Sunken Treasures on the Erie Canal

by Don Rittner

ROTTERDAM JUNCTION

Sunken Treasures on the Erie Canal

Most people have never heard of William McAdoo (1863-1941), unless of course they are students of economic history and even then there is no guarantee.  Yet, Mr. MacDoo has left a lasting impression locally on the Mohawk River – actually several  of them.

McAdoo was the Secretary of the Treasury from 1913-1918 under President Woodrow Wilson.  He also married Wilson’s daughter in 1914 and had two daughters, one of which killed herself.  But I digress.

McAdoo was made the first Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board and closed Wall Street down for four months during July to August 1914.  This little event prevented America from going into recession and was instrumental in allowing the U.S. to enter World War I with some money in the bank.

In April 1917, Wilson formed the U.S. Railroad Administration to run the country’s transportation system during the war.  Apparently the trains could not keep up with moving the goods for the war so McAdoo was appointed Director General of Railroads and held the position until after the armistice was declared in November 1918.

In April, 1918, McAdoo and his Railroad Administration took over control of the Erie Canal and other inland waterways.  Along with this takeover, a fleet of concrete barges was ordered to be constructed to haul coal and grain for the war to relive freight traffic on the railroads.  He gave the helm to carry out these orders to G.A. Tomlinson of Duluth, Minnesota who became the General Manager of the NY canal system under the Railroad Administration.

Tomlinson is quoted as saying, “We are going to build a lot of barges and operate them on the Barge Canal.  If the first ones work out all right we shall build more like them. If they need improvement, we’ll improve them. You see we haven’t any experience to go on, because there isn’t any other inland waterway like this anywhere as to size, depth of channel, length, and many other factors. Nobody knows exactly what sort of boat is best adapted to canal navigation under these new conditions. We have not set up any theory about it; we are simply going to build some boats that we know can be utilized and operate them on the canal and study the result very carefully.  It will not take long to get a lot of boats into the water – I don’t want to commit myself to any definite time- and then, if there is need for a change or design, increased size of anything else, it can be met. The main thing is to get traffic moving over the canal , and that we are surely going to do as quickly as it can be done.”

When asked if he was going to build concrete barges he replied: “Concrete and steel, both. Concrete boats can be built quickly and cheaply. They have the disadvantage of weighing more, size for size, and the matter durability is as yet undetermined. They will undoubtedly outlast the war emergency, however, and I am of the opinion that their operation in fresh water will be even more satisfactory than in salt water, as there will be no possibility of corrosive action on the concrete as from the salts in the sea water.  I see no reason why they not last and give good service for many years after the war.”

US 107 concrete barge and two more just west of Lock 9 in Rotterdam Junction. Photo by Don Rittner

 

He went on to describe the size of the barges. “Both concrete and steel boats will be 150 feet long, 21 feet wide, and 12 feet deep. The concrete boats of that size will weigh about 310 tons each, the steel boats about 200 tons.. They will draw, loaded, about 9 ½ feet of water and will have a cargo capacity of 400 to 500 tons.“  He also stated that “Instead of rivets, it is our purpose to have these barges assembled so far as possible, by electric spot welding, which is the latest development in ship construction.  It is quicker and cheaper than riveting and makes a stronger joint, and allows of laying on plates like wallpaper, since rows of rivet holes do not have to accurately matched.“

Building concrete ships and barges was not a new thing.  They had tried it as early as 1910. E. W Hartman who built 36 such vessels for use on the Panama Canal and inventor of this type of boat was contracted to build nine of them for a river transportation company. The sides and bottoms of barges were made of concrete six inches thick and were 73 feet long by 32 feet wide and 7 feet deep.  They were divided into concrete walls into 60 airtight compartments making them practically unsinkable.  The cost of each barge was $5500 compared to traditional wooden ones that cost $7400 each.  These concrete barges also drew less water than wooden ones and held 190 tons more.

Here you can see the iron mesh that is the skeleton before they poured concrete over it.

These barges were built by riveting up the steel or iron frame and then completely covered it with concrete.  Portland cement and crushed quartz was applied by compressed air.  Each section was reinforced independently by networks of light steel bars and wire mesh.

In 1917, Redwood Harbor under a secret process developed by Kenneth McDonald and his brother built barges that were 300 feet long, 46 wide, and drew 24 feet of water.

Hard to image when the water is full that you putting your boat line on an old WWI barge. Photo by Don Rittner

In May 1918, the Shipping board asked Congress for $50 million to build concrete ships with the blessing of the president shortly after McAdoo took over control of the Erie Canal.

Several square compartments 15/12×15/12 feet carried grain, ore, coal, etc. during war time.

Tomlinson announced on May 14, 1918 that there were 165 barges available with 40,000 tons at their disposal for immediate use of the canal and that a contract was out to build 75 steel and concrete barges.  Thirty tugs had been purchased to move them.  The concrete barges were toted as faster to build, meaning one-fourth the time and one half the cost of steel barges.

Unfortunately, these concrete barges had a short life – in two ways.  They only lasted about 5 years in use – the 4 inch hulls quickly sank if they hit something. Secondly, America went into World War I on April 2, 1917 when Wilson declared war on Germany.  One November 9^th 1918 the Armistice was signed, only six months after McAdoo took over the Erie Canal.

What ever happened to those hundreds of concrete barges? According to the New York Times  the canal fleet would be sold to private owner to carry 20 million tons of freight every year, such as coal, grain, ore, stone, and cement. Several of them however ended up staying in the canal and sunk to be used as erosion control and as docks for boats waiting to enter the locks. Five of these barges can be seen at Lock 9 in Rotterdam Junction before the canal season opens. 

I measured one of the barges (US 107) and it was 133 feet long, 20 1.2 feet wide and 15 deep.  It had several bays that were 15-½ foot square.  You can see the steel and iron mesh structure on several of them where the concrete has washed away.  All of them have a number preceded by US.  The five at Rotterdam are US 107, US 109, US 120 (west of the lock),  and US 116, US 112, both east of the lock.  On top of these barges were built concrete blocks with bollards so that boats waiting to enter the lock can tie up.  When the canal is in full season all you can see are the bollards.

There is a picture of US 107 with the caption “New concrete barge U.S. 107 tied up at Ellicott Creek Boatyard, Tonawanda, NY, midsummer 1919. Scaffold hanging from port bow indicates the boat was there for repairs,” at http://www.tonawanda.ny.us/history/Erie_Canal.asp.

Concrete barges are also in other parts of the canal system. For example,  US 102 is located at Lock 13 in Randall, NY.

So next time you tie up your boat before entering the lock, look carefully.  You may be tied to one of the country’s rich World War I era artifacts – the concrete barge.

 

Originally Published in the Albany  Times Union on May 9, 2009.