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Salt Sheds - Syracuse, NY 1905

Before there was refrigeration, salt was important for its food-preservation qualities. In America's early years, Syracuse in Central New York State - aka "Salt City" - was the nation's largest producer of salt. �The postcard above shows rows of shallow evaporating pans. The sloped covers on the extreme left and right of this picture would be slid to cover the pans if it rained. See salt - very possibly from Syracuse - being used at the Fulton Fish Market in NYC in the mid-thirties at the 3:18 mark on Manhattan Waterfront. Also see the film White Wonder for an overview of the salt industry today (modern evaporating at 5:17).

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Salt City and The Erie Canal
The original Erie Canal was deliberately routed to pass through what today is Syracuse, NY because of the large salt deposits that were already being harvested there by 1825 when the canal was completed. Syracuse's salt trade benefitted from the canal for two reasons: Low transportation costs, and the Erie made it more profitable for farmers all along the canal corridor to raise hogs than to grow wheat, which had been their principal crop before the canal was built. Pork required large amounts of salt for preservation. See video

The Arch at Medina, NY

This arch at Medina, NY carries the Erie Canal over the Oak Orchard Creek. The Oak Orchard served as one of many "feeders" to the Erie before the modern Barge Canal was built in 1905-1918, but as you can see here, the creek is well below the level of the Erie. The early designers had to go several miles to the south (creeks flow north to Lake Ontario in this region) in order to tap the Oak Orchard at a level that could flow gradually downhill into the canal.

Widest Bridge in the World

This bridge over the Erie Canal in Lockport is still there; and today supports a parking lot in front of City Hall. The view here is facing west; and Lockport's famous "Flight of Five" locks is just out of view on the bottom right of the scene.

Erie Canal Swing Bridge at Albion - ca 1900

This bridge over the Erie Canal in upstate New York may not seem unusual at first glance; but the small object at the man's feet - which looks like a bowl sitting upside down - is really a permanent part of the roadway of the bridge. The man appears to be watching for a cue from the canal boat that's just out of view to our left that it's time to open the bridge. The pole in the man's hand will be inserted in the object, and as he walks around in a circle a gear mechanism under the wooden deck will rotate the bridge on the masonry support that's built in the middle of the canal under the center of the bridge.

Why did the State choose a swing bridge for this location? The width of the canal is no greater here than it is elsewhere. There are masonry buildings close to the canal here that made raised approaches difficult. One other possible explanation can be found on this historical marker that stands just a few feet west of the modern lift bridge that replaced this structure during the modern Barge Canal enlargement of 1905-1918.

The Golden Age of Postcards

In the time before television, radio and even movies, entertainment could be as simple as a few lines from a friend scribbled on a postcard in your mailbox. Many were like this one: A black and white photographic print that subsequently was colorized by a multi-step process in which the card was sent through a series of printers. Each pass applied one of the several colors that together resulted in the finished composite seen below. Because the persons creating and applying these colors had a poor - or even no knowledge of the original scenes at all - the colors represented aren't always reliable. Note for example the crudely drawn red candy-striping on the near awnings that are missing from those in the distance.

Fire Alarm Tower - ca 1900

This postal depicts a fire alarm tower located where Main Street in Lockport, NY crosses the Erie Canal. The fire station is across the canal to the cameraman's left. The large bell no doubt was used to summon help in the event of a fire; but was the tower also used to detect smoke from fires before telephones were widespread? Incidentally, the bridge under the cameraman's feet was for many years the widest bridge in the world

See also Flight of Five for a reverse view looking instead up the canal gorge and note the position of the tower.