Canals





     By the year 1817, the need for a waterway connecting the east coast with the area around the great lakes resulted in the beginning of work on the Erie Canal, which would connect Albany and Buffalo, New York.  The canal boats were towed along the canal by mules driven along a path beside the canal.  The drivers were called "towpath boys", and because their job was lonely and tiresome, they were fond of singing to while away the long hours. They often simply made up songs as they drove the mules through all kinds of weather.   Two of these songs, Erie Canal and E-ri-e Canal, tell of the job from two points of view:  the serious, and the humorous.
 
 


Erie Canal


I've got a mule, her name is Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal
She's a good old worker and a good old pal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lumber, coal and hay,
And we know every inch of the way,
From Albany to Buffalo, oh,

Chorus:  Low bridge, everybody down,
                                 Low bridge, for we're goin' through a town,
                         And you'll always know your neighbor
            You'll always know your pal,
                                If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal.

Git up, there, Sal, we passed that lock,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal,
And we'll make Rome 'fore six o'clock,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal,
Just one more trip and back we'll go,
Through the rain and sleet and snow,
'Cause we know every inch of the way,
From Albany to Buffalo, oh, (chorus)


 

E-ri-e Canal

We were forty miles from Albany,
Forget it I never shall!
What a terrible storm we had one night,
On the E-ri-e Canal.

Chorus:  Oh, the E-ri-e was a-rising,
                     And our spirits were getting low,
                                 And I scarcely think we'll get much rest,
            Till we get to Buffalo-o-o,
      Till we get to Buffalo.
 

Well, the captain he comes up on deck
With a spyglass in his hand,
And the fog it was so 'tarnal thick
That you could not spy the land!  (chorus)
 
 


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