The Erie Canal

St. Johnsville Marina on the Erie Canal.

More than 175 years ago, dignitaries cut the opening ribbon to the 363-mile Erie Canal. It has since been recognized as one of the greatest transportation achievements of it's day. By connecting the Atlantic Ocean to Lake Ontario and beyond, the Erie Canal catapulted New York State's commerce to an incomparable level.

A large blue sign marks the intersection of the Erie Canal and Hudson River, as we want to record the beginning of our canal adventure. We turn into Waterford, the oldest incorporated village in the United States.

Waterford is a gracious place where folks celebrate it's 19th-century industrial river town history. At the Welcome Center, volunteer staff is friendly and give you information about the canal and the town of Waterford. The maximum time you may stay is 48 hours. So it's a bit of a party atmosphere as all the boats tied to a floating dock next to the wall are waiting to head into the Erie Canal.

The first lock is in the center of this picture as we head towards the lock with two other loopers.

The lead boat always contacts the lock operator to notify them where we are as they anticipate our arrival and drain the lock in advance.

We follow our new looping friends Fred & Julaine, on their boat Boreas, a 42' Carver. It's sort of like going into a wet coffin without the lid on.

All of a sudden the water starts to rise as Bob and I hold onto long ropes that are hanging off the sides of the wall in order to keep the boat in place.

Up we come into the light and 14 feet higher than we were before. At our highest point at lock 20, we will be 419 feet higher than we started. After lock 20 we start going down until we reach lock 31, which is Lake Ontario.

We follow Boreas out of the lock and try to imagine the workers that cleared heavily wooded and sometimes mountainous wilderness to create 18 aqueducts and 83 locks that transported vessels 363 miles and elevated them 568 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie.

The original canal was widened and deepened three times to accommodate higher demand and larger barges. By the early 1900's, the Erie Canal could no longer handle the needs of the users, and many of the original sections were retired.

We continue our days now on the Erie, traveling with our friends on Boreas.

As we pass through the locks, we can see the dams that were built to create the resevoir for each lock.

This lock will take us up 40.5 feet.

The steel doors close in behind us.

Going Up!

We pass very old towns.

And the trains follow us on the edge of the shore from town to town.

We call it a day as we pull into Ilion Marina, the town named after a city in Greece by early German settlers and has mostly Italian restaurants. Go figure.