One of the challenges that faced early Erie Canal engineers was how to cross the Irondequoit Valley running between present-day Pittsford and Bushnell’s Basin near Rochester. Taking the canal across the valley without adding one 150 feet of up-and-down lockage was imperative. The only thing that made the task even remotely possible was the presence of several natural ridges, or “eskers”, created by retreating glaciers that could carry the canal at least partway over the 70-foot deep valley it would have to span.

Principal Erie Canal Engineer James Geddes had long advocated linking these ridges together with great earthwork embankments and running the canal across the top. The Canal Commissioners were hesitant to approve such a bold plan, but finally realized that they had few other options and authorized work to proceed as Geddes had proposed. The resulting embankment would allow the Erie Canal to cross the broad Irondequoit Valley without the use of locks and still flow downhill from Lake Erie, maintaining that body of water as the “endless” supply of water that would fill the canal from Buffalo to Montezuma.

The Irondequoit Embankment, built entirely during the season of 1822, consisted of three natural ridges joined together by two man-made ridges, the first was 1,320 feet long and the other was 231 feet. The canal ran along the narrow summit for 4,950 feet, passing 76 feet above Irondequoit Creek, which flowed through a 245-foot-long culvert. Since the valley’s soil was unsuitable for such enormous earthworks, small mountains of earth had to be hauled in from elsewhere. Even so, there was a prevailing lack of confidence that the embankment would hold up. From its completion in October until the close of the 1822 season, the work was drained nightly. In the 1840s for the enlarged Erie Canal, a more direct route tried to straighten out the serpentine path, but was still far from the shortest route across the depression.

In the early 1820s, before the Erie Canal was completed from Buffalo to Albany, Hartwell’s Basin was the western terminus of the canal. After the full canal opened, William Bushnell operated a fleet of canal boats from the area, and the name of the village was eventually changed to Bushnell’s Basin. In its heyday, Bushnell’s Basin was a major port for the shipment of agricultural products and a stop for the Rochester and Eastern Trolley line on its route between Rochester and Canandaigua. The Bushnell’s Basin Hotel, built in 1818, began as a tavern on the canal and trolley line. Now known as Richardson’s Canal House Inn, it is the oldest original inn on the Erie Canal and has been placed on the National Register of Historic Buildings.

During the 20th century, canal engineers designed the third iteration of the Erie Canal with a 70-foot high embankment that was built up directly on the valley floor, on top of the creek, for a distance of one mile. This section of the canal became known as the Great Embankment. At the bottom of the valley, Irondequoit Creek still flows under the canal to this day. The Great Embankment successfully reduced both distance and travel time for barges and freight boats that traversed the Erie Barge Canal.

Barge Canal engineers used giant steam shovels from 1905-1910 to create this 70-foot high giant causeway across the valley. Once the Great Embankment was finished, the builders removed enough dirt from the top of the earthen work to create a trench along its top that would hold 12 feet of water. This mile-long trench was lined with three separate layers of concrete with crushed stones in between, forming a watertight seal. Also, a special underground tunnel was created to serve as an inspection walkway that allowed the walls of the embankment to be monitored for signs of leakage. These walkways are accessed by special stairways and manholes leading from the surface level.

The canal engineers knew that a 70-foot tall manmade berm would certainly be a weak link in Erie Canal maintenance. At each end of the mile-long trough, they placed steel guard gates and if there was a canal breach in this section, the large gates would be lowered to minimize water loss to the canal. The Great Embankment did suffer at least two disastrous breaches that caused a great deal of property loss. During the construction process in 1912, the first break in the walls occurred, requiring a massive reconstruction and subsequent clean up. Another serious flood occurred in 1974, when the floor of the canal burst through the concrete trough and into a sewer tunnel that was being dug under the canal. Water flooded into Bushnell’s Basin and devastated many homes before the guard gates could be closed.

Doug Farley is director of the Erie Canal Discovery Center. His column runs every Saturday. The Discovery Center is now closed for the season, but will open by appointment for group tours. Call 434-7433.