It’s amazing to think about the socioeconomic impacts of the Erie Canal on New York, the United States and the world’s economy. We’ve been traveling the Erie Canalway Trail for days now, soaking in what we can along the way, and we’ve only just scratched the surface of what this canal meant and still means to local people and to many people beyond the reach of its entrenched depths.
Earlier today, Lisa Wiles, a park coordinator with the Camillus Erie Canal Park, told us about how there are really three Erie Canals and that in a few places you can see the three side by side, more or less. The three major iterations: the original Canal (AKA Clinton’s Ditch); the Enlarged Erie Canal; and the current, modern Erie Barge Canal. These canals directly and indirectly helped to transform the United States into a major agricultural and industrial power. The story behind Copper City and Revere Copper Products alone underscores that. For instance, during World War II, over 60% of Revere Copper’s products went toward the military.
Henry Zucker of the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse was kind enough to give us a quick tour of that amazing facility. He succinctly brought us to a window from which we could see a street where the canal once was, and immediately adjacent to the window there had been a scale at which cargo boats were weighed to determine fees. Henry grew up in Manhattan, where we started this New York journey. He’s been around in this world for long enough to know a very different Manhattan than the one we were in a week ago and we sensed the depth of his New York knowledge. We could have talked with him for days, no doubt, and still have left things uncovered. As we travel along the canalway on this brief journey, the breadth of what there is to learn about the history of it all is only just revealing itself. We appreciated Henry and his willingness to accommodate us for a few short minutes.
This morning we were greeted at Harvey’s Garden by Ben Walsh (NYS Canal Corporation Director), Chris Abbott (Deputy Commissioner of Parks and Recreation) and Billy Sullivan (Parks Trails Coordinator). All of them rode with us for the first 13.3 miles of the day, through central and western Syracuse on to Camillus. We were joined at the meeting spot by Eric Shear of CNYCentral and Rebecca Blanchard (Becky) of NYS Canal Corporation. They documented us at spots along the way. Ben Walsh was just recently the Mayor of Syracuse for 8 years before getting termed out, so he served as a fine guide to the city as we began our day’s journey. After Ben finished out his term as Mayor last December, Governor Kathy Hochul anointed him as the new director of the NY State Canal Corporation. After one month off at the start of this year, Ben went right to work as the director of this large Corporation that oversees a 524-mile canal system and its associated infrastructure such as the trail systems centered around the canals. While we were still discussing business points at the start of our ride together, Ben mentioned that the Erie Canalway Trail is funded more or less in equal parts by the Canal Corporation, local municipalities and State Parks.
As we rode through Syracuse, we all started talking about our personal lives and happenings. Ben mentioned his family and it turns out that he has daughters of similar ages to Jimmy’s daughters. At one point where the Canalway Trail overlapped with Syracuse’s Creekwalk Trail, Ben pointed out an apartment where he lived 21 years ago in which he proposed to his now wife of 20 years. We all got to know each other a little bit as we rode together. At one point, we went off trail a short way to see if a friend of Ben’s (who is a wheelchair user) was around. It didn’t work out to meet him, but we appreciated Ben’s efforts to connect.
We rolled up to a school group of kids working on a native plant garden by Onondaga Lake. The kids and their teachers were quite excited when they saw Ben. The kids asked me some questions and I told them a little bit about myself and what we are up to.
Onondaga Lake is a majorly polluted lake that people have made significant strides on restoring lately. Contamination was so extreme that in 1994 it was designated as a Superfund site. The lake has come a long way, and has a long way to go. Billy told us about how the lake is a hotbed of Bald eagle activity, but that their presence in the area is minimal at this time of the year. The Bald eagles will return with the significant onset of winter conditions.
We went through the New York State Fairgrounds (Empire Expo Center) which consists of impressive facilities spanning 375 acres. We only went through a small corner of it, but were impressed by its size.
We eventually cruised along the old canal into Camillus, where employees and volunteers of the Liz and Dave Bebee Camillus Erie Canal Park Store and Museum enthusiastically welcomed us. There was hella information in that museum as well, and we only briefly glimpsed at its information boards, displays and artifacts before needing to move on. We appreciate their work!
Ben, Chris, Billy and Becky left at Camillus, where we passed the halfway point of our Erie Canalway journey. We very much appreciate them joining us and I think it’s good for them to get a sense of how I see and move over the trail. Ben mentioned having a better understanding of how a wheelchair user sees things. That’s one of the reasons I invite dignitaries to ride at least a portion of The Olympic Discovery Trail (my home trail) in a wheelchair. In this case, these influential people didn’t ride in a wheelchair themselves, but by biking along with me and seeing how I moved, I think they learned a lot.
Today was my dad’s birthday. I gave him a painting that I recently did for him. After joining us for lunch at Camillus, Edwin gave him a ride to the Syracuse airport for his flights back to San Diego. We were all sad to see him go and we’ll miss him. Happy birthday, Dad, and thanks for everything over the last week!
We were along the old canal most of the way from Camillus to Weedsport, where things were pleasantly quiet and the packed fines provided a smooth ride. Closer to Weedsport the trail was often single track, which my team and I enjoyed.
We stopped at the historic Erie Canal Lock 51 where we rode and scrambled in and on top of the rad lock channels.
We ended the day at Lunkenheimer Craft Brewing Company, where we enjoyed tasty beers, delicious butternut squash soup, lovely wood fired pizzas, live music performed by local musicians, and the wonderful company of locals including Connor, Val, Jen and Lori.
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