cayuga-seneca canal lock #1

Mud Lock

winter boat launch

Erie Canal water was drained back in November. What was left has frozen and been covered with snow. Waiting for the thaw and the fill, then the peace of paddling on the water in early morning will return.

back in new york state

The Erie Canal, as seen here in Pittsford, is one of my favorite waterways. Not as grand as the Missouri River, but certainly the initiator of all the manipulations done to the rivers in the interior. Fie on the dams. But read Ivan Doig's Bucking the Sun for a human view of the building of the Fort Peck Dam on the Missouri in Montana.

middle of the water

Here it is: the halfway point between Albany and Buffalo on the old Erie Canal. Camillus Erie Canal Park is just west of Syracuse; 400-some acres stretch along a section of the old canal that gets filled with water each spring so that we can get a really good view of what the canal looked like back in the 1860s and into the beginning of the 20th century. This version of the canal is what is left after the first enlargement of the original channel. In the 1910s, the final enlargement of the canal was built, changing the route—in this case, bypassing this section completely—and changing its name to the New York State Barge Canal, reflecting the newer use of the thing.

erie canal aqueduct

Old Erie Canal State Historic Park is a section of the first two versions of the canal that runs from Dewitt to Rome. Almost 17 miles of it is filled with water and is, therefore, navigable. There are three aqueducts on this section to traverse. This one is off Butternut Road at the western end of the park. When the canal was built, there were many streams that had to be crossed and the only way to do it, with the technology available then, was to build a bridge to carry the canal water over the stream—an aqueduct. What is left of aqueducts today is usually the supports that held the wooden "tub" that held the water of the canal. In the winters, these wooden structures would be removed and repaired. On the right in this photo is today's bit of an aqueduct; it is wide enough only for a kayak or a canoe, but it is an aqueduct, a bridge over running water.

erie canal

The first enlargement of the Erie Canal came soon after the thing was built (1825). The enlargements expanded the locks especially—widening and lengthening the lock; doubling the lock so that boats could come and go at the same time. Gere Lock #50 opened in Camillus in 1845. These gates are on display at Camillus Erie Canal Park, a 420-acre town park that has water in the old canal for paddling, towpath for walking, and a museum. Go. Spend the day outside. Get some Vitamin D from the sun. Waves your arms in the air.