Scenes along the Erie Canal

This is the Waterford dock near Troy, NY which is the beginning of the Erie Canal. Here the dockage is free for the first 2 nights, then $10.00 a night after that. Usually the boats stay a couple days and provision, etc before beginning the canal. In the foreground you can see the Canal boats which can be rented for $2800/week.
We are the first boat in line with Berge's rafted to us because the rest of the dock was full.


This is a view of the old canal. The original canal was only 4' deep and 40' wide. It was enlarged in 1862 to 7' deep and 70' feet wide. Today it is 123' wide and 12' deep. The number of locks has been reduced over the years, starting with 83 locks to 72 and today, just 34. As we traveled, we could see the remains of the original canal in many places. We will be on the Erie Canal for 150 miles on the way from the Hudson River to Lake Ontario.



These signs are at each lock along the way. The first 5 locks are within 2 miles and lift about 168'. It took us only 1-1/2 hours to go through these---which was faster than normal--probably because we were the only boat going through at that time ! There was very little traffic for the first 3 days...we shared a lock with one other boat only 4 times (in 20 locks).





Here is the remains of the original canal at the top of one of the locks... The original canal was built along side the Mohawk River because the boats had to be towed along by mules on the sides of the canal. As the boats became bigger and self propelled, the canal was enlarged and parts moved to the River.








There were many, many, many bridges along the way, and a lot of
trains.


The lock bollards, fences and grounds were all in nice condition and most were freshly painted.





Here is a tug...there is no commercial traffic any more so the only boats we encountered were other recreational boats, a few of these tugs and maintenance barges such as dredges and slag boats.





This is a guard gate and there many of these also. In case of flooding, they are lowered to control the flow of water in the canal.







Here is a picture of one of the locks and dam along side. In total, we will go through 23 locks on the Erie. Some are equipped with cables or pipes which you tie off to , others have ropes and this requires both of us to hold on to at each end of the boat.


This mansion is the Llenroc estate which is Cornell spelled backwards.



Our first day was pretty tiring...through 11 locks with wind that started building in the afternoon. We were happy to get to this wall where we could tie up to for the night. It even had electric ! The down side were the trains every 15"--but as tired as we were, we slept well. In the morning, the water was like glass so I had to take some pictures of it.
Our view from the front of the boat as we started up the canal....
Remember the mansion?--well this is another place on the water !
This is only one of 2 of these types of locks in the America's--the other is in Canada. Here the lock gate is lifted up above the boater--others have gates. The lift was 40'.

This is a view of the lock as we exited... Many of the towns we passed were very old---this is Amsterdam with one side of the town above the canal...the other side of town below the canal (we wondered if they have flood insurance!)
This was an interesting railroad bridge just immediately before the dam...from a distance it was hard to see the lock..........

Bob saw this deer along the way............We spent another night in Herkimer which is known for Herkimer diamonds...they are perfectly formed crystals with points on each end. The town was named for General Herkimer who won the Battle of Oriskany during the Revolution.
Another perfect reflection...We spent one night in Rome, NY and visited Fort Stanwix there. It is a reproduction of the original (all wood) right in the center of town. It was here in Rome that the construction of the canal was begun in 1817.
Here we are crossing Lake Oneida to Brewerton where we will spend the night. The canal to this point has mostly been along the Mohawk River. On the other side of the lake (20 miles) we will be on the Oneida River. From there it will be only a few miles until we turn onto the Oswego Canal to Lake Ontario.