11 Comments

1. TheRover says:

   May 28, 2008 at 7:42 pm

   ” Once stretching all the way to Albany the Canals current 100 yard length supports all the economic activity Buffalo can muster. Another downsizing should be due in five years.”
2. al-alo says:

   May 28, 2008 at 8:57 pm

   on this site: cholera and typhoid spread quickly in overcrowded and unsanitary firetraps. men, women, children and the elderly were forced to toil long hours in dangerous conditions until their bodies succumbed and they were buried in potter’s field.

   nevermind that. romanticize. pretend. pasteurize.
3. al-alo says:

   May 28, 2008 at 9:07 pm

   I met a traveller from an antique land
   Who said: Two weathered and contextless walls of stone
   Stand in a virtual desert. Near them on the shore,
   Half sunk, a many shatter’d industry lies, whose broken windows
   And cement silos
   Tell of a builder well those who’s broad shoulders built
   Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
   The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
   And on the pedestal these words appear:
   “My name is Erie Canal, Wedder of the Waters:
   Look on my creation, ye Mighty, and despair!”
   Nothing beside remains: round the decay
   Of those colossal wrecks, boundless and bare,
   The lone and level sands stretch far away.
4. al-alo says:

   May 28, 2008 at 9:08 pm

   sorry. im usually not this negative.
5. Robert Harding says:

   May 29, 2008 at 2:15 am

   Two words: “Damn cars.”
6. Buffalopundit says:

   May 29, 2008 at 8:52 am

   My idea had something to do with:

   Completed in 1825, it halved travel time between Albany and Buffalo, and enabled westward migration. It remained relevant for 50 years until it was eclipsed by the railroad.
7. lulu says:

   May 29, 2008 at 10:07 am

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

   Low bridge, everybody down,
   Low bridge! We’re coming to a town!
   You can always tell your neighbor, you can always tell your pal
   If you’ve every 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 years on the Erie Canal.
   Giddap there, Gal, we’ve passed that lock,
   We’ll make Rome ‘fore six o’clock-
   So one more trip and then we’ll go
   Right straight back to Buffalo.

   Low bridge, everybody down;
   Low bridge, I’ve got the finest mule in town.
   Once a man named Mike McGintey tried to put over Sal,
   Now he’s way down at 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 got her sore,
   Now he’s got a broken jaw,
   ‘Cause she let fly with her iron toe
   And knocked him in to Buffalo.

   Low bridge, everybody down;
   Low bridge, I’ve got the finest mule in town.
   If you’re looking for trouble, better stay away,
   She’s the only fighting donkey on the Erie Canal.

   I don’t have to call when I want my Sal,
   Fifteen years on the Erie Canal,
   She trots from the 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 Buffalo.

   Low bridge, everybody down;
   Low bridge, I’ve got 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.

   You’ll soon hear them sing all about my gal,
   Fifteen years on the Erie Canal,
   It’s a darned fine ditty ’bout my darn fool Sal,
   Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.

   Oh, any band will play it soon,
   Darned fool words and darned fool tune;
   You’ll hear it sung everywhere you go,
   From Mexico to Buffalo.

   Low bridge, everybody down;
   Low bridge, I’ve got the finest mule in town.
   She’s a perfect, perfect lady, and she blushes like a gal
   If she hears you sing about her and the Erie Canal.
8. Derek J. Punaro says:

   May 29, 2008 at 10:45 am

   http://punaro.com/images/derek/ErieCanal-ditch.jpg
9. James says:

   May 29, 2008 at 11:28 am

   A boring man made waterway under the beautiful and historic SKYWAY.
10. Howard Goldman says:

    May 29, 2008 at 11:43 am

    Canal coming back soon!

    No gas? Just bring your ass.
11. Jim Allen says:

    May 29, 2008 at 12:27 pm

    This place is called “Terminus” for a reason!!!