The Canalway Trail: Canajoharie/ To Market, to Market

The Canalway Trail: Canajoharie/ To Market, to Market. . , The Canalway Trail: Canajoharie , Welcome to the Canalway Trail System, offering hundreds of miles of scenic trails and numerous parks for walking, bicycling, cross-country skiing and other recreational activities. The Canalway Trail parallels the New York State Canal System, comprised of four historic waterways: the Erie, the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca Canals. The Canal System spans 524 miles across New York State, linking the Hudson River with Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, the Niagara River, and Lake Erie., To Market, to Market , The Erie Canal tapped the agricultural potential of interior New York. it encouraged settlers to move inland and establish farms and orchards. At harvest time, canal boats carried tons of produce to market and to processing plants in many canal towns., Canajoharie serves as an excellent example. English immigrant James Arkell built a factory here to manufacture flour sacks for grain grown in local fields. Nearby, the Beech-Nut Packing Company became a major employer in the region, purchasing and processing hogs from local farmers., Local industries like these had the potential to generate considerable wealth and that wealth could, if reinvested, elevate the quality of life. A lifetime's hard work and business savvy earned James Arkell even more. It allowed him to pursue his passion for collecting art. The result of Arkell's passion can be seen in the masterpieces of 19th and early 20th century American art at the Canajoharie Library and Gallery., Masters at the Canajoharie Labrary The Canajoharie Library and Gallery and the Arkell Foundation house the collection of James Arkell, the founder of Beechnut Foods and an avid art collector throughout his lifetime., The collection numbers almost 400 paintings and is a virtual Who's Who of 19th and early 20th century American art. Besides 23 Winslow Homer paintings, the collection owns examples by Eakins, Sargent, Chase, Inness, Stuart, Hassam, Prendergast, SLoan, Hopper, and many other important American artists.