The Erie Canal - Canvass White - Manlius Center, NY - New York Historical Markers on Waymarking.com

text: "Historic New York The Erie Canal - Canvass White

When work on the Erie Canal began in 1817 little was known about canal engineering, and construction depended on the ingenuity of many persons. Canvass White (1796-1834), a surveyor, greatly facilitated canal construction by perfecting hydraulic cement. White discovered in 1818, near Chittenango, a "meagre limestone" that could be used to form a mortar which hardened under water. His discovery of the abundant, easily prepared waterproof cement immensely improved construction techniques.

The Erie Canal was a practical school for acquiring engineering knowledge. Resourceful contractors, surveyors, and local workmen planned the canal through a wilderness. They drove stakes, bored holes, felled trees, pulled stumps, blasted rocks and dug in swamps. They built canal banks, towpaths, waste weirs, culverts, aqueducts, locks and gates.

When they finished in 1825, they had constructed a 363-mile canal across the state. It was considered the foremost engineering achievement of the time. Western New York flourished with new, cheap transportation. The canal insured the place of New York City as the nation's greatest port and city, and it hastened development of the Mid-West.

The modernized State Barge Canal System, consisted of the Erie, Champlain, Oswego, and Cayuga-Seneca Canals completed in 1918.

Education Department State of New York 1967 Department of Public Works"

Marker Name: The Erie Canal - Canvass White Marker Type: Roadside Agency: Education Department State of New York Dedication Date: 1967 City/Town/Village Name: Manlius Center, Syracuse County: Onondaga Region: Central Leatherstocking (Region 6) Website: [Web Link]

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