Busy, Busy, Busy!!!!

In this day of age, it’s hard to imagine just how heavily traveled the Erie Canal was.   When it was fully up and running after the mid 1800’s, it was the main artery of goods (east and west) from the Atlantic to the Great Lakes and visa versa. 

Just imagine, you've been headed west at a top speed of 4 mph, and then you come to a series of locks..... just like rush hour today... .traffic came to a stop.

Most locks were stacked one or two at a time.  But in Lockport, the drop/climb, which was a total change in elevation of 60 feet, needed more locks!   This required a LOT of creativity!  There was a lot of traffic going both east and west and typically one lock took almost an hour of filling and lowering to get a barge through.  In Lockport they developed the ‘Flight of Five’ locks just at the end of 1800's.  Doubled to facilitate east and west traffic at the same time!  The design also was radical for its use of water from the upper lock to the lower lock.   We were told that in it’s heyday, there was a back up of barges/boats that would last up to three weeks to get through the locks! 

Here's a painting of the Flight of Five upon their opening to great celebration:

It may be difficult to see, but look closely and you'll see both 'races' of locks.  60 foot drop! 
and the gates were hand operated (by a teenage boy) made of wood....

Here is how the remaining race of locks look..... enlarge the picuture and you'll see enumeration of each lock.

Here's what it looked like when you arrived at Lockport, headed west....  how would you spend your time in town if you had a couple day layover???

End of the Rainbow, End of the Canal

After our time in Lockport we headed out to find the end of the Erie Canal in Buffalo.  But first we needed to take a detour.  We were so close to the Niagara Falls that we decided we just had to go visit.  We've seen the falls several times, but always from the Canadian side.  So we drove the backroads and byways into the town.  We arrived around 10:00 and the visitor sites were already filling up.  First there was the outrageous parking fee and the shamelessly garish souvenir shop (but it had restrooms).  Then we walked down to the park where the Falls are located and all visitors were shuttled through one entry where more souvenirs were for sale, and then we walked out into the park and past a few more vendors of trinkets before we reached the Falls.  We took many pictures, but we wanted a better angle, so we went through another gate and paid $1.25 each to climb up to a deck from which we took many, many more pictures.  It was a great sunny day for photos - if we could just get rid of all those people blocking the best shots and cluttering up the picture!

 The reason it is called Rainbow Falls

 Horsehoe Falls and Canada

Both Falls

If you ever need a cooling breeze, I can show you ALL of the pictures we took!  It was fun in a typically over-sold American way.  But I was most glad to actually see and hear the falls.  This is a majestic sight and sound.  It disappointed me to see people who just took selfies and walked away without even looking at the falls for a minute and taking in the beauty and power of this natural wonder.

After leaving Niagara behind, we headed to North Tonawanda for a second detour.  We just had to see the Hershell Carousel Factory Museum.  I love carousels and those beautifully crafted horses.  If you have ridden on an old, wooden carousel - perhaps the one in Greenfield Village - then you have ridden on one of the carousels crafted in this factory.  This was a stop guaranteed to delight the child in you.  And, the tour included a ride on the restored carousel!  In the factory we could see how the music rolls were made.  We could see how the animals were carved and painted.  We saw many fine examples of various carousel animals that have been restored to their original, colorful glory.

 Wood Shop

 Dennis and I riding the carousel all by ourselves!

Then, we drove on to Buffalo.  We went to the Canalside where a lot of work has been done to preserve park land and to make the riverside beautiful, fun and exciting.  There is an impressive naval museum there and people can take river cruises and history tours.  We found the canal terminus, now marked with signs and pictures telling the story of the joining of fresh water and salt water.  So, we did indeed tour the entire Erie Canal.

Marker at Canalside



And we, of course, had a celebratory beverage.

The empty glass on the table is Dennis'.

Since we finished our quest earlier than expected, we decided to drive to Corning, New York, for a trip to the Corning Glass Museum.  Not exactly heading toward home!

Lockport Top to Bottom

We spent Thursday walking around Lockport and learning the history of the place and the history of the Flight of Five locks that were installed here in the 1800s.  One of the things I love about traveling is finding people who are enthusiastic about their work or their volunteer work.  We have met so many people who share their love of history with visitors from all over - people who know and understand the history of the Erie Canal and who marvel at the engineering of the time.

As I have heard the many stories about the canal and have seen the tools and working conditions,  I have reflected that I am deeply grateful to be living in the twenty-first century.  The original canal, "Clinton's Ditch", was dug by shovel and pick-axe. Yes, it was only four feet deep in some areas, but it is very deep in other areas and required digging through rock.  Dynamite would have been really handy.  Children worked on the Erie Canal.  They helped set fuses for gunpowder blowouts.  They walked horses and mules along the towpath.  They helped with work onboard the boats.

