Herkimer & Perkins: Building Backyard Boats in Buffalo, NY

Messing About in Boats, Boots, and Byways:

Archive of Erie Canal Journal entries for 2002: 29 November 02

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.

Canal arrives at winter destination




Top photo: The water is all the way down at Widewater in Lockport. Middle photo: Upstream factors continue to lower the water at the Middleport Guard Gate, though the gate itself has not been lowered yet. The water is about 10 feet down now. Lower photo: The low water and dark, cloudy afternoon conspired to reduce the reflections in the water to a dull, dim minimum.

29 Nov. 02: We took a trip up to the canal to see how far the draining effort has gone. The canal is down another five feet from the last time I check, and there isn't much more to go. We going to give it a rest for a while.

Herkimer

& Perkins

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