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Sloan Foundation Lunchtime Lecture: Salt, Boats, and the Erie Canal
November 21 @ 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Sloan Foundation Lunchtime Lecture: Salt, Boats and the Erie Canal
Thursday, November 21 | 12PM | Hybrid | Free ($10 suggested donation)
Salt from the 425 million years-old deposits half a mile below the earth’s surface has been harvested from brine well refineries (table salt) and a few deep mines (rock salt) around New York from the early 1800s to the present. Salt was transported to market first by early rough roads and for decades by boats on lakes, rivers, and the first two iterations of the Erie Canal. Ithaca and other places became boat-building centers that provided various kinds of boats for transport of goods via Cayuga and Seneca Lakes to the Erie Canal and points beyond.
What do we know about boat transport of our local salt products? How did the third and much-improved Erie Canal (Barge-1918) compete with railroads and later, over-the-road trucks, to carry salt to various markets? Come find out on Thursday, November 21, at noon at the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse.
The 2024 Lecture Series is presented by the Sloan Fund.
