Erie Canal

September 24, 2007

I've got a mule, and her name is Sal, Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie canal, She's a good ol' worker and a good ol' pal, Fifteen miles on the Er-ie can-al, We've hauled some barges in our day, Filled with lum-ber coal and hay, And ev'ry inch of the way we know From Al-ba-ny to Buff-a-lo

Chorus: Low bridge ev'-ry bod-y down, Low bridge for we're com-in to a town, And you al-ways know your neighbor, You'll always know your pal, If you've ev-er navigated on the Er-ie can-al

I sang this song in Mrs. Henley’s music class. I remember blaring it out. Did I know what it meant? No. Did we float the Erie Canal? Of course. Had to find out what those lyrics, which have been echoing in my memory for 50 years, meant.

We traveled to Lockport, NY, which is just about 15 miles away. There we parked the Jeep and rode our bikes along the Erie Canal on the now paved paths that Sal once walked. I don’t think we traveled 15 miles, but we had to stop to board a boat. I don’t like tours but Barb talked me into boarding a boat for a two hour voyage which passed through 2 locks. It was wonderful.

The afternoon found us at Fort Niagara which is over 300 years old and is located at the point where the Niagara River dumps into Lake Ontario. It was ruled by the French, then the British and finally the U.S. For several contentious years, the fort aimed its canons at Canada, as relations with the British were not sound. We could see Toronto 43 miles across the lake.

We ended the day stopping and eating in a small diner in Youngstown, a small village on the Niagara River. There we sat and conversed with George, an 89 year old who had grown up in Albania, was forced into the army at age 14, imprisoned by the Germans in their invasion, had immigrated to the U.S. in 1947, and found work at the power plant in Niagara and raised a family. He was eager to share his story and we were eager listeners. His story could have been another chapter in Tom Brokaw’s book, The Greatest Generation. The octogenarians have so much to tell. So many stories in the patchwork tapestry of America.