Lock #8 (last one) on the Oswego Canal

(Satellite)

Erie Canal overview

Street View

The Oswego Canal is part of the Erie Barge Canal System. I never realized that there was this branch canal to Lake Ontario until I saw this post.

Dave Yager posted, cropped

Lock #8 in Oswego, NY. The start of the Lake Ontario entrance to the Erie Barge Canal.

We used to run molasses from New York City to Montréal, Toronto and Hamilton through the canal in the late 80's and early 90's. I personally made 24 trips so 48 trips through the Erie Barge Canal and Hudson River.

The blue rack over the lock is for height restrictions. If you can't get under that you're not going anywhere because you won't be able to get under a lot of the other bridges along the way either.

30 locks each way. First 8 go up, the last 22 go right down to sea level at Troy, NY.

Jolene Femiano: And as the canal continues west of the Oswego river, the bridges get even lower, so all the taller pleasure boaters have to head north on the river to Lake Ontario if they want to access Lake Erie 👌🏽 commercial shipping by way of barge is slowly but surely making a come back here on the Erie Canal! 

I'm reluctant to write notes on the Erie Canal because so much has been written on it. Until I do, this map shows this canal branch.

Map via SchenectadyHistory
Finch, p2 via NYcanals

Street View

Erie Canal Museum posted five images with the comment:

Located at the mouth of the Oswego River on Lake Ontario. The Oswego Canal, following the river, connected to the original Erie Canal at the junction near the Syracuse Weighlock building. Barge Canal construction diverted the junction in the 20th century to Three Rivers Point, where the Seneca, Oneida and Oswego rivers meet. The 1810 Canal Commission initially proposed two routes for the original Erie Canal, with the alternative Lake Ontario route through Oswego minimizing construction, but ultimately an interior route was chosen for protecting trading interests with western territories instead of Canada. Officially opening in the Spring of 1828, Oswego grew exponentially as products like salt and grains were shipped via the canal and distributed to various American and Canadian ports on Lake Ontario. As reform movements like the women’s rights movement were expanding across New York State, both the City and Town of Oswego benefited and actively engaged with these ideas. One such Oswego resident, Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, was not only an important and sometimes controversial participant in the suffrage and dress reform movements but also a surgeon, Civil War veteran and the only female Medal of Honor recipient.   

You can learn more about Oswego and Dr. Mary E. Walker on Thursday March 19th as part of our Sloan Lecture Series. Learn more here:  https://www.simpletix.com/.../2026-sloan-lecture-series...

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Darren Baun: Nice. Looking north?

Michael Ullrich: Darren Baun That’s my assumption. I never imagined another canal up above on higher ground.

Dennis DeBruler commented on Michael's comment
Given the brick buildings at the end of the higher canal, I presume it was a millrace that brought water down from the pool above the diversion dam.    1900 Oswego Quad @ 62,500

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