When the original Seneca Chief traveled from Buffalo to New York City to celebrate the completion of the Erie Canal on October 26, 1825, Governor DeWitt Clinton was aboard. Clinton had been the canal's greatest champion, and for that reason, those opposed to the canal's development called it "Clinton's Folly" and "Clinton's Big Ditch." In addition to the governor, the Seneca Chief carried a keg filled with water from Lake Erie. When the Seneca Chief reached New York City, Governer Clinton ceremonially poured the water from Lake Erie into New York Harbor.
The replica Seneca Chief also a carried a keg, into which a sample of the water was added at each of its stops along the Erie Canal and the Hudson River. The picture below shows Mayor Kamal Johnson and his aide Justin Weaver, along with others, atop the replica Seneca Chief yesterday, adding Hudson's sample of water to the keg.
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| Photo: Donna Streitz |
The arrival of the Seneca Chief at the Hudson dock provided a chance contrast of river traffic two hundred years ago and today. Soon after the Seneca Chief docked at Henry Hudson Riverfront Park, a massive freighter passed by on the river.
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| Photo: Donna Streitz |
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| Photo: Win Jackson |
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