Erie and Oswego Canals

Prior to leaving Waterford, NY (the beginning of the Erie Canal) we rented a car to make trips to a marine store to get a few more fenders and a new anchor for Chuck. We took all of Chuck's chain out of his locker and reversed it end for end so he had newer chain to use for anchoring. Generally on the East coast you only need about half of the chain he carries.

We left Waterford and started up the Erie immediately through a series of 5 locks. We stopped for the night after Lock 8 where we could tie up to a lock wall. Locking through is done one of two ways on the Erie. One way is where there are ropes hanging down the lock walls and you grab one on the bow and one on the stern to keep your boat against the wall. The other either has a pipe or cable recessed into the wall where you put a rope around it and hold it in the middle of the boat. Some locks have both.

The next day we headed through more locks to Amsterdam, NY. This city was the center of carpet mills before the business all went south and then offshore. It is a nice city with beautiful houses but is is struggling to keep industry here.

From Amsterdam we traveled to Canajoharie and tied to the city docks where they provide free dockage with power. This city is the home of Beech-Nut Foods (chewing gum as well as other food products). The downtown was flooded last year and they are still rebuilding. One of the early owners of Beech-Nut had a beautiful house there and it is now a home for elderly women still financed by the foundation.

The name Canajoharie is an indian word for "Pot that washes itself" so we found the original "Pot" in the stream. The city also has one of the few remaining pedistal type traffic lights in the center of town.

After our stay in Canajoharie we went on to Herkimer and then to Rome. Before getting to Rome, we locked through Lock 17, a unique lock in that the lock doors do not swing open, rather, a gate is lifted above you. At 40 feet, this lock is the highest lift of the NY Canal System but not the highest we will encounter on the rest of our trip.

Rome is the site of one of the earliest forts in the area, Fort Stanwix. It was vital to protect the Mohawk river. The fort has been recreated in exact detail on the original foundations. We visited the fort where we saw the conditions early soldiers lived in. The small room is the Surgeon's ward in one of the "bombproofs" in the fort.

The Erie and Oswego canals are very pastoral and serene. We shared the canal with other boaters (kayakers) and local wildlife.

A couple of the more interesting features on the waterway are "Guard Gates" that can be lowered to block the water flow in the canal itself (it flows down the original river bed) so work can be done on locks and walls and the remains of the original aquaducts that carried fresh water to New York City.

We crossed Lake Oneida and stopped in Brewerton on the western side of the lake to fill our fuel and water tanks prior to crossing into Canada where fuel is substantially more expensive. We hope this full tank will take us all the way to Michigan. From Brewerton, we headed to the Oswego Canal that turns north to Oswego, NY and the southern shore of Lake Ontario. We have tied to a wall between locks 7 and 8. We will probably lock through lock 8 tonight and tie to a restaurant wall below the lock so we can get an early start (5:00) in the morning to cross the lake.

The photo above is a good example of how the canal was built with the locks running beside a river. Lock 7 is visible in the background.

The Trent-Severn waterway and Georgian Bay/North Channel on Lake Huron are reportedly the best part of this trip. We will let you know when we can.

Unless I can find wifi hotspots in Canada this may be the last posting for a month. Tomorrow morning we will cross Lake Ontario to start our trip up the Trent-Severn waterway. My Verizon phone and Aircard will be very expensive to use there so I will update through wifi if I can find it.