Bankwatch
Video & Images
Muskrats were notorious for digging their homes into the banks of the Original Erie Canal, but the banks of the modern Barge Canal are so large that animal activity isn't the threat it used to be.
Leaks were common in especially the original canal, and repair boats like this were expected to get to the site as quickly as they could, before the falling water level made it impossible for them to get there at all.
New York State has maintained a "bankwatch" program from the earliest days of the canal - wherever there were sections of the canal that were above the surrounding grade.
Tom "Sneakers" Ashbery was an 84-year-old bank walker when this picture was taken in 2005. His job was to walk over five miles along one side of the canal. Then he crossed over a country bridge and walked all the way back on the other side. His job was to spot leaks in the canal while they were still small enough to be repaired easily.
Tom "Sneakers" Ashbery was an 84-year-old bank walker when this picture was taken in 2005. His job was to walk over five miles along one side of the canal. Then he crossed over a country bridge and walked all the way back on the other side. His job was to spot leaks in the canal while they were still small enough to be repaired easily.
The 1974 bottom leak at Bushnell's Basin (southeast of Rochester). A crew was excavating under the canal to install a new sewer line. This section near the culvert over the Irondequoit Creek has been lined with Concrete - partly because the stretch is so prone to leaks, and partly because it runs through a highly populated area. Photograph courtesy Town of Perinton historian.
