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.

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...

Juncta, where the Erie and Champlain Canals Came Together in Cohoes, NY

Old Juncta, Cohoes, NY

Juncta doesn't exist on contemporary maps, paper or digital. Juncta is the old area near the southern ends of Saratoga Street and Main Street where the Champlain and Erie Canals joined together to continue the route to Albany, New York or if your direction was north or west it was where the canal separated to to to Buffalo or to Whitehall and Lake Champlain.  It once was the hub of canal boat activity and commerce. It was here in Juncta, that stores sold food supplies and hardware for boats, stables, livestock, animal feed and all the commodities necessary to a canalman. Hotels were operated to give travelers, merchants and boatmen a rest.

Juncta in its Heyday

Below is the New York State Historical Marker explaining the Juncta site today:

facing south.....

facing north...Main and Saratoga Streets join together...

and a section of the old Champlain canal along Interstate 787....