people who line the banks. Whenever they pass through hamlets too small to offer a festival, the "yeomanry," an old chronicle states, "gathered at the banks of the canal and cheered the passing spectacle."
Upon November 2 the fleet reaches Albany, and here a Grand Fete befitting the Capital city of the Empire State awaits the distinguished guests—the illustrations picturing the "Entrance of the Canal at Albany" showing the very arches which were erected for the celebration. The two vessels at the dock, one a freight boat and the other a passenger packet boat, give a clear idea of canal traffic and travel in the early days; while in the background the home of one of Albany's prominent citizens may be seen. The guests repair to the Capitol building and listen to eulogies and to odes, and, as they pass through the streets, they gaze upon large banners and transparencies which blaze the tidings that "The Great Work is Done"; at the evening performance in the theater there is a "Canal Scene," wherein are shown a real canal and locks and horses and passing boats. At Albany the little fleet enters the Hudson River and is taken in tow by the new steamboat, the Chancellor Livingston (pictured in a later chapter) heading the procession as admiral and followed by twelve vessels of various types. A sympathetic writer of that time compares the spectacle to a "fleet from the dominion of the Fairies," adding that Alexander of Macedon when he descended the Indus was not more proud than were "these brave Americans sailing down the Hudson River." The population of the villages along the banks give signals of greeting as the fleet passes by, and, when darkness falls, lights and fireworks from the vessels respond to the fireworks and illuminations on shore.
At daylight on November 4, New York is reached, and a three-day celebration takes place, the setting of which may be in part recalled by a study of the illustrations. In a previous chapter a number of New York's important buildings of that day have been shown— Park Theater, Scudder's Museum, the Almshouse, Saint Paul's Chapel, Columbia College, the City Hall, where a public gathering was held and speeches were made in honor of the canal opening, and Castle Garden and the Battery—the site of the closing canal festivities. But many of the scenes of entertainment of those three days are but memory pictures, and cause us to regret that more of them were not secured by the English potterhistorians. For what a pity to neglect the pictorial possibilities of the marvelous parade through the streets; of the Grand Canal Ball, with its supper table adorned with a miniature canal boat of maple sugar floating in a pool of Lake Erie water; of the ceremony at the harbor where the "Lord of the Seas" wedded the "Lady of the Lakes," by pouring the water brought from Lake Erie into the Atlantic Ocean, the nuptial rites being completed by sending a keg of sea-water, "Neptune's Return to Pan," from the ocean to Buffalo, to be emptied into Lake Erie.
In this manner was celebrated the completion of the "big ditch," which skeptics declared "would be filled with the tears of posterity," but which, instead, has so amply justified the sentiment inscribed upon the "Eulogy" plates:
"The Grand Erie Canal, a splendid monument of the enterprise and resources of the State of New York, indebted for its early commencement and rapid completion to the active energies, preeminent talents and enlightened policy of DeWitt Clinton, late Governor of the State."
The journey from Buffalo to New York was made possible in the steam packets upon the canal in six days, at a cost of about eighteen dollars. Commerce was at once stimulated by the new and quicker route to the sea ports; travel was made more convenient for curious foreign tourists who crossed the sea to make the grand tour of the new country, and to look upon the famous cataract of Niagara; emigration was pushed farther westward along the waterway, causing new settlements to be established; and a broader opportunity for education was opened, the young men and women of the western sections being able by means of the canal to attend the schools and colleges of the Eastern States.
But the rapid rate of canal travel was long looked upon by conservative persons as a fearful danger, and one to be risked only after serious and anxious thoughts of the future. A certain old gentleman of that day, after he had completed a canal journey in safety, penned these lines to a friend: "Commending my soul to God, and asking His defense from danger, I stepped on board the canal boat and was soon flying toward Utica."
(From The Blue-China Book by Ada Walker Camehl, 1916.)
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