Original and Enlarged Erie Canal Lock #33 near St. Johnsville, NY

Original: (Satellite)

Enlarged: (Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

ErieCanal, Courtesy of Terry Potoczny.
Matt Korono posted
St. Johnsville Erie Canal lock 33
[See Lock #23 for a restoration of the tender's hut and the wooden pier on the central divider.]

This is one of those topics where the more I researched it, the more I got confused because the sources contradict each other.

This is obviously an enlarged lock because it has two chambers and the southern chamber has been lengthened.

Satellite

This source puts the lock a little further west of the above satellite location near today's Stubborn Girl Farm.

ErieCanal_today

And this source indicates that there were locks in both locations.

1898/1954 Canajoharie Quad @ 62,500

If there were two locks here, then the one near the farm would be #33, and the one we can still see would be Lock #32.

But Lock #32 is west of Pittsford, NY.

So I conclude that the above Google map and topo map are wrong and that the one that we can see is #33.

This map resolved my confusion. The topo map shows both the original and the enlarged locks. The western lock is the original lock. And the label of "Enlarged Erie Canal Lock No. 33" on the Google Map in ErieCanal_today is incorrect. It should be labeled "original" instead of "enlarged"

ErieCanal_today
[I searched hmdb to try to find a higher resolution photo, but I was not successful.]

ErieCanal_today

Note the north wall of the extension of the south chamber.

"Only three other locks on the Enlarged Erie were lengthened at the head end owing to the amount of excavation necessary on that end." The lift is 6.031' [ErieCanal_today]

Satellite

ErieCanal_today, this webpage has many contemporary (2008) photos of the lock.
Looking West at the downstream end of the locks.

Terry Potoczny posted 26 photos with the comment: "The best time of the year to visit Lock 33 in the town of Minden, everything is flattened from the snow. If you have never been this is the time to visit. Just across the river from St Johnsville. 3.25.26"

Terry Potoczny shared

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