July 31 – 81 miles from Syracuse to Little Falls, NY. A grey day, with pleasant roads and
riding companions (Jim and Little Bill.)
Some days seem to blur into all the others, and this was one of
those. Followed the Erie canal
again, which eventually connects to the Mohawk River, and passed through a good
number of really depressed small, upstate NY towns. These towns had their glory days when the Erie Canal was the
main east-west artery of America and the first industrial revolution was in
swing, and a second boom in the early 1900’s with factories and farms supplying
the nation ( and WWII war effort).
But since then, it has been a long slide into back-waterhood. You can see the remnants – old,
abandoned factories, magnificent Victorian houses now run down, Norman Rockwell
Main Streets with few open shops (and the few are often pawn shops and nail
salons.) It’s a recession in
America, but a long depression in central NY. Sad, but the reality is the area needs a new economic base.
August 1 – 74 miles to Latham, NY, outside of Albany, again
riding with Jim and Little Bill. A
simply superb day, with pleasant weather, smooth roads, lovely views, pleasant
bike paths along the Mohawk River and some nice small towns – a little more
prosperous as you get closer to Albany (perhaps the influence of the government
jobs plus large GE R&D center.)
August 2 – 80 miles to Brattleboro, Vermont, with climbs
over the Taconic hills in NY and then the Green Mountains of Vermont. The climbs are a good bit easier than
when I was in Oregon. We got
everything you expect of Vermont – forested, rolling mountains; little white
clapboard churches; covered bridges; and quaint, colonial era-looking towns
(mostly catering to quaint-hungry tourists, but, hey, it’s a living and the
towns, like Bennington, Wilmington and Brattleboro, are doing well.) At the end of the ride, as we came over
Hogback Mountain, a thunderstorm approached. I raced it to town for 17 miles, helped by a several
thousand foot descent that often kept me over 30 mph. Reached the motel just as the rain arrived – whew, safe at
the plate.
Thoughts:
Historical Sights
Along the ride, we have seen innumerable “historic markers”,
and it seems that every other town, on its “Welcome To …” sign says “Historic
…” Now, sometimes the markers have
provided interesting factoids, such as the need to disassemble and re-assemble
covered wagons at steep points on the Oregon Trail. More often, the markers have no real history to tell, more
like “John Jones built a cabin here in 1856”. Likewise, essentially none of the “historic” towns are
anything like historic, at least in the sense of having events or people
influenced human events in, if not the world, at least a reasonable portion of
the nation. In fact, most of the
towns were not even that old. Its
funny how people stretch meanings and inflate the truth to give a sense of
value to a place. (Likewise to give a sense of value to people – listen to the
introduction given to any politician.) Most places, and the leaders of most
places, just seem to have a hard time accepting their humble role in this
world.
But among the “historic” sights we have seen, one stands out
as truly significant - the Erie
Canal, started in 1817 and finished in 1825. At any given place, it appears a relatively modest thing – a
ditch roughly 40 ft .wide by 6 ft. deep.
However, this ditch, combined with the Mohawk River, stretches for
nearly 300 miles, with its numerous locks both on the canal and the river. It ranks as one of the most impressive
engineering feats of the 19th century.
While the Erie Canal certainly has its share of markers,
surprisingly little is said of the significance of the canal; they mostly talk
about dates and construction statistics.
Its importance to the development of the United States is huge. It became the main east-west access
corridor to the Midwest, uniting that portion of the country to the northeast
(as opposed to with the South via the Mississippi). With the flux of settlers moving west via the canal, it
sealed the fate of the native Indians in the Midwest. Due to the cheap transport it provided, it led to the
Midwest becoming the breadbasket of the country (which previously had been the
eastern piedmont and valleys of the Hudson, Delaware and Shenandoah). It also mading New York the principal
city of the nation and the major center for immigration – the combination of a
great port and easy access to the west was far more than rival Philadelphia
could compete with. (Up to the early 1800’s Philadelphia was the largest city
in the US and second largest English speaking city in the world.) In fact, most of the pioneers who went
west to Oregon or California first went west on the Erie Canal, or their
parents did. Overall, it is safe
to conclude that the canal was a significant factor in making the US the world
power it is today.
Not bad for an idea proposed originally by a prison inmate,
and executed largely by Irish immigrants with little or no technical knowledge
of canal water management or construction. It is the main claim to fame for its primary champion, Mayor
(of New York City) and then Governor DeWitt Clinton, now counted as one of the
great governors in US history.
Interestingly, the expansion of the canal in the late 1800’s also became
the main claim to fame (up to then) of an even better known New York governor,
Teddy Roosevelt, who used this and his image as a Rough Rider to gain national
office.
Back to historic markers: I noted one case where there was no marker where there
should have been one. We
went through Palmyra, New York, the birthplace of the Mormon religion. It was the home of Joseph Smith and
place where he claimed to translated mysterious writing on gold tablets (which
he found on “Cumorah Hill” 3 miles outside of town) into the Book of
Mormon. But there was no marker
mentioning Joseph Smith, even though the Mormon religion is an important
historical development. I guess
there is hesitancy among both the Mormons and civic leaders about highlighting
the rather bizarre origin of this religion. As we saw many other markers mentioning religious leaders
and event, I am sure it is not a church and state separation thing.
Anyway, there were probably over a hundred historic markers
seen on this trip, filled with dates and names and minor events, but little
context or indication of significance (or lack thereof.) If historic markers
are any indication of how we Americans perceive or understand history, its no
wonder America, as a culture, is so poor at judging what is important and what
is not, and is so preoccupied with trivia. But perhaps I judge too harshly, and should just enjoy the
markers as fun lttle mementos of things past across America.
