What would our ancestors make of us?  We would be as incomprehensible to them and they are to us.  Too bad there’s no date on this, but there is a hamlet of North Western NY.  The Black River Canal (B. R.), one of a number of lateral canals in New York State, did run through it.  This lateral canal ran between Rome and Carthage NY, 35 miles and 109 locks.  For more on the lateral canals, read this article from ConsiderthesourceNY.org.  This photo would have been taken near Frenchville NY, upstream of Delta Lake aka Delta Reservoir.

Clearly, this photographer had caught the attention of the folks on this canal boat.  I wonder if some of them were just catching a ride, or

maybe the boys were hoggees.  In the photo above, the boys were sitting on what may have been the stable for the draft animals, and in the photo below, curtains on the cabin windows suggest the sleeping area for the crew.

Note the team approaching in the distance, hitched to a wagon. 

Also on the Black River Canal, note a quite different type of barge, one with no cabins.  Since both of these photos are undated, there’s no guarantee they were on the Black River Canal at the same time.

The cargo here might be rock for the construction of the Delta Dam.  I’ve no idea what kind of division of labor existed between the steersman and the person on the towpath with the team.  For much more on this lateral canal, visit the Black River Canal Museum in Boonville NY. 

For a previous Dispatches post on this lateral canal, click here.  For photos from the Canal Society visit to the canal area, click here and here.

Many thanks to Bill Hecht for his work cleaning up these images in the CSNY photo collection.