I remember reading Charles Dickens novels in college and being horrified at the working conditions described and the lack of rules around child labor in England.  It did not occur to me that my cherished nation had the same lack of care.  Now I am seeing the history in a way that memorizing names and dates does not encourage.  Once again I wish that teachers had treated history as facts illustrated by stories to give it reality. Traveling gives us a chance to walk in someone else's shoes and through their history.  It also gives us a chance to see the positive effects of progress and to see the negative effects.  When the Erie Canal joined the ocean to the rivers and freshwater lakes, it decreased the cost of shipping and made goods available to many more people.  The problem is that it also allowed the migration of invasive species to grow exponentially. 

The Lockport portion of the canal was the last section to be finished.  The canal in this location had to carry boats up and down 60 feet of rock to traverse the Niagara Escarpment.  This was accomplished by creating five consecutive locks that look like giant stair steps - hence the term Flight of Five to describe this marvel.  The locks were expanded to form a two way system so that boats did not have to wait for days to get through.  The flight of five locks was replaced by locks 34 and 35 - the modern locks in use (kind of) today.  Shipping traffic uses the Saint Lawrence Seaway today; it is larger and faster.  Locks 34 and 35 are still used for pleasure craft and tour boats.

 Painting celebrating the completion of the Flight of Five (upper center)

 

 Looking down the Flight of Five

 

 Looking down Locks 34 and 35 with pleasure craft

We took a different sort of tour.  It was a walking tour with a short boat trip at the end.  We toured the caves under the canal.  This tour was about the history of the area and how the water power was used to power factories.  We saw the ruins of two factories and then went through the huge water tunnels under the site of the factories.  Our tour guide, Melissa, explained how the tunnels were made using steel pipes, held by one man, and hammers, pounded by a second man, to dig holes that were filled with gunpowder to blow out the rock.  Melissa explained that the workers worked twelve hour shifts and were paid ten cents a day - which was a living wage at the time.  It was challenging to take pictures, but I tried!

 Passengers in the underground boat

 Looking up to the old factory floor

One of the interesting facts we learned was that the population of Lockport is the same today as it was the year that the canal was expanded.  After its original population boom, things stagnated when other shipping methods took away the large number of visitors.  We have noticed the decline of so many small towns along the canal and we commented on the fact that Lockport has done more with canal tourism than many other places.  There are charming shops and parks along the canal and a nice little winery, called Flight of Five.  The winery serves flights of five samples of their product - perfect!  Nice location and terrific marketing.  We enjoyed our stay here.

"Modern" Furniture and Historical Remains

We left Syracuse on Tuesday morning and backtracked a bit.  We wanted to visit the Stickley furniture factory and the Stickley Museum in Fayetteville.  The factory tour was fascinating.  We know now why this lovely furniture is so expensive.  Even though the factory is larger and more efficient, much of the work is done by hand, one piece at a time.  I have always loved the mission style and prairie style furniture designed by Stickley and his craftsmen.  We saw it being put together, dyed, and varnished.  New or old, it is beautiful, durable and timeless.

We travelled on to Camillus to see the Nine Mile Aqueduct which was rebuilt and re-watered by a group of citizen volunteers who wanted to preserve this bit of history.  When we saw it, we finally understood how the aqueduct worked and why it helped with the flow of traffic along the canal.  Rebuilding this was a lot of work and those who did it have created a lovely, peaceful park along the canal.  I'm sure it is much more peaceful than the canal was in its heyday.

 Stone pillars supporting aqueduct

 Aqueduct "bed" of water carrying boats over rapids

 

One of many spots to rest and reflect along the canalway

We drove through a couple of small towns without stopping and then we came into Seneca Falls.  We wanted to see a couple of the locks on the Cayuga-Seneca Canal.  It is not part of the Erie system but is part of the New York State Canal System.  In many ways Seneca Falls is considered the birthplace of the fight for women's rights.  Here is just one reason for that designation.

The house was simple, strong and straightforward.  Thank you Ms. Stanton for your pioneering work.  

We found the locks and discovered that this set of locks was a double lock.  Boats moved from one to the next in order to climb the 49 feet.

 Lock 2 with lift gate

 Lock 3 with swing gate

Since we were in Seneca Falls, we decided to visit one of the Finger Lakes wineries.  We visited Montezuma Winery and found out that it is the same winery we visited five years ago on our trip through New York to Maine!

This morning, Wednesday, it was raining.  A lot.  We decided to travel farther than usual and to stop briefly to take pictures of places we wanted to record.  So we headed back to the Erie Canalway and drove to Lyons.  We found Lock 27.  Then we found some terrific murals in Lyons.  They were located all over town and beautifully done.  Here are a couple of my favorites.

The town of Lyons is old and many storefronts are empty, but the murals depict the influence of the canal on the vibrant past and the restoration work that is going on now.

It started raining really hard, so we got back in the truck and headed on down the road.  We stopped outside of Brockport to photograph Holly Falls.  Fortunately, the rain stopped long enough for us to take those pictures and to photograph a special visitor at the falls.

It was interesting to note that every time there was something we really wanted to photograph, the rain let up long enough for us to do that.

Having driven this far, we decided to go to Lockport and book a room so we can take our time exploring all of the canal related sites tomorrow.  I think we will be ON the canal - not just along it!

