The first Canal Boat: Seneca Chief and the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal!

Hello all -
Well, this is such an interesting boat with a wonderful history. The Seneca Chief, first boat to traverse the Erie Canal from Buffalo to NYC, has been replicated in honor of the 200th anniversary in 2025!
Shane explains some of the history of the boat and offers a nice view as she gets commissioned today.
Thanks as always for your continued support!

[@18robsmith]

Thanks for taking your time and camera to show us a very different historic boat.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

18robsmith, you're welcome as always! Glad you enjoyed it, and happy to film it...how could I not!

[@jeffgrier8488]

Thanks for sharing that with us Shane, it's super cool!

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Super cool is right, Jeff!

[@richardcall7447]

Great video! What a great way to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the canal.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Glad you enjoyed, richardcall7447! Appreciate it...and it was a fabulous idea to reconstruct the Seneca Chief!

[@bluerebel01]

So historically cool. Thanks for sharing.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

You're welcome, bluerebel01! Amazing craft of American Maritime history!

[@francesricheal9861]

That was really cool. Thank you, Shane, for bringing this video to us! It is such a neat event for us here in western NY. I actually did a tour some years back in Roscoe Village which is a restored town of the Erie Canal in Ohio. Coshocton The boat was pulled by horses. Yes, a tow path. The tour was very interesting and the tour guide was very good. Beautiful town..

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Thanks Fran. That sounds like an interesting town for sure. It's cool to see restored towns especially one with that history. The Ohio & Erie Canal was a canal that connected Lake Erie to the Ohio River. It was completed a few years after the Erie Canal here in NYS.

[@francesricheal9861]

I know people forget about the Ohio Canal.

[@BryceKant]

That was cool! I remember learning about the canal in grade school, and learning the Erie Canal song.. which no longer remember.. save for the refrains "Low Bridge, everybody down! Low Bridge cause we're coming to a town.", and "18 mile son the Erie Canal". I also kind of remember when they "rediscovered" the original terminus of the canal, and all the commotion that caused with the downtown revitalization plans and everything. On an off-topic note, I thought of a topic for a video.. one you guys can do that Battleship New Jersey can't! The torpedo fire control and how torpedoes were launched from the USS The Sullivans. You guys have the hardware for the video, so you can one-up the BB 62 crew! I don't think I have ever seen a video from anywhere on just how the Fletcher-class launched their torpedoes at an enemy target. One might exist, I just haven't found any.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Hi Bryce, thanks for watching, and appreciate your interest in that video! That is quite a good idea. I will do research as well. As off the top, I haven't come across a computer room for the torpedoes...maybe it was local control...anyway...I'll start to do some digging around! Appreciate your continued support!

[@BryceKant]

@@BuffaloNavalPark from what little I have researched, I think there was both a fire control post on the wings of the bridge, and another on the torpedo launcher for local control. It was basically a square box mounted on a pole, or the top of the launcher.

[@kirkmorrison6131]

Neat, she has nice lines and a lot of freeboard. I lived near the C&O Canal near DC for 18 months and went there a lot. The mule track remains now in a lot of places as a Bike Trail. She runs from the Potomac River, to near the mountains. Great video Shane.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Thanks Kirk - appreciate your interest and your experiences with a canal near where you lived for a bit! Fascinating snapshot of our history when geography still controlled how American's moved around!

[@kirkmorrison6131]

@@BuffaloNavalPark Definitely is interesting, I grew up near the Wilderness Rd that Daniel Boone blazed . The early years of this country were fascinating.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

@@kirkmorrison6131 Sounds cool! I don't know much about America's interior...but, definitely historic!

[@kirkmorrison6131]

@@BuffaloNavalPark Yep, US Rt 11 is more or less on it. If you want to follow it on a map and Google view it

[@johnslaughter5475]

Really cool. Looks very similar to the keel boats that Davy Crockett and Mike Fink poled along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers. That bongo player gave me a headache.

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

I couldn't figure out what he was doing up there, but hey...whatever works! I don't know much about America's frontier boats, but I wouldn't be surprised if they're the same. Many packet canal boats had a lower draft than three to four feet...

[@frankbarnwell____]

David on #cruisingthecut aught to see this The mule paths beside the canal are called tow paths by some on Great Britain

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Hi Frank. I don't know David but, if you can share - please feel free! Thanks!

[@frankbarnwell____]

​@BuffaloNavalPark he has a yt channel about canal boats on the island of Great Britain. I don't know him, just the channel. Fascinating stuff (to me) , but have learned loads about the geography of that island.

[@greggweber9967]

Looks almost like something captained by Mike Fink, king of the river. LoL

[@BuffaloNavalPark]

Thanks for watching greggweber9967...though I had to look up who Mike Fink was...interesting! Glad you enjoyed!