|
Erie Canal - the first boat trip - from Rome
to Utica
(23 Oct 1819)
The first boat, Chief
Engineer of Rome,
passed through the Erie canal on a trial trip and excursion from Utica
to Rome and returned the next day. The partyof about seventy person on
board included Governor DeWitt Clinton and state officials. |
“The
last two days have presented, in this village, a scene of the liveliest
interest; and I consider it among the privileges of my life to have
been present to witness it. On Friday afternoon I walked to the head of
the grand canal, the eastern extremity of which reaches within a very
short distance of the village, and from one of the slight and airy
bridges which crossed it, I had a sight that could not but exhilarate
and elevate the mind. The waters were rushing in from the westward and
coming down their untried channel towards the sea. . . . The interest
manifested by the whole country, as this new internal river rolled its
first waves through the state, cannot be described. You might see the
people running across the fields, climbing on trees and fences, and
crowding the bank of the canal to gaze upon the welcome sight. A boat
had been prepared at Rome, and as the waters came down the canal, you
might mark their progress by that of this new Argo, which floated
triumphantly along the Hellespont of the west, accompanied by the
shouts of the peasantry, and having on her deck a military band. At
nine the next morning, the bells began a merry peal, and the
commissioners, in carriages, proceeded from Bagg’s hotel to
the place of embarkation.
”
-- excerpt from letter published in
Albany Daily Advertiser
(source)