THE ERIE CANAL

I've got a mule,
Her name is Sal,
Fifteen years on the Er-ie can-al.
She's a good old worker
And a good old pal,
Fifteen years on the Er-ie can-al.
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal and hay
And ev'ry inch of the way I know
From Albany to Buff-a-lo OH.

(Chorus)
Low Bridge, ev'rybody down,
For it's Low Bridge,
We're coming to a town!
You can always tell your neighbor,
You can always tell your pal,
If you've ever navigated
On the Er-ie can-al..

We better get along
On our way, old gal,
Fifteen miles on the Er-ie can-al.
Cause you bet your life
I'd never part with Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Er-ie can-al.
Git up there, mule, here comes a lock,
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock.
One more trip and back we'll go
Right back home to Buff-a-lo OH
(Chorus)

We'd better look round for a job old gal,
Fif-teen miles - on the Er-ie can-al,
You bet your life I wouldn't part with Sal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
Giddap 'there gal we've passed that lock,
We'll make Rome fore six o'clock,
So, it's one more trip and then we'll go,
Right back home to Buff-a-lo OH
(Chorus)

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al.
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
A friend of mine once got her sore,
Now he's got a busted jaw,
Cause she let fly with her iron toe,
And kicked him in to Buff-a-lo OH
(Chorus)

Don't have to call when I want my Sal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
She trots from her stall like a good old gal,
Fif-teen miles on the Er-ie can-al,
I eat my meals with Sal each day,
I eat beef and she eats hay,
And she ain't so slow if you want to know,
She put the "Buff" in Buff-a-lo OH
(Chorus)

The Erie Canal, built across New York State in the 1820s, opened the Midwest to development and helped New York City become a worldwide trading center.

The canal spurred the first great westward movement of American settlers, gave access to the rich land and resources west of the Appalachians and made New York the preeminent commercial city in the United States.

Until one of the engineers, Canvass White, traveled to England in 1817 and walked 2,000 miles of English canals, no one had seen a completed canal approaching the scale of the Erie. It was White who solved the problem of the hydraulic cement, finding the necessary source near Chittenango and eventually obtaining a patent on the process.

When finally completed on October 26, 1825, it was the engineering marvel of its day. It included 18 aqueducts to carry the canal over ravines and rivers, and 83 locks, with a rise of 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It was 4 feet deep and 40 feet wide, and floated boats carrying 30 tons of freight. A ten foot wide towpath was built along the bank of the canal for horses, mules, and oxen led by a boy boat driver or "hoggee".

This song, Low Bridge! (also known as 15 Miles on the Erie Canal) was a twentieth century folk creation, written long after the canal era.



View of Erie Canal by John William Hill, 1829