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Cassandra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 08:19 AM
Original message
The Erie Canal is making a comeback.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/03/nyregion/03erie.html?ref=nyregion

"Hints of Comeback for Nation’s First Superhighway
Sixty percent of the people I meet have no idea the Erie Canal is even still functioning,” Mr. Dufel said. He is assistant engineer on the tugboat Margot and an owner of the New York State Marine Highway Transportation Company, one of the largest shippers on the canal.

After decades of decline, commercial shipping has returned to the Erie Canal, though it is a far cry from the canal’s heyday. The number of shipments rose to 42 so far this year during the season the canal is open, from 15 during last year’s season, which lasts from May 1 to Nov. 15.

Once nearly forgotten, the relic of history has shown signs of life as higher fuel prices have made barges an attractive alternative to trucks.

“We anticipated we might have an increase in commercial traffic, but nowhere near what we’re seeing today,” said Carmella R. Mantello, director of the New York State Canal Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York State Thruway Authority that operates the Erie and three other canals."

As someone who's been reading Kunstler for a while, I've been thinking for more than a year that we were lucky that the Erie Canal is still there. Kunstler doesn't mention it but it served a useful function before and will again. Perhaps upstate NY will save downstate this time.
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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 08:24 AM
Response to Original message
1. Erie Canal (Mule Named Sal)
Erie Canal (Mule Named Sal)
(THomas S. Allen)

I've got an old mule and her name is Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay
And we know every inch of the way
From Albany to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge for we're coming to a town
And you'll always know your neighbor
And you'll always know your pal
If you've ever navigated on
The Erie Canal

We'd better look around for a job, old gal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
You bet your life I wouldn't part with Sal
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
Giddap there gal, we've passed that lock
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock
One more trip and then we'll go
Right back home to Buffalo

Low bridge, everybody down
Low bridge, I've the finest mule in town.
Once a man named Mike McGinty
Tried to put it over Sal
Now he's way down on the bottom of
The Erie Canal

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
A friend of mine once made her sore
Now, he's got a broken jaw
'Cause she let fly with her iron toe
And kicked him into Buffalo.

Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge, I've the finest mule in town.
If yo're looking for trouble
Better stay away from Sal
She's the only fightin' donkey on the Erie Canal

I don't want to call when I want my Sal
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
She trots from her stall like a good old gal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal
I eat my meals with Sal each day,
I eat beef and she eats hay
She ain't so slow if you want to know
She put the "Buff" in Buddalo.

Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge, I've the finest mule in town
Eats a bale of hay for dinner
And on top of that, my Sal
Tries to drink up all the water in the Erie Canal.


--IMM
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Cassandra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 09:01 AM
Response to Reply #1
5. The first LP I ever bought...
when I was ten was of sea chanties, including that song. All those are working songs, designed to get people to work on something in unison.
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FredStembottom Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 10:28 AM
Response to Reply #5
9. Remember the little yellow 78 RPM children's records.....
....of that era? I had that song on one of those. And a children's record player to go with it. Enjoyable memories!
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kskiska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 09:33 AM
Response to Reply #1
7. Brings back memories
Back in the 50s we sang those sorts of folk songs in elementary school music class - Wabash Cannonball; Drill, Ye Tarriers, Drill; Shortnin' Bread; Johnny Schmoker; and I've Been Working on the Railroad. Also, Negro spirituals like Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.
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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 09:59 AM
Response to Reply #7
8. Yeah, school days. Also coffee houses...
The late fifties beatnik poets, and the precursor to the sixties.

--IMM
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Cassandra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 10:41 AM
Response to Reply #8
10. Summer camp, too.
Edited on Mon Nov-03-08 10:43 AM by Cassandra
Mine was the vanguard of the guitar-strummin' Folk Song Army.

We are the Folk Song Army.
Everyone of us cares.
We all hate poverty, war, and injustice,
Unlike the rest of you squares.

There are innocuous folk songs.
Yeah, but we regard 'em with scorn.
The folks who sing 'em have no social conscience.
Why they don't even care if Jimmy Crack Corn.

If you feel dissatisfaction,
Strum your frustrations away.
Some people may prefer action,
But give me a folk song any old day.

The tune don't have to be clever,
And it don't matter if you put a coupla extra syllables into a line.
It sounds more ethnic if it ain't good English,
And it don't even gotta rhyme--excuse me--rhyne.

Remember the war against Franco?
That's the kind where each of us belongs.
Though he may have won all the battles,
We had all the good songs.

So join in the Folk Song Army,
Guitars are the weapons we bring
To the fight against poverty, war, and injustice.
Ready! Aim! Sing!
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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #10
13. Ah, I remember...
I wasn't a folkie -- tended more toward jazz myself, but as a "bohemian" I was with that crowd. But ultimately, what's worth doing, is worth laughing at, and that led to...


--IMM
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kskiska Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 11:22 AM
Response to Reply #13
15. Oh, I love Alan Sherman
I had all his records and even my grown kids know all the songs - and still sing them. They're now available as ringtones.

