June 27, 2016
The Erie Canal
New York State Canal Corporation
We left the quaint village of Waterford, heading west on the canal first opened in 1825. It was and is the only waterway to cross the US's eastern mountains, the Adirondacks, part of the Appalachians. This canal put New York City on the map, making it the main sea port as it gave access to the country's interior.
The Erie starts where the Mohawk River empties into the Hudson and more or less follows that river channel up until it descends towards Buffalo.
Our first order of business is to transit a "flight" of 5 locks, one right after another. Some have cables to which one wraps a line to hold the boat to the wall during filling of the chamber. Each chamber has two 6' diameter tunnels underneath it with 10 openings to the chamber bottom. A million+ gallons rushes in to fill the chamber, lifting the boat(s) to the upper pool level.
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| Abandoned power plant from another era. |
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| Amsterdam wall, side tie |
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| View from the restaurant |
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| The trains run the length of the canal due to the topography requirements, i.e., level. |
Since Amsterdam is a community, the engineers aboard trains blow their ear-splitting whistles right behind the tie-up spot. Ear plugs recommended for night time.
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| Running at 2800 RPMs, 18 MPH, 15.5 knots |
The canal is mostly beautiful, wooded surroundings, rolling hills, interspersed with pastures, occasional homes and farms.
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| Big wake |
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| Big natural gap in the terrain |
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| Lock 15 |
We passed Lock 15, noticed this single tie-up on the wall, with a park and even 50 amp. power. This was too good. So we turned around, came back and tied up. The nearby town is Ft. Plain. "Nearby" means I can ride to the store and get back before the ice cream melts.
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| Our side tie |
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| Lock 15 from our spot. |
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| Ayers House Breakfast |
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| Canal bike trail |
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| Inner workings of lock operations. These switches operate the valves and doors. |
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| Everything is 50 amp., D.C. |
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| Gears and cables to open the valves to the water tunnels for filling locks. Requires only 3 hp as gates have counter-weights. |
