Horse Holes and Drownings

 

Often found near locks, horse holes were a graded section of prism berm or a set of steps in the canal wall that allowed for guiding or pulling draft animals out of the canal.  This obviously points toward the frequency of such occurrences. The additional benefit was that they could also be used to pull out people who happen to end up in the canal as well.  In fact, it is with relative ease that when researching anything related to the Erie Canal in the old newspaper archives, drowning victims – be they human or beasts of burden – dominate the coverage.  From runaway teams ending up in the canal, to missteps and children plunging into the murky water, right up to the dastardly criminal underbelly of canal towns, and suicidal pedestrians, newspapers all along the canal reported on the countless drownings or near deaths in the waterway to the west.  Some of the more fantastic stories end up being re-printed in far away papers, demonstrating the fascination with the morbid facts of canal-life.

  Back in those “good old days,” canal towns and  cities were conflicted about the dirty water traversing through them. On one hand, it brought economic  prosperity, on the other, criminal activity, death, and disease.

 Horse holes, while sounding like a great 19^th-century euphemism, allowed some triumphs for humanity in saving life. Eventually the need for such skills would lead to groups of good samaritan citizens forming saving stations in high traffic areas to leap in and help.

  There are many reports of people risking their own lives to save others in the canal. Horse holes were just one method of adding safety measures to a dangerous waterway.