Tours of the Seneca Chief canal boat are offered at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

Above: The Seneca Chief canal boat arrives at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady on Tuesday. Right: Tours of the Seneca Chief canal boat are offered at Mohawk Harbor.

A line forms for tours of the Seneca Chief at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

Tours of the Seneca Chief canal boat are offered at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

The Seneca Chief canal boat arrives at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

New York State Canal Corporation Director and former Schenectady Mayor Brian Stratton speaks at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady, on Tuesday, October 14, 2025.

Tours of the Seneca Chief canal boat are offered Tuesday at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady.

The Seneca Chief canal boat arrives at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady, on Tuesday.

The Seneca Chief canal boat arrives at Mohawk Harbor, in Schenectady, on Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025.

Dozens cheered as a wooden canal boat was pulled into Schenectady’s Mohawk Harbor on Tuesday afternoon, marking a stark contrast compared to the first time a similar vessel made the trek from Lake Erie to Schenectady 200 years ago.

Then-Gov. DeWitt Clinton was ignored by many city leaders as he celebrated the opening of the Erie Canal by making the 363-mile trip from Buffalo to New York City aboard the vessel Seneca Chief, stopping at cities along the way.

While most of Clinton’s stops were marked with large celebrations, Schenectady residents took issue with the canal, fearing it would upend the city’s business community, and shunned his arrival. A group of Union College students eventually met the governor and brought him to campus, where a large celebratory dinner was held.

But two centuries appears to have made all the difference, as a large crowd — including city and county leaders — braved inclement weather to celebrate the arrival of a replica Seneca Chief that is in the middle of a 33-day journey retracing Clinton’s original voyage to commemorate the canal’s bicentennial.

“It’s taken 200 years and now we know how to give a warm welcome,” said Brian Stratton, director of the state’s Canal Corp. and a former Schenectady mayor.

The Erie Canal spans from Albany to Buffalo and connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes and has proven to have an invaluable economic impact. Clinton spearheaded the canal’s construction despite skeptics who labeled it “Clinton’s Ditch” at the time.

The canal would go on to transform New York City into the country’s leading port while reducing the time it took to travel from Albany to Buffalo from two weeks to five days. The cost of transporting goods was also slashed by 90%.

It remains an example of what can happen when a transformational idea has “strong governmental support,” said Gary Hughes, chair of the Schenectady County Legislature.

“The canal unlocked the key to create the Empire State,” he said, noting that the redevelopment of Mohawk Harbor and Schenectady’s revitalization over the last two decades can be traced back to the Erie Canal.

Spanning more than 21 miles through Schenectady County, the Erie Canal ran west of the Rexford Aqueduct and through Niskayuana and past the Schenectady Locomotive Works. It snaked its way through the early beginnings of the General Electric plant and on to Rotterdam Junction.

After nearly a century, the portion of the canal that passed through the Electric City was transformed into what is now Erie Boulevard in the mid-1920s.

“The history of this city is bright, and the history and future of this region is bright,” said Schenectady Mayor Gary McCarthy. “We’re going to go on and continue to do great things.”

Dozens gathered to board the replica Seneca Chief that was built by a group of more than 200 volunteers from the Buffalo Maritime Center, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve maritime culture.

Building the replica vessel can be traced back to 1997, when Jon Montague, the Maritime Center’s founder, came up with the idea to honor Western New York’s ties to the........

© The Leader Herald