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3 types: passenger & cargo, packet, and freight boats. (derived from The Canal Society of Ohio (http://www.canalsocietyohio.org/)) Packets hauled passengers only.
The Chemung Canal was very similar to the Erie Canal. It connected the Finger Lakes region of New York with the Susquehanna River. Both canals used barges or packet boats.
Water is a cheaper means of travel than overland. Mules would pull the barges against the current.
For work boats, the barges known as 'canal boats' were a typical mode of cargo transportation. For personal travel, the best known are the 'gondolas' (pole boats) as notably used in the water-based transportation of Venice, Italy.
For work boats, the barges known as 'canal boats' were a typical mode of cargo transportation. For personal travel, the best known are the 'gondolas' (pole boats) as notably used in the water-based transportation of Venice, Italy.
The Erie Canal
The Erie Canal
Steamboats
Steamboats
Locks are necessary to lift barges and canal narrow boats up or down through a series of lock gates. The water level at the start of a series of lock gates may be higher or lower than the water level at the other end of the lock gates. Without the retaining effect of lock gates, the canal would simply be dry in some lengths and wet in others.
Storybook Land Canal Boats was created in 1994.
Steamboats.