Saturday, September 13, 2008

GASPORT HISTORY HITS THE SHELVES

New York history blogger Richard Palmer wrote a blog post yesterday about a re-introduced history book that has a Gasport spin. Says Richard's blog entry at The Crooked Lake Review...


The long out of print book, "Looking Back So That We May Move Ahead," has been republished by the Niagara County Historical Society. It was originally written by Alexis Mueller Jr. in 1975 to commemorate the the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Erie Canal. Although many histories of the canal were published before or since, this one has been much sought after because of its massive collection of facts and readability, and many rare illustrations.


He goes on to write....

...used as a fresh reference was an unpublished manuscript by Paul Murphy, a retired Buffalo Fire Department captain, who spent his boyhood close to the canal near Gasport. As a young man he recorded what he saw during construction of the canal.

The book is also replete with interesting recollections of the days of canal building. Canal workers received $12 a month, and subsisted on pork, flour, biscuits, bread and whiskey. The book also concisely shows how communities such as Lockport sprang up from huddles of log huts into fashionable cities and towns that exist to this day along the canal system. The richly-illustrated book sells for for $11.95 plus $4 shipping and handling. For further information go to:
www.niagarahistory.org/page/shop


The book is undoubtedly a good read. So is Richard's blog (which he shares with other authors) at:

http://crookedlakereview.com/index.html