From collection Kosti Ruohomaa Collection
Erie Canal Aqueduct Over Mohawk River 2
This aqueduct brought barges from the Erie Canal into Little Falls, New York. Mason Ara Broadwell built the aqueduct in 1822 of limestone. Kosti photographed what was left of the structure in 1945, today only piles of loose stone remain. This photo was published in the November 12, 1945 issue of LIFE Magazine on p. 110.
The Erie Canal runs 363 miles along the Mohawk River Valley from the Hudson River in Troy, New York, to Buffalo, to connect to Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, climbing an elevation of over 500 feet. It was completed in 1825 after 8 years of construction by Irish and German immigrants with draft animals. In the 19th century, barges carrying goods were pulled along by a mule walking on a tow path by the side of the canal. The original canal had 83 locks, contained areas in the canal, that fill with water to raise boats up to the next elevation, or drain water to lower a boat down. In 1918 a wider "Erie Barge Canal" was completed and about half of the old canal was abandoned. Connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Great Lakes dramatically boosted the economy in New York City and along the canal route.
Condon, George. Stars in the Water; the Story of the Erie Canal. (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1974)
In 1945, Kosti Ruohomaa produced a photo essay for LIFE Magazine titled "Mohawk Valley." The accompanying article begins: "Along its 150-mile course from Rome, N.Y. to Cohoes, where it flows into the Hudson, the Mohawk River lies in a fertile rolling valley which, since before remembered history, has been a vital corridor through the eastern mountains” p. 103.
The article is a history lesson, touching on Mohawk Native Peoples, brutal 17th and 18th century wars, and the construction of the Eerie Canal. Kosti Ruohomaa took over 500 photographs for this assignment for LIFE Magazine. Ruohomaa's images include rolling farmland, historic structures, memorial monuments, and dramatic natural wonders. Over 20 of Kosti Ruohomaa’s photographs were published in the November 12, 1945 issue of LIFE Magazine on pages 103-111.
