Tour Path

A Little History...

Here's a panoramic view of the Erie Canal crossing the Genesee River looking east in 1914. Notice the Court Street bridge to the left. The building along Court Street is the current home of Dinosaur BBQ. Rundel Library and Broad Street don't exist yet. Rundel will eventually be built near where this photo was taken. These photos can be found at http://www.eriecanal.org/Rochester-2.html. They have an excellent catalog of pictures and a good history of the Erie Canal. All of the pictures in this blog can be clicked on for a larger view.

Erie Canal Aqueduct over a very full Genesee River looking east 1888-1894.

Looking east c. 1897-1899. The packet boats were pulled by mules that walked along the side of the canal. The walkways you see here were reduced in size when the canal was drained and the subway built in the early 1920s. Before the canal, the only way to get supplies and people west of the Appalachian Mountains was by wagon. Trains were just beginning to be built in the early 19th century and roads were rudimentary at best and impassible during the winter months. The canal became a relatively fast and inexpensive way to move large amounts of goods west and it led to an explosion of growth all long its path. Had the canal not been built, the entire history of westward expansion would be different and Western New York would not be what it is today.

Looking east c. 1920

Here you see the construction of the Rochester Subway 1922-1924. The Canal was rerouted out of Downtown and a subway was built in its place. The Canal has been drained and Broad Street is being constructed above the Aqueduct. Rundel Library will be built in the 1930's just about where this picture was taken.

The Tour Begins

You're looking north, to your left is Dinosaur BBQ, to your right is South Avenue, and Court Street crosses the tunnel ahead. We had to walk down a gentle mud and rock strewn hill to get to this level. We would be standing in water if it were the 19th century.

This is a closer view looking east. Notice all the graffiti. Anywhere there's light, there's graffiti. A lot of it is pretty impressive. The wooden ladder running along the top of ceiling is a remnant of the Rochester subway.

Some graffiti, there's more impressive stuff inside. Hopefully, I'm not endorsing any gangs by showing this.

This is one of the ramps used to board the subway.

A closer look of the subway ramp. The stairs go nowhere now. Due to the fading light, some of these pictures have been "brightened up."

Getting darker...

Looking south, Dinosaur BBQ would be to the right in this picture. That's the slope we came down.

Here's a blurry picture of the subway ramp in the previous post. Notice the white specks everywhere? There was an incredible amount of dust floating. You could feel it as you breathed and see it with your flashlight and flash cameras. They were also doing some structural repairs with jack hammers adding to the dust.

We're currently under Rundel Library. This reservoir of water is used by the library's cooling system. It was thought to be an ingenious system, however, placing a library over a pool of water leads to damp books and leaks. A member of the tour group works in the library and she said water damage is a constant problem. Good ideas don't always work out.

Another picture of the reservoir. The arched openings look west across the Genesee River. From the outside, you can see water spilling out of these openings.

Walking down the tunnel, graffiti everywhere.

The Aqueduct

After passing under the library and its cooling reservoir, you come around a gentle bend and enter the aqueduct.

We're looking east, Broad Street is above us and the Genesee River below. When the canal was drained and the subway built, the central columns, the roof (Broad Street) and the arched openings were added. The original canal would have been just the 6 feet of limestone wall on each side; we would be under water back then. The aqueduct is 6 feet deep by 60 feet wide. The stones used to build the aqueduct were cut so precisely, the aqueduct didn't need a shell to hold in its water. Most other aqueducts had some type of waterproof shell. Impressive engineering for the 19th century.

This is looking back the direction we just came. The gentle curve leads around to the under part of the library and the reservoir. You can see some of the construction equipment. They were working while we passed which is why we had hard hats on. Doubtful a hard hat would have done much if a 100lb slab of concrete fell, but the thought was nice.

Continuing across the aqueduct. Some of the graffiti artists are talented. The ground of course is strewn with empty cans and latex gloves.

Looking out one of the openings at the Rundel Library. These arches were added when the subway and Broad Street were built. The stone you see is actually just a veneer. The original canal was built with solid limestone, the added-on sections in the 1920's were built with concrete then covered with the stone veneer.

Grafitti...

This is our tour guide, Tom Hack, a city engineer and consultant for the "re-watering the aqueduct project." He had a wealth of knowledge about the canal and answered every question we had. He gave a fantastic tour! Bob Scheffel from the Central Library coordinated this tour. They both delivered a great experience.

Some of the more artful graffiti.

The tour leader says the vulgar graffiti is something that's popping up more and more. I always knew the generation after mine was bad news.

Looking back west down the aqueduct. It's a much larger space than the picture shows.

