While the Chesapeake and Ohio and the Pennsylvania canals are still operated according to the methods of the early days of canal transportation. New York has revolutionized its system by abandoning the mules and towpaths and introducing the use of steam power. Utilizing the old canals in some sections, constructing entirely new waterways in others, the State of New York has enlarged and improved its system in the expectation that the increased facilities will enable the canals to become an integral part of the transportation system. The State canal system, completed in 1918, comprises a number of waterways, the main thoroughfares being the Erie Canal, now known as the State Barge Canal, and the Champlain Canal. The depth of the old canals has been increased from 5 feet on the Champlain and 7 feet on the Erie to a minimum depth of 12 feet throughout. The locks have also been greatly enlarged so as to accommodate boats 300 feet long.
The State Barge Canal extends from Troy to Buffalo, connecting Lake Erie with the Hudson River and New York Harbor. The total distance, from Buffalo to the New York terminal is 507 miles. The trip, which took 5 weeks when mules were used, can now be made by steam-tawed barges In about 10 days. The Champlain Canal provides the inland water route from New York to Quebec. From the New York terminals to the Canadian line is 321.5 miles. On sections of this route in Canada mule towage is still necessary. The trip from Quebec to New York usually takes from 3 to 5 weeks. The season for these canals is from about May 1 to .December 1.
Among the important cargoes carried on the New York canals arc coal, lumber, wood pulp, grain, flaxseed, sugar, salt, petroleum, sand, cement, and general merchandise. Grains travel from the west via Buffalo and the canal to New York. Among the boatmen on the Champlain Division, the report was common, "We carried coal up and lumber down," referring to the traffic of lumber and wood pulp towards New York and the transportation of coal to Canada. Sand and cement were handled to a considerable extent in the vicinity of Syracuse. Not only the greater volume of traffic, but also the diversity of cargoes, differentiate the situation in New York from that in Maryland and in Pennsylvania, where coal is the one important cargo. Moreover, while the history of the latter canals shows a steady decrease in tonnage, the traffic on the New York system has increased every year since 1918, when the improved canals went into operation.
Whereas the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Lehigh, and the Delaware Division Canals wore privately owned and in each case the company operating the canal owned most, if not all, the boats, in New York the canals are owned and operated by the State and navigation is free. While the State has furnished some towing facilities in order to bridge the period of change from the use of mules to tho use of steam. It has not handled freight. All traffic has been carried on by transportation companies or by individual boat owners.
With the change to steam power have come changes in arrangements of boats and in the personnel of crews. Whereas, on the old systems, mule-towed boats traveled separately, the steam-towed barges are propelled in fleets consisting of the "steamer" and several, usually five or six, barges called "consorts." In this arrangement it is unnecessary for every vessel to carry a full crew. The "steamer," which may be a tug or a steam-propelled barge, carries the pilot or captain with a crew of five or six men. The "consorts " are considered adequately manned if one individual is on them.
This coupling up of the boats has also had its effect on the system of ownership. Owners of boats or barges which are not self-propelled must secure motive power. Those who own two or more barges can early large enough cargoes to afford towage charges or may find it profitable to invest in a "steamer" of their own; but for the man who owns but one barge, the expense of towage has been so serious a matter that many have dropped out of the business. According to the report of the state superintendent of public works, for 1920: "No doubt exists in the mind of anyone that the day of the individual operator has passed."
During 1920, a large part of the canal traffic was handled by companies operating from 10 to 100 boats each. Some individual boat owners chartered their boats to these companies, attaching them to the company fleets and being paid by the companies on a time basis. In such cases the owner could not control his working conditions as he did when boating independently. His working hours and the type and size of the cargo were regulated by the company. "When we come to a town," complained' the wife of one of these men, "the pilot does not give me time to go to market. The only safe way for me to manage is to lay up supplies for the trip and it is not always convenient for me to do that."
Besides losing his independence the boat owner or captain who is working for a company may have to endure living conditions on the boat which he would not tolerate if the situation were within his control. The difference between the cabins of independent owners and of company employees was as neat as that between the homes of the independent merchant and of the average wage earner ashore. The immaculate, neatly painted cabins of some of the independent boatmen, with attractive curtains at the windows, spotless linen on the bunks, good lamps, and stationary washstands, were in marked contrast with company cabins that bore no evidence of interest on the part of the company and little sense of responsibility on the part of the employee.