(parody of "St. James' Infirmary")

I went down to Mt. Sinai - Hospital
To see my old zaydie there
And I said, Thanks God
For the Blue Cross
And I wish we had the Medicare

(parody of "I Will Give My Love An Apple")

I gave my love a chicken
It had no bone
I gave my love a cherry
It had no stone
I gave my love a baby
And then, you see
My love got very angry and she said to me

I didn't mind the chicken
Without the bone
I didn't mind the cherry
Without the stone
But when you give a baby
It's just one thing
You oughta give at least
An engagement ring




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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 11:27 AM
Response to Reply #15
16. Alan Sherman and Tom Lehrer and MAD Magazine formed a generation.
--IMM
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Cassandra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 11:31 AM
Response to Reply #15
17. The camp often used to play Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah...
over the loudspeaker.
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pnorman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 11:05 AM
Response to Reply #1
14. "Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal"
That was an almost forgotten phrase from distant memory, that popped into my mind when I saw the header of this thread. Thanks for saving me the effort of Googling it out!

pnorman
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immoderate Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 12:19 PM
Response to Reply #14
21. You're welcome of course.
:)

--IMM
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surrealAmerican Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 12:10 PM
Response to Reply #1
19. This one's a slight variation on another Erie Canal song:
We were forty miles from Albany
Forget it I never shall
What a terrible storm we had one night
On the ER-I-EE Canal.

Ooh ... the ER-I-EE was risin'
And the gin was gettin’ low
And I scarcely think
We'll get a little drink
'til we get to Buffalo
'til we get to Buffalo.

We were loaded down with barley
And the crew was full of rye
And the captain he looked down at me
With a strange look in his eye.

The ER-I-EE was risin'
And the gin was gettin’ low
And I scarcely think
We'll get a little drink
'til we get to Buffalo
'til we get to Buffalo.

Now ... the cook she was a grand old gal
She wore a ragged dress
So we hoisted her upon the pole
As a signal of distress.

The ER-I-EE was risin'
And the gin was gettin’ low
And I scarcely think
We'll get a little drink
'til we get to Buffalo
'til we get to Buffalo.

Now ... the girls they're in the Police Gazette
And the crew wound up in jail
And I'm the only son of a sea cook
Left to tell the tale.

Ooh ... the ER-I-EE was risin'
And the gin was gettin' low
And I scarcely think
We'll get a little drink
'til we get to Buffalo
'til we get to Buffalo.

Ooh ... the ER-I-EE was risin'
And the gin was gettin' low
And I scarcely think
We'll get a little drink
'til we get to Buffalo …
Get to Buffalo ...
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surrealAmerican Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 12:10 PM
Response to Reply #1
20. oops, acidental double post.
Edited on Mon Nov-03-08 12:13 PM by surrealAmerican
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sam sarrha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 08:27 AM
Response to Original message
2. the Erie Canal was originally created to transport Hemp to the coast for export..>LINK>>
Edited on Mon Nov-03-08 08:28 AM by sam sarrha
http://www.jackherer.com/chapters.html :smoke: :bounce: :party: :headbang:
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Not Me Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 08:42 AM
Response to Original message
3. I used to live in Spencerport, NY right on the canal
The state of NY and most of the towns and villages have seized on the opportunity to make their canal presence work to their advantage. There is a towpath (mostly paved) that runs the entire length that is fantastic for runners, walkers, cyclists, bladers etc. This is a diamond in the rough.
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SheilaT Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 08:57 AM
Response to Original message
4. The current Erie Canal is actually
the third one built on the route. The original was so narrow that it was nearly obsolete as soon as it was opened. The current Erie Canal was originally called the Barge Canal, which is how I knew it growing up near Utica, NY.

And if any of you ever get to Upstate New York, try to visit Erie Canal Village, which is near Rome, NY. One of the things you can do there is take a short ride on the old Erie Canal on a mule-pulled barge.
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 10:46 AM
Response to Reply #4
12. You can also see the site of the World Series of Bocce. nt
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surrealAmerican Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #4
18. You beat me to it.
I was about to post that this is in fact the New York State Barge Canal, not exactly the same route as the Erie Canal, but a distinction that is lost to those not from NY.
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cobalt1999 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 09:02 AM
Response to Original message
6. It was the "Panama Canal" or "Apollo Program" of it's day.
People used to travel from all over the world to see what was considered a wonder of the age. There were canals all over, but at the time none as long and technically challenging as the Erie.

I recommend those who have a chance to see it, read a little on the building of it to fully appreciate it.
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Captain Hilts Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Nov-03-08 10:45 AM
Response to Original message
11. I was just in Utica. Note this statistic about fuel costs vs. road and rail...
The canal still remains the most fuel-efficient way to ship goods between the East Coast and the upper Midwest. One gallon of diesel pulls one ton of cargo 59 miles by truck, 202 miles by train and 514 miles by canal barge, Ms. Mantello said. A single barge can carry 3,000 tons, enough to replace 100 trucks.

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