"Her name is Sal..."

Many may remember the old song about the Erie Canal, "Low Bridge," with it's refrain of "I've got a mule, her name is Sal..." What many folks may not realize is that the canal underwent several expansions, and in the last expansion, ca1914, the canal was no longer open to mule or horse drawn tow boats; all traffic was to be towed by tugs or have its own engine.

The canal expansion came up in our local history area today, as the village of Brockport has received a grant with which to commission an artist to do a mural about the canal. The mural is going to in part depict the last big expansion, which widened and deepened the canal to the proportions it has to this day. The bridges at Main Street and Park Avenue date from that expansion as well. Shown here is one of the glass plate photos in our special collections which shows some of the work being done at the time.

We have many books in our catalog about the canal, and articles could be found in sources like America: History & Life, and the New York Times Historical Archives.