Over the past year, the canal community lost these two wonderful men who were also fine researchers, advocates, and educators.
Terry Woods was one the old guard experts on Ohio and Pennsylvania canals. He was the author of many books, articles and columns. Thomas Grasso was the expert on all things New York, but I doubt that there were many canals, domestic or world-wide, that Tom didn’t know about. In addition to their own work, both served as members of the board and as presidents of their state canal societies, writing guidebooks and leading trips. The loss of these men has been deeply felt by all who knew them.
Over the last two issues, the American Canals newsletter has offered tributes to both men and just in case you didn’t know who they were, we are offering the newsletters here as pdf files. Feel free to download if you wish.
American Canals has been published for 50 years and they cover a great variety of topics. The issues between 1972 and 2020 can be found on this website as free downloads. if you are researching a topic, the index can help you find your subject.
Steam shovel on Contract 1. This might be a Marion model improved A.
The steam shovel was perhaps the most ubiquitous machine on construction and mining sites between 1880 and 1930. The earliest steam shovel dates back to 1835 when William Otis designed what was called a railroad shovel. The machine, which included a steam boiler, various steam engines, dipper arm assembly, fuel and water, weighed several tons.(1) At the time the only large construction projects that could use such a machine were in railroad construction so the shovel was mounted to a flatcar and set on standard gauge railroad wheels. The shovel could also be mounted to a barge and used as a dredge but that came later.
This shovel loads a train on Contract 12.
The Otis patent ran out in the 1870s, and this allowed many companies to begin the manufacture of their own machines. Well known brands were the Osgood, Marion, Bucyrus, Barnhart, and American steam shovels. Osgood shovels were produced in Troy, NY, while Marion, Bucyrus and Barnhart were all Ohio companies. Improvements were made to the shovels as they got sturdier, heavier and more powerful.
A Vulcan is working at Lock 8 in Rotterdam on Contract 8. This contractor would late abandon this project due to the quicksand.
Shovels were soon at work on railroad projects, canal construction, mining and quarrying, basically anywhere large quantities of materials had to be excavated. But as this is about canal construction, lets take a look at how they were used.
The crew of the Model 60 and the steam trail pose for the photographer at Cranesville.
Because the shovels were mounted to railroad trucks and moved on rails, the shovel could only cut level swaths. The shovel would be moved around the site by men laying out temporary rails. Once at the cut, the shovel would extend it’s outriggers for stability then begin excavate to its front and sides. The machine could cut about three times it’s width. All spoils had to be loaded into hopper cars that were set on a narrow gauge railroad. Once the area was cleared to its front, the track team would lay out a new section of tracks and the shovel would slowly crawl forward. If the job was large enough to warrant more than one machine, a second machine would begin to remove earth on a lower terrace, following behind the first. The tracks also helped to distribute the weight of the machine allowing them to work in wetter areas, however as they were not easy or quick to move, there are many photographs of shovels sitting in flooded work sites.
We get a good look at the bottom of the shovel after this one turned over. Note the chain drive.
Shovels could also be mounted to barges and used as dipper dredges. Many of these were site built with the machinery being shipped to the job site and the barge being constructed from locally sourced lumber. Once the job was done the machinery was removed and the barge discarded. (2)
This Bucyrus shovel is being used to move blasted rock. Not the men loading the skips in the foreground.
Although good at handling gravel, sand and other aggregate materials, they were not good at moving larger rock. Many times you will find the shovel being used to load skips that were moved by cranes or cable ways.
On Contract 6. The shovel is loading an inclined tipple.
As they were developed, steam shovels were fitted out with crawler tracks. The only existing shovel of this configuration can be seen in Leroy, NY where a Marion Model 91 sits in a field. Once the internal combustion engine and hydraulic drives began to be used in construction machinery, the days of the steam shovel numbered. One man could do the work of 4 or 5, and once mounted to crawler tracks instead of railroad tracks, the mobility of the machine made it more useful. Today the hydraulic excavator, a distant cousin of the steam shovel, can be found on almost every job site.
From Contract 6. Not certain of model.
If you are interested in seeing these machines at work, check out the videos of construction of the Panama Canal. Bucyrus and Marion both supplied shovels to this work and were certain to make movies about it. With the clouds and steam and smoke, they make for interesting viewing. Of course the most famous steam shovel might be the Bucyrus in which President Roosevelt posed along the Cublra Cut in the Panama Canal.
Steam shovels were slow to move and were often caught in flooded situations. This was a year after the flooded shovel. Note the dredge and steam pumps. The Marion Model 60 appears to be cold.
(1) A handy hint is that the model number refers to the weight of the shovel, thus a Marion 60 weighed about 60 tons.
Note the young girl sitting on the chair used by the man who operates the dipper.
(2) The images used in this post are from the New York State Archives, Barge Canal Construction Photos, 11833.
