Water Protection and Restoration

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Erie Canal From Buffalo to Albany in New York State New York 363 miles

Blog 47

Facts about Erie Canal

Length, Albany to Buffalo (original Erie Canal)363 miles
Number of locks, 1825 - 83
Number of locks, present day - 57
Elevation change, Albany to Buffalo - 571 feet
Canal dimensions, 1825 Original Erie - 4 ft deep x 40 ft wide; locks 90 ft long
Canal dimensions, 1862 Enlarged Erie 7 ft deep x 70 ft wide; lock 110 ft long
Number of aqueducts to bypass rivers and streams 18
Travel time from Albany to Buffalo, 1825- 5 days

The present society cannot even maintain it.

The Official History Possibly Incorrect:

Constructed in 1825, the Erie Canal is considered the “Gateway to the West,” as it connected the port city of Buffalo with other cities along the Great Lakes, as well as the port of New York City.

According to the Erie Canalway Heritage Center, travel from Albany to Buffalo took two weeks by stagecoach in 1825, but the Erie Canal shortened the journey to five days. The Erie Canal brought goods and passengers, which directly contributed to Buffalo’s prosperity in trade and helped support its growth in culture, architecture and the arts in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The Canal helped Buffalo eventually become the largest inland port in the nation as well as the unofficial grain capital of North America, which led to the construction of the city’s famous grain elevators, now used to host live performances, events and historical tours.

Among the canal district there were also warehouses, businesses, saloons, shops, residences, and hotels supported by the business and tourism fostered by the canal.

In the late 1800s, railroads became increasingly dominant and complemented the canal in supporting Buffalo’s economic and cultural growth.

Buffalo’s outer harbor also played a significant role in the city’s economy and history. Located just outside of Erie Canal Harbor on the banks of Lake Erie, the outer harbor became home to “heavy manufacturers” producing cement, copper, steel, and other important materials that contributed to the city’s industrial growth.

The Outer Harbor factories also provided many blue-collar jobs, which helped contribute to the “hardworking culture and down-to-earth disposition of the region and its residents,” according to the Erie Canal Harbor Development Corporation.

While most of the city’s factories have since shut down, most Buffalonians will agree that the city’s blue-collar work ethic and gritty mentality remains.

Friday, October 6, 2023

Water Technology

Blog 46

Another fascinating technology used by the Romans was the water wheel (Noria) which is represented in 4th century AD mosaics from Syria. The noria is powered by the flow of a river and lifts water in buckets to fields or aqueducts. There remain a number of ancient Arabic water wheels along the Orontes River in and near Hama. These water works date back to medieval times and as late as 1985 there were about 80 in use along the river irrigating over 5000 ha. Today only a handful remain and those in Hama itself are tourist attractions for the city – ancient and elegant reminders of the long history of water management and transference in Syria.

Water management is an issue that weaves itself throughout Syrian and Mesopotamian history. Irrigation canals and water diversions have a long archaeological and historical record. As one example – royal inscriptions from 2500 to 2350 BC from Mesopotamia relate to how Eannatum the ruler of Lagash extended the Inun water canal and how disputes over canals and irrigated fields led to war between that state and the neighboring state of Umma.

The Romans were the great water engineers and managers of the ancient world. Throughout Syria there remain, sometimes in working order, examples of Roman water management. One type of Roman water work that is extremely abundant, and often still functional, is the Roman Cistern (Abar Romani). These are small excavated caverns, often lined with Roman hydraulic cement, that capture surface flow from the winter rains for use in the dry summer. They typically have a large stone cover to protect the water. There are at least 1115 of these cisterns in Syria. On a small road near Qatura northeast of Aleppo one such cistern sits beneath a set of Roman cave tombs and is still used by travelers.

Link

https://glenmmacdonald.com/2008/07/18/ancient-water-resource-tools/

The Aqueducts Of the Ancients

Blog 45

During the 4500 years of South American pre-Columbian history, numerous civilizations emerged, mainly in the western coast and the Andean regions of South America, e.g., the Chavín, the Moche, the Nazca, and the Huari. Around 1530 AD, almost all of their former territories, people and knowledge formed part of the Inca Empire.

This pre-Hispanic state featured the largest extension in America, with a population of about 15 million inhabitants of different cultures and languages, including territories along the coast and the Andes of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, and Argentina.

The Incas, who existed as an empire for approximately 100 years before the arrival of the Spanish, conquered or annexed almost every contemporary civilization in the Andes and adjacent coastal regions, and assimilated all knowledge they encountered, including hydraulic engineering technologies

The Cumbe Mayo archaeological site located near the Peruvian city of Cajamarca, features the ruins of a 9 km long Pre-Incan aqueduct, built around 1500 BC.

The aqueduct collected water from the Atlantic watershed and redirected it on its way to the Pacific Ocean. The channel was excavated in volcanic rock and is 35 to 50 cm wide and 30 to 65 cm deep . Locally the channel follows a zigzag course, possibly to diminish flow speed and prevent erosion.

Arguably, in order to be able to design and build a channel with such a precision, the master builder must have employed cutting and leveling instruments.