Entering No Man's Land. You need flashlights from here on. The air gets thicker and dustier; I'll leave the smell to your imagination. Photography gets much more difficult too.

No Man's Land...

We're under Broad Street west of the bridge. You can hear the cars overhead, but it’s not terribly loud. Steam pipes run through the canal bed now. Oddly, there is no hissing sound, just a strange twanging, thumping echo every couple of minutes. The rail lines you see are not from the subway. Gannett newspaper used this section of the canal bed as a storage warehouse until 1997. The rail lines were used to move supplies. Believe it or not, our tour guide said this was once a clean, brightly lit warehouse.

More rail lines. It is pitch black in here. We turned off all our flashlights, you could see absolutely nothing but inky blackness. You don't get to see much because most of the time you're looking down trying not to trip on rocks and debris. The blackness and the odd sound from the steam pipe was a little unnerving. See the dust in the air?

With how dark it is in this section, there simply wasn't much to take pictures of. So here's a broken window from one of the Gannett storage areas.

One of the storage areas and its door.

A loading ramp inside the storage area. The rail cars would back in here and supplies would be transferred. Hard to imagine this place was nice and clean in 1997.

More darkness...

There is far less graffiti deep within this section of the canal because it’s simply too dark. Our tour guide named this section "No Man's Land" because there is zero natural light and no one ventures here. I'd be remiss not to say a word on the homeless and transients. Our guide tells us very few actually live in the canal, maybe 5-6. They travel in small groups, leaving during the day and returning at night. They stay towards the canal bed openings where there is natural light. Our guide, who has been down here many times, has met some of them and says they're actually very nice. He says there's an interesting split between the two openings of the canal bed. On one side you have harmless homeless people, and on the other side, you have the more dangerous seedy people; addicts and schizophrenic types. He reassured us that health agencies come down here often to check up on people and offer help. Most simply don't want to be helped. We did not run into anyone, but we definitely smelled the remains of a small fire in one part.

This is what the ground looks like. You and your flashlight were generally fixed on the ground ahead of you. Look up and around for long, you're asking for a fall. And you don't want to get cut on this filth.

Subway stairs. The old subway ran on the canal bed from 1925-1956. There are a number of these stairways along the canal bed. They go nowhere now.

This is either a ramp associated with the Gannet storage warehouse or a ramp to the subway stairs. I took so many pictures I forget. I had to brighten this picture up, the original is much darker. The purple color you see is a result of the digital editing. Most of the spray paint you see in these "No Man's Land" sections comes from engineers pointing out structural failures and areas needing repair.

Yes, there were lights at one time! This is one of Gannett's lights. Unfortunately, inoperable now.

Dust...

You can really see the dust in this picture. Our guide told us not to shuffle our feet because we would stir up more dust. At times, you could feel it in your lungs.

Graffiti, dust, and darkness.

The ceiling was either smooth concrete or structural steel; rusting, corroding steel.

This is actually another subway staircase. The stairs are partially destroyed, but you can still see the railing.

More of the subway staircase. Having a NYC style subway in Rochester seems very out of place. Times certainly have changed. Notice the light at the end of the tunnel!? We're exiting "No Man's Land" and returning to civilization.

That’s what’s holding us up?!

Nice welcome.

That's not our exit, but the natural light is a welcome sight! Look at the column nearest me, notice the splotches? Any guesses?

This section of the canal bed will be filled-in next year. The steel you see is in poor condition and in need of constant repair. It costs a lot of money and time to keep the road above from collapsing.

Structural supports in poor shape.

The next time you're driving down Broad Street, remember this picture. This is what's holding you up!

Light!

The exit is ahead, we'll reenter an enclosed section before we get to the actual opening. Our guide tells us all the steel, including the rail lines, will be salvaged before they truck in tons upon tons of fill material next year.

This goes with the splotches seen earlier. It's a paintball. The walls are covered with paint splotches and the ground with used paintballs. I can see where this would be a great place for paintball. Lots of columns and concrete to hide behind. Although, running and jumping on sharp, dirty, pieces of garbage and broken glass may not be the smartest thing. Must be some hardcore shooters.

That's a broken TV on the ground.

Looking back toward the initial opening. Even with that opening, there is dust in the air. The column to my left is wrapped in metal fencing and barbed wire for some reason.

And this is our exit! The slope up to the right leads to Industrial Street. Just a hundred yards away is Nick Tahou's!

Miscellany...

Well our guide did say, this is the seedy side of the canal bed.

I guess the message was right.

We exit off to the left, but the canal bed continues along a short distance before coming back above ground. Our guide said its not much different from what we've already seen and it enters dangerous territory.