Messing
About in Boats, Boots, and Byways:
Archive of Erie Canal Journal entries for 2002 |
|
|
One
of our favorite destinations is the Erie Canal,
which originally began in downtown Buffalo, and
later when the canal was widened and renamed the
Erie Canal Barge Canal, the canal began, and still
begins, at North Tonawanda on the Niagara River
where Tonawanda Creek empties into the river.
We have biked in five-mile bites from Lockport
to Brockport, and we've rowed a time or two, too. |
|
A
foot here, a couple of feet there
|
|
Left:
The Guard Gate at Middleport. Below left: This
millstone has been recycled as a barrier at the
Guard Gate above Lockport. Below: Today's position
of the gates at the Guard Gate above Lockport.
|
|
|
|
09
Nov. 02: We
went up to Niagara Falls for a while this morning then
north to Route 18, then Route 104, heading toward the
Guard Gate at Middleport. We stopped at a farm stand in
Ridgeway and got about 50 pounds of winter squash and
apples, and some turnips. The canal is only down about
another foot from Thursday, for a total of three feet.
I'm going to give it a few days this time and probably
check again on Wednesday or Thursday of next week. We
also went by the Guard Gate above Lockport. The gates
are down more but still not all the way. I figure that
a slow draining puts less stress on the gates and other
systems that drain into the creeks that cross the line
of the canal, heading for Lake Ontario. If they pulled
the plug all at once, there would be flooding along those
creeks. That's just my guess. It was warm today, but there
was no sunshine at all. The temperature in the afternoon
was about 60 degrees F. |
|
|
Herkimer
&
Perkins
Welcome
to Our
Corner!
Index:
The Log
Pond
|
