October 27: New York Subway

On this date in History .... 1904:

New York City opens their subway system, which would quickly grow to be the world’s largest American underground train network and the only system to operate 24/7, carrying an average of 4.5 million people per day. The “Great Blizzard of 1888”, which saw 40-50” of snow and 30-40ft snowdrifts,  helped sell the advantages of an underground system.  The city hired skilled miners to do the work. Only 16 deaths occurred during the 2 year construction, with 10 of those taking place when a roof of one tunnel collapsed in 1903. 

 

Restrooms are a rarity in today’s subway system.  There are only 129 restrooms spread out over 77 of the 468 stations have restrooms.  However, some of the restrooms were converted to retail space, as shown in the attached photo.  There are approximately 350 retail businesses, selling newspapers and food, in the subway, generating over $70million in rent to the transit authority.

 

Tokens to ride the subway were changed periodically as prices increased.

 

In the 1980, the “Token War” began as people discovered the Connecticut Toll Booth tokens, which cost about one-third the cost of subway tokens, could be used in the subway. Connecticut initially agreed to change the size of their tokens but changed their minds.  It remained a problem until 1985, when Connecticut discontinued charging tolls on the turnpike.  The New York subway system had collected over 2 million tokens over a three year period, which had a value of less than 18 cents each.

 

October 26: Erie Canal

On this date in history .... 1825:

The Erie Canal opens, connecting the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean.  New York Governor DeWitt Clinton road the first ship thru the canal, pouring a container of Lake Erie water into the Atlantic Ocean to “marry” the two bodies of water. Most of the work was done by Irish immigrants who used primitive tools to dig the 425 mile canal nicknamed “Clinton’s Big Ditch”.  83 canal locks were built to deal with the 500 ft elevation. The canal was instrumental in getting the area settled since supplies could be shipped in 1/10 the time of using stagecoach or wagon. The canal was paid for in 9 short years by the tolls.
 

(Photo courtesy of schmoop.com)

 

The canal project was proposed as a way to open the way to the west, through  the Appalachian Mountains.  An easy way for settlers to get to the west and for produce, grain and hunted game to the east was needed to enable the new country to grow.

The Ohio valley’s biggest product at the time was grain, a “high-volume, low-priced commodity”. Traditional transportation costs were prohibitive so farmers tended to convert the corn and grains to whiskey, which was easier to ship and brought about a higher price.  This pricing issue (and high profit) was a factor that led to the Whiskey Rebellion when Alexander Hamilton passed an excise tax on whiskey in 1794.  

The canal lowered food costs in the east and made shipping machinery and materials to the west more affordable. By 1852, the canal was carrying 13 times the freight tonnage than all the railroads in New York combined.

Since so many Irish immigrants were used as labor on the canal (they were paid $10 a month and barrels of whiskey lined the route for them as encouragement), many Irish communities and towns formed along the canal.  Hundreds of German masons were used to do the stonework.  Because of the high immigration traffic along the canal (both during construction and after completion), the rare passengers lists of the canal are considered valuable to genealogists.

One of the most ambitious projects of the 19^th century, the canal was longer than any other canal previously built in Europe or America. The cost was $7 million (in 1825 dollars) and considered “an engineering marvel” that connected the west to the east and enabled New York to become the financial center of the new country.