Canal Towns: Westfield

Early promotion for the canal was active in the town, with a meeting held at Morgan's Hotel in April 1825, attended by citizens from Westfield, Northampton, and Southwick, to organize a new survey for the route from Southwick to Northampton "through the village of Westfield". A major engineering challenge was crossing the Westfield River valley, a concern that delayed the project in 1824. This was overcome by constructing two large aqueducts in Westfield during 1827: one 320 feet long (likely over the Westfield River) and another 300 feet long (over the Little River). By July 1829, the aqueducts were finished, and water from Sackett's Brook was let into the completed canal section within the valley.

The canal's opening transformed Westfield into a significant inland port. The full line from New Haven to Westfield was operational by December 3, 1829. The launch of the General Sheldon in November 1829, the first boat built in the village, was met with "cheers and acclamations of a large concourse of citizens." This boat, along with others like the Warronoco and the John Gilpin (also built in Westfield), began regular freight and passenger service to New Haven by April 1830. The General Sheldon advertised two trips per week, taking just over 24 hours each way and offering passengers "board and comfortable lodgings". The area around the "Village Basin" bustled with activity, likened to the slips of New York; new brick storehouses, some three and four stories high, were erected, and businesses like a marble-cutting shop and a brickyard (using clay shipped on the canal) were established near the basin.

The canal's water supply in this section was heavily dependent on the Westfield River and its tributaries. A major feeder dam, located at Salmon Falls on the Westfield River in the town of Russell, was essential. This dam was frequently a point of failure; it was carried away by a freshet in October 1833 and again by flood waters in December 1836. The 1836 destruction was catastrophic, rendering the canal "effectively closed north of Westfield" for all of 1837 while the dam was relocated and rebuilt. To supplement the system, another feeder was constructed from the Westfield "Little River" in 1830, entering the canal just south of the village basin. This feeder was also seen as a potential source for hydraulic power.

The canal segment in Westfield was notoriously prone to disasters, both natural and man-made. In January 1835, a freshet caused "multiple breaches" just north of the Westfield River and along the feeder, with damage estimated between $10,000 and $15,000. A "destructive gale" in January 1839 caused the Westfield Great River to rise three feet higher than ever recorded, sweeping away all three of the town's road bridges and inundating the entire village west of the canal. The canal's "Great River Aqueduct" survived and became the "only crossing place left" for 25 miles. Breaches at the Little River Aqueduct in April and June of 1830 were believed to be the "design of villains," with repairs estimated at $600-$700 and forcing boats to load and unload two miles below the village basin for weeks.

Despite its economic promise, the canal's operational life in Westfield was ultimately short. The arrival of the Western Railroad, which was running through the town by 1841, signaled the end. That same year, an advertisement in the Westfield News-Letter noted the canal "is now in successful operation" and that the "shrill whistle of the iron horse" was also heard. By 1842, arrangements were being made to coordinate the railroad and canal, with the railroad transporting goods to Westfield, where they would then be loaded onto canal boats for the final leg to Northampton. By 1845, the paper opined that "the iron horse will soon dash every boat from its bed, & plant its iron hoof upon its ruins." This prediction came true when the feeder dam at Salmon Falls was destroyed by fire in September 1848, and a bank near the Great River Aqueduct gave way a week later, marking "about the end of the old Canal."