History of Steam on the Erie Canal

A lively chronicle of the Erie Canal’s first steam age, this volume opens with the inventive spirit of a New‑York farmer who carved a miniature screw‑propeller in the maple‑sugar season of 1858 and pressed his design into a full‑size vessel, the Charles Wack. The narrative follows that daring craft as it shuttles cargo between Buffalo and West Troy, sparking a wave of confidence that sees larger, faster steamers—like the S.B. Ruggles and P.L. Sternburg—join the waterway. Early triumphs and setbacks are detailed with vivid anecdotes of governors, board members, and townsfolk greeting the new iron monsters along the canal’s banks.

The book then surveys the eclectic parade of propulsion experiments that followed, from twin‑propeller tugs and the bold rotary‑engine of the Rotary to adjustable stern‑wheels and unusual paddle‑wheel configurations. Readers gain a clear picture of how engineers wrestled with lock dimensions, cargo loads, and tow‑age, revealing a period of rapid trial, error, and enthusiastic optimism that reshaped inland commerce in the mid‑nineteenth century.