Featured NY Postcards: Barge Canal Construction Photos

VINTAGE VIEWS OF NEW YORK

FEATURED POSTCARDS ARCHIVE
1908-1909 Renovation of the Erie Canal

I recently acquired two packets of interesting of postcards at a local grocery store. The two sets of 25 cards document the construction project that transformed the Erie Canal into the New York State Barge Canal. Feeling that these privately published cards were ideal for this site, I contacted the publisher/owner for permission, and learned the fascinating story behind these cards.

Ted Rogers is a collector of glass plate photographic negatives. About 25 years ago at a local flea market he discovered a wooden crate packed with these glass plates. After a days worth of dickering, and a reminder to the seller that if he didn't accept Ted's offer, he would have to lug the heavy crate home again, a price was agreed upon.

Each of the negatives was in a paper sleeve, with the location, date and time of each image recorded. The images showed a major construction project, featuring many bridges, and stone earth works.

Ted knew immediately that these image were of the canal. Ted lived in a tiny village that had serviced a widewater turing basin for the canal boats. In fact Ted worked on the canal. He would eventually retire after 26 years as a lock and lift bridge operator!

Further investigation into the crate revealed more treasures. There were plates documenting each house that had been demolished for the new route of the canal around Rochester. There are also plates showing the Genesee River, a portion of which would be used by the refurbished canal. To maintain the required 15 foot depth needed by the canal, the Court Street Dam was rebuilt, so there are photos of that too. Aerial photos showing the canal route are also included.

Ted has tried to investigate the history of these plates. While unable to learn anything specific, he has pieced together the basic story. During the construction project photographers were hired by the state to document the construction. Contact prints were made by the state, then the original plates were destroyed, "to prevent anyone from using them to make a profit from the canal."

Ted believes that the underpaid photographer never turned the negatives in for his payment. They ended up forgotten in an attic, then sold at auction, before he bought them at the flea market.

Ted has learned that the contact prints made from the destroyed plates had deteriorated in storage, and were now useless. His plates of the canal between Clyde and Pendleton are the only photographic documentation of the construction project.

The copyright authorization for the postcards to be printed was the next battle Ted encountered. The government would not grant the copyright. His lawyer made six unsuccessful calls trying to find a way. Eventually it was determined that the procedure Ted had used to made the cards fit through a loophole. He had sent contact prints to his printer to make the cards. Had the plates for the printing press been made directly from the glass plates there could be no copyright issued.

In a lengthy phone conversation with Ted I learned this amazing story, and more. Most importantly, he has five more sets of 25 cards in preparation for the printer. He is taking great care that each set is a well balanced selection from the entire collection. The cards were difficult to scan, and the detail in the darker areas was lost.

This month Vintage Views of New York features the first 13 cards of the 50 now available. The remaining cards will be featured in the coming months.

You can contact Ted at:

TR's Eerie Post Cards

PO Box 800

Adams Basin, NY 14410

(716) 352-0660

POSTCARDS

Partial map of the Erie Canal

Bridge looking west. Knowlesville, NY, 1909

Bridge Construction, Men working, 1908

S. Person & Son, Inc. Locomotive crane, 1909

Saw mill cutting timbers for construction work, 1909