1. Welcom all to the Most Notorious Podcast, American Rivenus.

Our episode today is an interesting one, perhaps a bit off the regular beaten path.

It's about the Erie Canal, or more specifically, a series of intrigues and even a murder connected

to the Erie Canal. But before we get to that, I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone

that has become a patron at patreon.com slash most notorious. I've got my first $8 a month

patron, and she's been listening since the podcast started three years ago, Collette

from Australia. Thank you so much for your wonderful continued support. If you want

ad-free listening and bonus content, head over to the Patreon page and become a patron.

It's patreon.com slash most notorious. See you there and on with the show.

Well I'm pleased to have as my guest today novelist and journalist Jack Kelly, who is here

to talk about his book called Heaven's Ditch, God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal.

It's a series of fascinating and occasionally disturbing historical threads woven around

the construction of the Erie Canal. Thank you so much for joining me.

Eric, it's a great pleasure. So what motivated you to write a book about the Erie Canal?

I think the seed of the idea for it really came out of my childhood because I grew up

almost on top of the Erie Canal up in upstate New York and western New York. I used to

be able to ride my bike over and watch the barges go through the locks and I was also

lived near Palmyra, New York. Whenever I would ride through that town with my family,

someone invariably, someone would say that's where he found the golden tablets. This was

Hill Camora, which was just south of Palmyra. I didn't know who they were talking about.

I didn't know what the golden tablets were about, but it was very intriguing when you're

a kid to imagine you can dig out in your backyard. It was something that happened right

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