Each year, hundreds of visitors come to the Feeder Canal to walk, run or bike along its towpath trail, or to paddle the smooth flowing water. The canal was built nearly 200 years ago to feed water into the Champlain Canal, but despite being a busy thoroughfare, vital to life and industry in the North Country, it hasn’t always been the picturesque tributary we see today.
Photo: Briana Lyons
“The canal trail had been abandoned since the 1920s,” says Jeanne Williams, Executive Director of the Feeder Canal Alliance. “People would throw tires and furniture in it, and there were trees growing in it, so it had to be reestablished.”
While the Canal itself has been owned and operated by the New York State Canal Corporation since the early 1990s, the Feeder Canal Alliance have made it their mission to maintain the towpath trail and waterway as a scenic recreation spot.
The Alliance, a 501C3 nonprofit, is an entirely member and volunteer-based organization. “There’s no obligation to being a member, other than to help keep this trail going,” Williams says. “We ask people to help, whether it’s cleanup or helping us with our field school, or just volunteering in the office.”
The Feeder Canal was built in the early 1800s to feed water into the Champlain Canal near Fort Edward, and was then expanded in 1832 to accommodate boat traffic. “The Canal was the Northway of today,” says Howard Raymond, president of the Feeder Canal Alliance. “All of the commodities in the area went down the Feeder Canal into the Champlain Canal, and all the way to New York.” In its heyday, people shipped lumber, sawdust, produce, furs, and locally made goods along the canal, where it would go on to New York City and beyond. In return, barges would come back laden with coal from Pennsylvania, until the canal became obsolete in the 1920s.
Photo: Tom Lyons
Since the canal was reclaimed as a recreation destination in the 1990s, the seven-mile long trail has become hugely popular. “You can go from the Feeder Dam, in Glens Falls, to the bottom of five combination locks in Fort Edward,” Williams says. The towpath now links to the Empire State Trail at the five locks as well. “If you got on your bicycle in Glens Falls, you could ride to Fort Edward, and then all the way to Fort Ann.”
In addition to the trail, the Feeder Canal also offers five miles of paddling for canoers and kayakers, from the Feeder Dam to the Martindale Boat Basin. “When you get down in the canal, it’s like you could be in England or Europe, or anyplace,” Raymond says, “it’s just a great thing.”
Paddling has become such a popular pastime on the canal, that the Alliance has created an annual canoe race. “Over the years, it’s been a good fundraiser for us, and we’re looking forward to continuing with it,” Raymond says. Typically the first weekend in June, the race draws both casual paddlers and professional racers from across the state. “It’s a fun day for families who want to get out on the canal and explore.”
Despite the pandemic, the Alliance was still able to hold the race last year. “We had it virtually at the end of the summer,” Williams says. “And this summer, we’re going to be having it virtually again, unless things lighten up.”
Photo: Briana Lyons
The Feeder Canal Alliance also hosts a volunteer-based annual cleanup event, called ‘Clean Sweep’, which is organized by New York State Canal Corporation, and Parks and Trails New York. This year’s event will be held on April 24, but due to the pandemic, pre-registration is required.
“This year, the Canal Corp. has put restrictions on Clean Sweep across the State, and people have to register first, if they’re going to be coming to clean up.” Williams says. This year’s event will be the same as in years past, with the addition of Covid restrictions, such as masks and distancing. “We’re going to keep people in family groups, and we’ll have people clustered along the canal, and spaced out so that groups go to different sites.”
While clearing brush and gathering litter along the canal is the primary goal of the “Clean Sweep,” it also provides an opportunity for the Alliance to get out and inspect the canal. “It’s inventorying the canal to let us know if the water is still down, or if there’s anything in the canal that needs to be taken out,” Williams says.
Though the Feeder Canal has come a long way in nearly 200 years, the Feeder Canal Alliance has more in store for the years ahead. The group recently acquired the historic coal storage silos located on Maple Street in Hudson Falls, and are working to both preserve them, and use them as a field school. “We’re looking at the STEM curriculum, and how the past all ties into the future,” Raymond says. “So, the repurposing of the silos is sort of taking a different twist to it.”
Photo: Nicholas Chowske
The silos, which were used to store coal brought up the Hudson River, were acquired via a preservation grant, and are now being made into an education destination. “We have school programs coming to visit the silos,” Williams says. “We have several of the silos turned into classrooms, and we’re building a hands-on environmental lab in one of them, too.”
With a foot in the past and eye on the future, the Feeder Canal Alliance has made their mark as stewards of this priceless resource. “We’re doing it for you, and for the community,” Williams says. “There’s so many people who haven’t experienced walking on the Feeder Canal Trail, and it is just such a gem.”
The Feeder Canal Alliance Clean Sweep is this Saturday, April 24th from 8:30 -11:30 am. If you'd like to participate, due to Covid guidelines, you will have to pre-register by calling their office at 518-792-5363 or by emailing info@feedercanal.org.
For more information on the Feeder Canal, visit their website here, and for their map, click here.
