Erie Canal Tidbits - Ep. 364 - FDR

As Gov. of NY (1929–1933), Franklin D. Roosevelt championed the Erie Canal (Barge Canal) as a vital economic asset, famously touring it by boat in June of 1930 to promote its viability, viewing the canal as essential for the state's commerce. He aimed to modernize it, using it to highlight infrastructure, transportation, and industrial progress. 

He took a highly publicized, week-long trip aboard the state yacht Inspector to inspect locks and canal infrastructure, including stops in Little Falls, Sylvan Beach, and the Buffalo area that demonstrated a renewed interest by the state in canal infrastructure.  Amidst competition from railroads, FDR used his tour to showcase the canal as a "living" and essential transport route for the state, rather than a relic of the past. His administration recognized the need to maintain and modernize the Barge Canal system, which had replaced the original 19th-century Erie Canal.

FDR’s interest in the canal was part of a broader, life-long focus on conservation, infrastructure, and New York state development. His interactions with canals was primarily as a traveler, inspector, and proponent of infrastructure development. He was the first president to traverse the Panama Canal while in office (July 1934, aboard the U.S.S. Houston), and temporarily supported, then halted, the contentious Cross-Florida Barge Canal. 

Earlier, FDR had also traveled the Florida intracoastal waterways in the 1920s, thus experiencing the logistical challenges of smaller canals firsthand. FDR's relationship with canals blended his duty as a national leader inspecting strategic assets with his personal appreciation for maritime travel and waterway development.

Like his cousin and former President Theodore Roosevelt, FDR’s connection to the water also exists as having served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy (1913–1920) during WWI, where he managed naval expansion, and later as President (1933–1945), prioritizing a "Two-Ocean Navy" to combat axis aggression.

 

Images:

1. FDR as Governor visiting Rochester, NY (image from the Democrat & Chronicle

2. FDR accompanied by the President of Panama, Dr. Harmodio Arias, tours the Canal Zone during a visit to the Isthmus. 

3. Book of Plans of the NYS Barge Canal, a collection of over 150 11" by 17" engineering drawings issued as a supplement to the annual report of the NYS Engineer, Frank M. Williams (Albany: Lyon, 1920). It is in the collection of the Schenectady County Historical Society at ATLAS 386.4 Wil.