1828+1909 Cayugo and Seneca Canal and Historic Knitting Mill in New York State

Lock #1 (Mud Lock): (Satellite) 8.9' lift (2.7m) [CayugaLake]

Lock #2+#3: (Satellite) 49' (15m) lift [Plaque]

Lock #4: (Satellite) 13' lift (4m) [CayugaLake]

The canal connects the namesake finger lakes to the Erie Canal near Montezuma, NY.

The size of the locks is 43.5 (13m) x 300 (91m). [WaterwayGuide]

"The Cayuga – Seneca Canal was reconstructed in 1909 by referendum including it as a part of the newly approved Barge Canal, leaving remnants of the original canal (opened to the public on November 15, 1828) still visible in the proximity of the existing canal banks."  [CayugaLake]

This source provides the dates of 1832 and 1915. The Seneca Lake is 618' (188m) deep, and the Navy maintains "a permanent facility anchored on the lake that is used for deep water research." [DiscoverTheErieCanal]

I discovered the tandem lock flight of #2 and #3 locks in Seneca Falls while looking for the NYC depot and freight house.

We see just Lock #2 in this view. The Van Cleef Lake created by this dam now covers the falls and/or rapids that provided the waterpower that caused this town to exist.

Stephen Plucinik, Oct 2017

Lock #4 in Waterloo, NY:

Street View, Sep 2013

Speaking of waterpower, an old Knitting Mill [ErieCanalWay, p8] is now the National Women's Hall of Fame Museum. I included some of the canal in the foreground because it looks like they have a problem maintaining a good flow through the canal.

Street View, Sep 2023

Fortunately, the growth on the canal is not common. In all of the other dates I looked at, the surface was clear. (I've seen places on the Indiana & Michigan Canal that are not only covered year-round, but it also stinks.)

Street View, Sep 2013

Today, waterpower is used to generate electricity rather than turn machinery in a mill. 

Lock 2-3 gradient generates 8mw with 3 units starting in 1917. [HydroReform_Seneca_Falls]

Lock 4 gradient generates 1.5 mw with 3 units starting in 1915. [HydroReform_Waterloo]

1950/51 Elmira Quad @ 250,000

Adam Dubec posted three images with the comment: "Baldwinsville Lock on the Seneca is how most of the Locks were modeled and operated after. The long arms would give the Canal Operators leverage to work the locks open and closed."

Mike Mazoway: This was on the downstream end of the Baldwin Canal. It was abandoned when Lock 24 came online. The Baldwin Canal remained a hydraulic canal until the 1940s. It was filled in the mid 1960s.

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