Guided Discovery: Navigating on the Erie Canal - Schenectady to Brewerton, NY

I've got a mule,
Her name is Sal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
She's a good old worker
And a good old pal,
Fifteen years on the Erie Canal.
We've hauled some barges in our day
Filled with lumber, coal and hay
And ev'ry inch of the way I know
From Albany to Buffalo.

Low Bridge, ev'rybody down,
For it's Low Bridge,
We're coming to a town!
You can always tell your neighbor,
You can always tell your pal,
If you've ever navigated
On the Erie Canal.

The Erie Canal that we experienced was very different from the song. There were no mules, no low bridges, no colorful towns, no commercial traffic, no navigation (to speak of) and no pals (i.e., other Loopers). None. Here's a short history.

The first interation of the 363 mile Erie Canal was started in 1817. It was 40 foot wide at the top, 28 feet wide at the bottom with a depth of 4 feet. There were 83 locks (90' long by 15' wide) and 18 aqueducts. The canal raised boats 565 feet from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. The cost was $7,000,000 in 1817 dollars. It was the undisputed engineering marvel of its day.

The canal was enlarged 27 years later (1862) at a cost of $32,000,000. Now the depth was 7 feet and the canal was wider (70' at the top, 42' at the bottom).

The version that we traversed was completed in 1918 at a cost of $150,000,000. This route linked the canal to the Mohawk River creating a wider and deeper route, which was a result of steam engines replacing the mules. The locks were made larger (328' long by 45' wide) and the number was reduced to 35. Much of the route was changed. There are only a few places where the new canal covers the same ground as the original.

Guided Discovery parked next to a remnant of one of the original 18 aqueducts

The canal was originally created as a commercial waterway to link New York City to the mid-western cities on the Great Lakes. It served that purpose until competetition from the railways and later trucking made the canal less desireable as a way to move goods - not to mention that it froze up during the winter. Today, there is no commercial traffic on the canal.

Today the canal is totally for recreational boats. That said, we traversed a total of 21 locks on the Erie and 8 locks on the Oswego Canal and encountered no other recreational boats moving west. We went through all 29 locks all by ourselves. Further, we experienced no delays at the locks. This was a totally different experience that the western rivers where commercial traffic had first priority and there was lots of barge traffic that caused us to wait at many locks.

The Erie locks themselves were also easy, with lines position every 20 feet and cables that we could run a line through. The lockmasters were incredibly efficient. For example, they would have the doors closed before we were position for the lift (or drop) and would operate the lock as soon as we were ready. They also called ahead to alert the next lock, which resulted in the doors being opened when we arrived.

The scenery was pastoral. The canal and the Mohawk River were lined with hills and trees. Occassionally we could see the mountains. The cities are far apart and for the most part not easily accessible.

Houses along the canal were an unusual sight

We entered the canal on Friday, July 13 at Troy and traversed 7 locks stoppingt at Schenectady. The highlight of that day was a 2.5 mile dingy ride to dinner an the Lighthouse Restuarant.

Lighthouse Restaurant in Schenectady

From Schenectady, we traveled 6 hours, 51 miles and 8 locks to St Johnsville, NY, a town with a population of 1,700.

St. Johnsville was an interesting study in relation to the unemployment problem facing the US. (Interesting relevant fact: Since 2000, 42,240 factories have closed in the US representing a loss of 5.5 million jobs and a loss of 32% of the US manufacturing capability.) Several plants closed in St. Johnsville including a shoe and dying, the latter employing 600 people.

Remnants of a dying plant in St. Johnsville

The result, a very depressed small town with high unemployment.

I got the story of the dying factory from Milton Smith, a gentleman who had started working at the plant in 1958 for $1.25 per hour. Milton explained that the plant moved to the south and then later to China. Today, Milton lives across the street from the remnant of the plant.

Milton Smith of St. Johnsville, NY

The next day we covered 80 miles and 7 more locks traveling from St. Johnsville to Brewerton, NY (on the western shore of Lake Onieda). We experienced moderate showers for three hours on this leg of the trip. Because it was a long day (10 hours) we stopped at Bellany Harbor Park to let Kodi have a break. Most of the 80 miles were on the canal itself which after Johnsville runs straight and true.

At Lock 20 we hit 420 feet above sea level, whereupon we started our descent to Lake Ontario.

The following are photos from our 25 foot descent at Lock 22.

Lock 22 upstream doors are closed

Viewing the upstream doors when we reached bottom

Departing Lock 22 heading down stream

We arrived in Brewerton, NY at 6:50 PM, launched the dingy and dingied over to a lovely restaurant on the southern bank of the river where we dined alfresco.