Walter D. Edmonds wrote a number of novels set in and around New York along the Erie Canal and the Mohawk River. Drums Along the Mohawk and Chad Hannah were among his other books. Erie Water tells about the building of the Erie Canal through the experience of a young man who worked on the canal building the locks. The copy I read was a 1964 paperback printing, the book was first published in 1933.

Erie Water is not Edmonds' best work. I thought Drums Along the Mohawk was much better. It dragged in places and seemed too long. However it did capture the feel of the canal and showed how it was made. The place names were all real places and since I now live near the Erie Canal I did enjoy that part of the book. ( )