 

Two Museums and a Green Lake

On Monday morning we headed out toward Syracuse.  Our destination was the Erie Canal Museum and Weighlock, but first we needed to stop in Chittenanga to see the restored canal boat landing -  a small, but important (and fun) outdoor museum.  The museum office is in a tiny building staffed by a few people - maybe 3 - who were friendly and helpful.  We watched a short video that gave the history of Chittenango Landing, a stop along the canal that had a general store, a dry dock for boat repairs, a stable for the mules to rest, and residences for the various workers who kept things running smoothly.  It was a beautiful, sunny day so we took our time walking around and exploring this historical reproduction.

We loved the rebuilt canal boat.

It was over 90 feet long and we could go inside to see how the "canallers" lived.  When people were aboard, someone had to cook virtually all day.  The boat was large, but there were no limits on how many people could be aboard at any time.  It was a simple life, but not an easy one.

The Chittenanga Landing had three drydocks, one for shallow or empty boats, one for regular boats and one for large or heavily loaded boats.  The boats would pull in and then the lock was emptied so the boat rested on a wooden cradle and was ready for repair.

The landing also had a wood shop for building and repairing boats and a blacksmith shop for shoeing and shoe repair for horses.

The general store could provide basic supplies and comestibles for the canallers.  Sometimes the customers could be argumentative ;-).

We loved this little museum.  Then we resumed our journey toward Syracuse.  I told Dennis that I wanted to take a tiny detour through Green Lakes State Park.  The two lakes there are kettle lakes and retain a green color.  I could only get one decent picture - it was a very sunny day!

When we reached Syracuse, we had to really pay attention in order to find the museum.  The Canal Gods were with us when we found a parking place right out in front of the museum!  Yay!  The Erie Canal Museum shares building space with the original weighlock building in Syracuse.  This is the only remaining weighlock out of the many along the canal.  The museum was really thorough in its description of the history of the canal and its many changes. There were also many hands-on displays to help people understand how the canal worked, how the boats were weighed, how the shipping charges were determined.  Displays also helped people see how various ideas and cultural elements were spread along the canalway.

This museum was justifiably identified as a "must see" along the Erie Canalway Heritage Corridor.  But, we are not big city people, so we planned visits to small towns for our Tuesday adventures.

Locks on Sunday, with a side of Art

We headed out on Sunday morning to find Lock 17 on Moss Island.  It was only a few miles from our hotel, but it was down a road that looked more like a hiking path - old and broken up.  This lock is the tallest one on the Erie Canal.  It raises or lowers a vessel 40 feet!  We walked around and looked at the lock and the surrounding area and were going to head out on our next adventure when two boats showed up heading downstream.  They pulled into the lock and hung onto the handholds on the wall of the lock (I don't know the real name for those handholds).  We began chatting with the woman in the first boat.  She and her partner were from Michigan.  They lived in Clarkston and kept their boat in Algonac.  Small world!  She said they were traveling the whole canal.  They were heading for Florida and expected to reach that state by the beginning of December.  This sounded like a wonderful trip to me!  Then the the gate closed and the water began to rush out of the lock and her boat began to move down into the lock (40 feet down).  I moved down to the end of the lock so I could see both boats coming out of the empty lock.

 Lock 17

 

 Boats entering at upstream level

 Forty feet down

 

 Leaving the lock

Watching the lift lock was fascinating.  The counterweight was huge and the boats drove under it - quickly.  We saw two other locks on Sunday; one lifted boats 8 feet, in contrast to Lock 17, and the other was an old, decaying lock that was part of the original canal, Lock 33, and was put out of commission when the route of the canal changed and the locks were expanded.

It is still an impressive structure and the engineering it took to produce the original locks is truly remarkable.

After we visited Lock 17 we drove to Canajoharie to visit the Arkell Museum and the Canajoharie Library, harmoniously housed in the same building. Most of the artwork was donated by Bartlett Arkell, the first president of Beech-Nut Foods Company founded in Canajoharie.  Mr. Arkell was a philanthropist who founded the library for his town and decorated it with several of his own paintings.  He believed in the wellbeing of his workers and had a pianist playing in the workplace.  His employees (primarily women) could also have a manicure every week - nice benefit.  Mr. Arkell also understood the power of marketing.  One of the displays shows the many print ads that appeared in the journals of the time promoting the health benefits of Beech-Nut products.  I particularly like the display of all the product labels - small work of art themselves.

 It's all in the packaging!

We wandered around the museum admiring the paintings and sculptures.  The variety was interesting and colorful.  The museum and library also had three areas for new artists to display their work.  I especially admired the many landscapes.  Mr. Arkell loved the Mohawk Valley and collected many paintings of that beautiful place.  The museum, which is fairly new, includes the beautiful original library.  I sat in one of the large leather chairs in the Reading Room for a few minutes.  I could easily have stayed there with a good book for the rest of the day!

Monday's adventure is finding and visiting the Erie Canal Museum in Syracuse.