1913 Black Rock Canal and Lock along Buffalo, NY

Lock: (Satellite)

Canal Inlet: (Satellite)

USACE
"The Black Rock Channel extends from Buffalo Harbor to the Black Rock Lock.  It is three and one-half miles in length.  The Federal navigation channel has a minimum width of 200 feet [61m]. Pleasure craft are required to yield the right-of-way to commercial vessels due to the confined waters of the channel. The Black Rock Lock and the Black Rock Channel provide safe passage for vessels to travel between Buffalo Harbor and Tonawanda Harbor around the reefs, rapids and fast currents that exist in the upstream portion of the Niagara River. In combination with the New York Erie Canal, the Black Rock Lock and Black Rock Channel provides an inland water route between Lake Erie and the Atlantic Ocean.  Branch canals in the New York State Canal System provide vessels access to Lake Erie and Lake Champlain."

Photo via USACE_history
The first lock was built in 1833 for the Erie Canal. This lock was built in 1913. The gates were rehabilitated in 1984-86.

The predecessor lock.

wnyhistory, Credit Buffalo Express Yearbook

USACE, Headquarters posted four photos with the comment:

This year is the 110th anniversary of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District Black Rock Lock.

There has been a lock at Black Rock since 1832, as part of the Erie Canal funding from New York State. By the end of the 19th century, plans were laid for the construction of the Black Rock Channel with deep dredging to accommodate deep-draft vessels and a new lock to accommodate those vessels.

The lock was considered necessary because businesses north of Black Rock required shipments of iron ore, coal and petroleum. At the time, not even the first steamboat "Walk in the Water" built in Black Rock, couldn't generate enough power to get through the rapids and turbulent flow where Lake Erie empties into the Niagara River. It had to end up being towed under full steam by six yoke of oxen into Lake Erie.

Work began on the new lock in 1908 and opened in 1914. Construction required dredging, stone blasting and a 56,000 lb stone cutter.

Today, the lock accommodates over 2,000 vessels and nearly 78,000 tons of cargo each year.

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The 1825 Erie Canal was cut through land all the way to downtown Buffalo. I think the 1833 lock was a gaurd lock to help control water levels between the canal and the river. The 1913 (today's) lock was a navigation lock and allowed freighters to use the Niagara River to support industries that were further downstream on the river. 

wnyhistory, Credit Maps Buffalo Harbor 1804 - 1964
The green oval marks the 1833 lock and the grey marks the 1913 lock.
"Construction required dredging as well as blasting solid rock to create the 21-foot [6.4m] deep and 200' wide lock and the 3 1/2 mile channel. A 56,000-lb. Lobnitz rock cutter was brought to Buffalo in pieces and assembled." [The channel is 200' (61m) wide, but the lock is about 100' wide. From the scale on a map, I estimate it is 600' (183m) long.]

wnyhistory
1920s aerial view

Deborah Brown posted two photos with the comment: "Good Evening Buffalorians 🚶🏽‍♀️ Black Rock Harbor 1930s 🛤️"

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wnyhistory has several more interesting images. One image notes that this notch was the entrance to the old Erie Canal.

Satellite

Photo via USACE_history

I have not found the lift of the lock in any references. But since the canal is about 100' wide, a gate would be about 50' wide. So it looks like the lift is about 50'.

Robert K, May 2019

There was a fight between the towns of Black Rock and Buffalo, which were separate towns back in the early 1800s, to be the western terminus of the Erie Canal. Black Rock had a natural harbor, but boats needed either "ash breeze" (rowing) or "horn breeze" (towed by oxen) to get up river to Lake Erie. And Buffalo needed a harbor. [wnyhistory] "The lake tides offshore were strong and the lake was shallow in this area. There was also a sandbar that prevented most boats from reaching shore." Even a steamboat, Walk-in-the-Water, needed horn breeze to go upstream. The steamboat weighed 338 tons and made its maiden voyage in Aug 1818. The decision of which town was the terminus was visited many times between 1816 and 1825. [EireCanalMuseum]

"The first debate about the site of the canal’s western terminus was between Oswego on Lake Ontario and an undetermined site on Lake Erie. Peter Porter, a Black Rock businessman whose company operated the portage around Niagara Falls, favored Oswego. However, decision-makers in Albany favored a route wholly within New York State, a sentiment that solidified after the War of 1812." [ExploreBuffalo]

Brian R. Wroblewski posted
I have no idea what's going in the BR lock right now but these guys have been in there for hours.
Scott Lopez: The Sherri from what I was told got stuck/wedged  in the BLACK LOCK last night

Bubba Dubs added two photos of Black Rock Lock to a post.

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There used to be significant freighter traffic through the lock because there was a lot of heavy industry along the river, e.g. coke and power plants. As with the Erie Canal itself, the lock traffic is now mostly pleasure boats.

Satellite