{"id":649,"date":"2022-08-07T19:53:21","date_gmt":"2022-08-07T19:53:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cincinnatiprime11.com\/?p=649"},"modified":"2022-08-07T19:53:22","modified_gmt":"2022-08-07T19:53:22","slug":"erie-canal-waterford-to-amsterdam","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cincinnatiprime11.com\/?p=649","title":{"rendered":"Erie Canal – Waterford to Amsterdam"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Our Journey today is approximately 35 miles<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Erie Canal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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The Erie Canal, at 363 miles long, was built between 1817-1825 and connects the Atlantic Seaboard to the Great Lakes. It was spearheaded by New York Governor DeWitt Clinton. Skeptics called it “Clinton’s Ditch”. Even Thomas Jefferson called the project “just short of madness” and refused any federal money for its development. Obviously the naysayers were wrong; Governor Clinton was vindicated and the canal advanced settlements of the Northeast, Midwest, Great Plains and made New York City what it is today. The canal was not an easy endeavor. It took shear muscle power of men and horses! It took 50,000 men, mostly Irish immigrants and slaves, with their shovels and axes, earning 50 cents to a dollar a day , to dig the canal. Of the 50,000 men, 1,000 would perish in the construction. Some men, who came only with an axe in their hands, but rose to engineering positions, became known as the graduates of the Erie School of Engineering. In 1824, close to the canal, a school was founded, The Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The beginning of our westward journey on the Erie Canal…Lock 2. There is no lock 1. When they were starting the canal, they did not think the federal government would pay for the lock at Troy, so when drawing the blueprints, the Troy lock was one. However the federal government did pay and held on to the ownership and operation of the lock. To this day, that lock is known as the Federal Lock at Troy and not one of the locks on the New York Canal System.<\/em><\/strong> To this day, it confuses boaters as to where is lock 1!<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Today we begin our travels on this historic waterway The Erie Canal begins with what is called the flight of five. The flight of five consists of 5 locks, numbers 2-6, that will raise us up from the Hudson River at 15.2 feet elevation to the Mohawk River at 184 feet. Each lock will raise us between 33 to 34.5 feet. From Lock 2 to Lock 6 it is only 1.5 miles, but will take us approximately 1 1\/2 hours to navigate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Once the gate is opened and the green light is on, we enter the chamber. The doors close and the water fills up.<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
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Once the water is even with the upstream pool, the lockmaster will open the gate and off we go!<\/em><\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

After the flight of five there are two guard gates we will need to pass under. Sometimes they are left open, other times you need to call and request an opening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n