Arthur Mylott's Champlain Canal Childhood in Waterford, New York

 

Whitehall: Drownings in the rivers, locks and canals 1919

 From the Whitehall Times, 4 September 1919

Accidental death around the canals and waterways were very common.  In the 19th and first half of the 20th century, safety was an afterthought and there were no laws or regulations requiring safeguards for children and adults.

Juncta...again

Yes...I know I having posted in a very long time. And there is still so much to research and family history to discover.  Unfortunately, I am in a time and place where my materials are packed in boxes and my files are inaccessible!  So I am using my time to research genealogy on line.  From time to time I come across something new to me.  Recently I discovered an image to share with you....

Many of the FrancoAmerican ancestors who are the subject of this blog emigrated from the Richelieu Valley to Cohoes in the mid 19th century (see Mapping the Route) because this little town was beaming with commerce and employment at the dawn of the industrial revolution.  Cohoes and Waterford are strategically located at the junction of the Hudson and Mohawk Rivers where water power energized transportation and manufacturing.  There was a little area on the south side of Cohoes called "Juncta" where the Old Champlain and Old Erie Canals came together and then went on to Albany. Present day Juncta doesn't reflect the lively times it once enjoyed as the social and commercial gathering place of canalers and their families, tavern keepers, horse stablers and business people.  After the expansion of the canal system in 1918 and the dominance of the railroads, Juncta fell into a decline but if you search present day Juncta, vestigaes of it remain.

Below is a low resolution image of Juncta from the New York Public Library's digital gallery.  This was probably illustrated in the early days of the canal - taking a guesstimate it is probably 1840s just before it's heyday.  

The rural nature of Juncta stands out in this image and I can't help recall that this spot is close to the area of Green Island we called "the prairie" in the 1950s.  On the northern side of Green Island, the prairie was full of woods and marshlands - and the island's dump.  Today the area is not as desolate as I remember and many new small industries have been built in the woods and prairie.  Still....behind the new industrial buildings, glimpses of the the Hudson River remain.

A Mylott in 19th Century Whitehall

Robert Millot, alternatively spelled  Mailot or  Maylotte and finally, Mylott can be found in the 1850 census of Whitehall, New York working as a farm laborer on the Rathburn farm on the outskirts of town. Exactly when he arrived from Québec, we do not know.  What attracted the young man to this town at the southern end of Lake Champlain? Looking around Whitehall today, it would be hard to tell.  What did Whitehall look like in 1850?  When Robert Millot came into Whitehall,  he found a town bursting with activity, jobs, commerce and crime but, at that time, only a few French Canadians.  For several decades the region was the farmland of New England descendants.  With the opening of the Champlain Canal, Whitehall quickly became the center of economic activity in the north county attracting many new immigrants because it offered many new opportunities.  It was so busy and bustling, it even became the center of a fictional story entitled Ship Fever Times.

Below are several stereoscopic views and a few panoramic scenes of Whitehall in the 19th century, helping us to imagine the Whitehall  Robert Millot saw when he arrived.

A viewer, typical of the ones used to view the images below

The Champlain Canal at Comstock

The Champlain canal parallels Wood Creek in Washington County.  North of Comstock,  ancestors in the Mylott family farmed lands along Wood Creek and made a decent livelihood due to their proximity to the canal lanes.
maps of the old canal contrast with the photos of the present day canal and the locks at Comstock

Looking North

Entering the locks

Emptying the tub

Motorist heading back to Canada in the Champlain Canal

The locker tender's abode

Along the Champlain Canal in Northside, Waterford

Click on any image to enlarge

The old original Champlain Canal separated from the Erie Canal at Juncta in Cohoes, NY.  Erie barges heading west traveled through the multiple locks on the west side of the Mohawk to rise over the Cohoes Cataract.  Champlain bound barges heading north crossed the Mohawk River into the slim canal in Northside, Waterford.  

I have tried to highlight the separation of the two canals from Juncta.  

The Red line parallels the Champlain Canal; the Blue line follows the Erie Canal

Below, the plaque on the Cohoes-Waterford Bridge over the Mohawk River...

The Railroad Bridge over the Mohawk River...