Western Inland Lock Navigation Company
Western Inland Lock Navigation Company
By: Katy Shoop
The Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company utilized the already important transportation route of the Mohawk River and increased its use for trade, hunting, and passage even more. The Mohawk River and Valley Region was and still is today, a viable waterway in New York State. By clearing trees and rocks from the river and connecting the river to Wood Creek there was finally a completely navigable waterway from Albany to Lake Ontario and the west. This need for water transportation pre-dawned the existence of the Erie Canal and made the “grand canal” possible. Prominent men of the American Revolution such as Philip Schuyler, Elkanah Watson, Baron Frederick De Zeng saw the need for better water transportation. In 1792 Elkanah Watson and Philip Schuyler created the Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company to improve the navigation of the Mohawk River.
Members of the Iroquois Confederacy, particularly the Mohawk Nation, lived and traversed the Mohawk Valley for centuries. The fertile soil and link to the Hudson River were important for trade and farming. The lands and waterways European explorers were travelling were not “virgin” or “uncompromised.” They originally belonged to the members of the Iroquois Confederacy.
While the WILNC did make the transportation of goods easier it also greatly lead to the displacement of Native Americans living in those areas with the rise in ethnically-European settlements.
Navigating the Mohawk River was a challenge and required passage on foot in many places where boats could not travel. There were two types of boats used to navigate the river during this time period: batteau and Durham boats. According to Robert E. Hager author of Mohawk River Boats and Navigation Before 1820, “What the explorers of this new land needed were boats, boats somewhat larger than the average native canoes, more rugged, and above all, easily and cheaply built. The answer from the tough and hardy Frenchmen who were exploring along the St. Lawrence seemed to be a type of craft they called ‘le bateau,’ patterned most likely after their shallow draft boats from home.”
Durham boats are larger, double ended flat bottom boats. These boats could carry more tonnage of cargo and sometimes had a sail. These types were not used until the Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company improved passage on the Mohawk given their size and weight. In 1792 members of the WILNC surveyed the river and Wood Creek up to Oneida Lake. Elkanah Watson documented the surveys and needs for improvement. Between 1792 and 1795 the work was completed; trade and transportation in New York would never be the same.
Some of the notable improvements made were: the creation a canal and series of locks at Little Falls and German Flatts to bypass the rapids, connecting the Mohawk to Wood Creek by canalizing the creek and creating a seamless passage to Lake Ontario, clearing the Mohawk from rocks and trees making travel easier. The first New York legislative pass for “an act for establishing and opening lock navigation within the state” chartered the WILNC and NILNC to improve the water routes in New York. This first charter allowed for the beginning of the rise of canals and New York to become a shipping mecca.
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