Low Bridge Everybody Down

2021-05-31 admin Comments 0 Comment

01-JUN-2021 Tuesday Free Wall, Baldwinsville NY to Free Wall, Newark NY (48.3 nautical miles 55.6 statute miles)

43°02’50.9″N 77°05’41.3″W
43.047480, -77.094808
Elevation: 434 feet Rise 62 feet
States (1): New York

Locks (5 up):
Lock E25 – Mays Point
Lock E26 – Clyde
Lock E27 – Lyons
Lock E28A – Lyons
Lock E28B – Newark

Along the Way

It wasn’t enough to simply have mannequins on the dock…. Dale and Tom had to critique their skin tone and wardrobe.

Cross Lake. Exactly what we did. Head straight across the lake heading for the hole in the trees. (Cross Lake is not cross shaped.)

Farmland. It’s been a long time since we’ve seen farmland along the waterway.

Bridges…. The bridges on the western side the Erie Canal are lower than the bridges on the eastern side the Erie Canal. We made the decision to run it and see what happens. Today will tell. Some of them look like they have been built by fairies and others look like they have been built by trolls.

Checking out the bridge heights. Just because you’ve made one at 15 feet it doesn’t mean you make another at 15 feet. The pool levels between the lock might flux due to rain or other conditions.

Low bridge. Everybody down.

This guy is sitting in the weeds. Bet he’s full of ticks.

It’s looking like we can clear the bridges. It’s the electrical wires I’m starting to worry about.

High density housing. Not everyone can afford the Finger Lakes region.

Everyone has a golf cart. A guy could make a fine living here fixing golf carts.

It’s a mixed bag of landscape. Fun to see farms again. I miss the mountains though.

Cayuga-Seneca(C-S) Canal to the portside. Daymarks are always interesting where channels split.

Remains of the Montezuma Aqueduct where the canal of 1862 crossed the Seneca River.

Lock E25 – Mays Point – Fishing bobbers used for trawling 🙂 Interestingly they are painted different colors on each end.

18 foot practice bridge

OK. Cleared.

Lock E26 – Clyde

Water spider about 4 inches across. It crawled up the wall as the water rose.

This train bridge is supposedly the lowest bridge on the Erie Canal. 15 feet. Our moment has come. Take it slow.

We just saved ourselves $1,000! We won’t have to hire a captain to take our boat through the Welland Canal in Canada to circumnavigate Niagara Falls.
Through history there has been heavy competition between trains and boats for tonnage along the Erie Canal. The sneaky railroads built their bridges as low as possible to impede the boat traffic.

Lyons Lock E27

This bridge must have been made by trolls.

Lyons Lock E27

There was a time in Lyons when you could smell peppermint wherever you went in town. Hundreds and hundreds of acres of surrounding farmland was devoted to growing peppermint plants. Lyons was once a major producer of peppermint. The H.G. Hotchkiss Essential Oil Company exported its product internationally, and in addition to early medicinal uses, it provided the palate-pleasing tingle of Beech-Nut Gum.

Lock E28A – Lyons