The version Barry posted in the first post, is almost the same as what's in Fred & Irwin Silber's Folksinger's Wordbook (1973), page 126. Here's the Silber & Silber version:

The Erie Canal
(no attribution shown)

I've got a mule and her name is Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
She's a good old worker and a good old pal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day,
Filled with lumber, coal, and hay,
And we know every inch of the way,
From Albany to Buffalo.

CHORUS
Low bridge, everybody down,
Low bridge, for we're going through a town,
And you'll always know your neighbor,
And you'll always know your pal,
If you've ever navigated on the Erie Canal

We'd better look around for a job, old gal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
'Cause you bet your life I'd never part with Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
Get up there mule, here comes a lock,
We'll make Rome 'bout six o'clock.
One more trip and back we'll go,
Right back home to Buffalo.

CHORUS

Oh, where would I be if I lost my pal?
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
Oh, I'd like to see a mule as good as Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
A friend of mine once got her sore,
Now, he's got a broken jaw,
'Cause she let fly with her iron toe
And kicked him in to Buffalo.

CHORUS

You'll soon hear them sing all about my gal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
It's a darn fine ditty 'bout my darn mule Sal,
Fifteen miles on the Erie Canal.
Oh, any band will play it soon,
Darn fool words & darn'd fool tune,
You'll hear it sung before you go
From Mexico to Buffalo.

CHORUS

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When I'm choosing a version of a song to sing, I almost always find I like the version in the Folksinger's Wordbook best.

-Joe-