{"nrhp_refnum":"05000684","name":"Chenango Canal Summit Level","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Along Canal Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Bouckville","county":"Madison County","state":"NY","lat":42.88342417100006,"lon":-75.55024697764034,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2005-07-06","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Transportation","Maritime History","Commerce"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A five-mile watered section of the Chenango Canal, the summit level, in the towns of Eaton and Madison near Bouckville, Madison County, New York. It was built between 1834 and 1836 by the State of New York and is a district of about 20 acres.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is significant under Criterion A as an integral part of New York's early nineteenth-century canal system, and under Criterion C as an example of early canal engineering and construction. Because the Chenango was never enlarged, it preserves the scale and specifications of the original Erie Canal era. It still serves as a feeder to the Erie-Barge Canal.","narrative":"Five miles of the old Chenango Canal, its summit level near Bouckville in Madison County, New York, remain filled with water today. The state built the canal between 1834 and 1836 to link Utica on the Erie Canal with Binghamton on the Susquehanna River, a route requiring 116 locks. The summit stretch needed none, though workers blasted through 25 feet of solid rock for two miles. The canal never succeeded commercially, and railroads in the 1860s took what traffic it had. The state closed it to boats in 1878 but kept the summit as a feeder for the Enlarged Erie Canal, and later for the Erie-Barge Canal, a role it still fills. Since the Chenango was never enlarged, it preserves the dimensions and methods of the original Erie Canal, very little of which survives. Surviving features include the canal prism, the towpath, stone bridge abutments, and the remains of an aqueduct over Oriskany Creek.","period_of_significance":"1833-1954","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"The section remains watered and is owned and operated by the New York State Canal Corporation as a feeder for the Erie (Barge) Canal; the towpath is mostly maintained as a hiking trail.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:51:52.828777-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/05000684.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000684/d5ba256a69-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/05000684/d5ba256a69-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Lvklock","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chenango_Canal.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Lvklock</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chenango_Canal.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75313542","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chenango_Canal","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5091034"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/madison-county/chenango-canal-summit-level-05000684/"}