[quote user="tree68"]
Firelock76
Good link RME, thanks for posting it! I never heard that one.
Always good to hear vintage "Weavers" at any rate.
I've been across (but never on) the Barge Canal many times - and there are still portions of the original Erie Canal to be seen.
There's a couple of good jokes in that song that some might miss...
I often pass along the route of an Erie Canal feeder - the Black River Canal. The image in the link is from a park between the north and southbound lanes of NYS 12. It is a combine of 4 locks. There is a combine of 5 locks south of Boonville. Pretty impressive stuff.
The canal itself rose around 700 feet from Rome to Boonville (24 miles). The elevation change between Boonville and Lyon's Falls (10 miles) was 300 feet - which explains the over 100 locks.
The Utica and Black River Railroad (later Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg, then NYC) ran within a stones throw of the canal in some areas north of Boonville.
[/quote,]to your point very little of the original canal remains. The canal was " modernized" and relocated twice. In its current form the canal was relocated to the Mohawk river west of lock 6 ( the western end of the " flight" locks 2 - 6. The Waterford flight is known for having the highest lift ( 150 feet ) in the shortest distance ( a couple of miles ) in the world.
In the crescent ny area you can see the remains of the original canal along what is now known as tow path Rd.
The canal follows the Mohawk river ( and closely parallels the old NYC ) to little falls NY. Lock 17 the lock not only has the highest lift in the system, but in the world, at around 25 feet. Once your kicked out Lock 17, your on the original canal which has been enlarged and deepened to its current size.
On your journey west, your on various portions of the enlarged canal, Oneida lake and other rivers,i including the Oneida, the Towanda Creek and even the niagara river enroute to Buffalo.
And this is only the original canal. It doesn't included the Oswego canal, which turns north at the three river junction, west of Syracuse and flows north to the port of Oswego in Oswego NY.
Just below lock two in Waterford ny, the Champlain canal follows the head waters of the Hudson River to fort Edward's ny. In this portion of the canal you can catch a glimpse of Amtrak's Adirondack on its daily trek to Montreal.
The casyuga- Seneca canal runs south to Seneca lake and Cayuga lake.
The history of new York is intertwined with both the early railroads and the Erie canal system that moved passengers and freight, north,south, east and west Thur the state. The history in the area is rich indeed.
