Erie Canal Mud Creek Aqueduct over Plotter Kill in Kiwanis Park in Rotterdam, NY

(Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

It looks like a power company bought the rights to the towpath.

Street View, Jul 2022

Bob Stern posted two photos with the comment: "Aqueduct over the Plotter Kill in Kiwanis Park in Rotterdam NY"

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1895/95 Amsterdam Quad @ 62,500

1930 Detroit-Windsor Tunnel under Detroit River

Detroit Portal: (Satellite)

Windsor Portal: (Satellite)

Tunnel: (Bridge Hunter)

BridgeHunter, Public Domain
This 5,160' (1.6km) long tunnel was built using the immersed tube technique.

No street view driver wanted to pay a toll and go to Canada. That is, this is as close as they got to the tunnel.

Street View, Aug 2021

The ventilation towers on each side can supply about 1.5 million cubic feet of fresh air per minute and are patterned after the ventilation system in New York's Holland Tunnel. The roadway descends 75' (23m) below the river level and has a capacity of 2,000 vehicles per hour. "Completed a year ahead of schedule, costing $23 million. It took 6 months to complete." [dwtunnel_about] It took 1/3 the estimated time to construct?

Johnson posted

 Detroit-Windsor Tunnel construction, between 1928 and 1930 | Photo Credit: ITA-AITES

The Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, operational since 1930, remains one of the most significant infrastructural connections between the United States and Canada. This international tunnel spans the Detroit River, approximately one mile in length, facilitating transportation and trade activities between Detroit and Windsor.

Construction of this engineering landmark represented a collaborative cross-border effort, with a primary objective to streamline transit and commerce. Despite the financial challenges posed by the Great Depression, the project pushed forward, ultimately costing $23 million.

Today, the Detroit Windsor Tunnel serves thousands daily, underpinning commercial trade and personal travel. Approximately 12,000 vehicles pass through the Tunnel on a daily basis, handling over four million vehicles per year, of which 98% are cars, 2% are trucks and buses.

Some of the construction photos in the WindsorPublicLibrary_gallery

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So did they use tubes-in-a-trench under the river, but they bored the tunnel under land?

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Beck's Dam and 1864-1950,2008 Spring Fed Mill near Salem, IN

(Satellite)

The standpipe from the penstock drives a 20' (6m) water wheel and the bottom of the penstock drives a turbine.

Street View, May 2023

A runner for the turbine.

@ 11:07

In addition to milling corn and wheat, there was a sawmill and this wool processing equipment.

@ 12:10

We are looking at the wheat mill. Both mills were 30" (0.76m) undershot mills. Specifically, the top stone remained stationary while the bottom one rotated. And the bottom one moved up and down to control the size of the ground product.

@ 3:40

Kyle Dugger, Oct  2025

DL&W Manunka Chunk Tunnel

North Portal: (Satellite)

South Portal: (Satellite)

North side

Cara MacDonald at Cara Mac Media, Jul 2021

There is a non-trivial cut on the south side.

cdk007, Nov 2024

The tunnel is through solid rock, so they didn't have to line most of it.

Steven Murro, Mar 2022

I looked at several different topo maps, and none of them labeled the route that goes through the tunnel. The route to the north is labelled DL&W, and the route to the south is labelled Pennsy. Given the following comment, the route through the tunnel must have been DL&W.

"THE OLD DL&W & PRR Bel-Del, Pennsy trains entered the old [pre Cut Off] Lackawanna Main & ran from Philly to East Stroudsburg the DL&W serviced the Pennsy engines at the Gravel Place Pocono East Slope roundhouse ! The 2 Railroads lighted & filled in the bases and the small interchange yard there. About 5 years ago the there was another flood through the tunnels & wiped out the entire hillside right down to the NJ State highway and it was all filled with rip-rap. The Old Lackawanna Main had been removed in the late 1960s" [David J. Monte Verde on a Facebook post]

The "U" junction tower controlled this junction.

1953/53 Belvidere Quad @ 24,000

1876-1980 Frisco Railroad Overview

Frisco was the nickname for the St. Louis, San Francisco Railway Company.

1901 via frisco

1910 via frisco

It appears the Frisco used a partnership with C&EI to access the Chicago market.

<1941 via MissouriEncyclopedia
"This Frisco System map was created prior to 1941 as it does not show the extension to Pensacola, Florida. (St. Louis–San Francisco Railway Company Records (R0362), State Historical Society of Missouri)"

Its connections in Birmingham are SCL, so this would have to be after the merger of ACL and SAL, which was 1967.

Route Map (>1967) via frisco

1977 via frisco

Since this is a BNSF map, I presume it was at the time of the merger in 1980.

BNSF, this webpage also provides some history

Historical via frisco

This post was the motivation to find more complete maps of the system.

Chuck Mountain posted
Frisco Lines Map of Missouri n.d.

Enlarged Erie Canal Locks #5,#6,#7,#8 in Cohoes, NY

#8: (Satellite, I think the is the southern wall of the center part between the two chambers.)

Locks #5-#7 are buried under Norlite shale processing plant.

Erie Canal Overview

Lock #8

tug44, this webpage has four more photos

Adam Dubec posted
Lock no. 8 Note at the bottom of each step is a groove cut into the stone. These are rope cuts formed by heavy barges tugging at their lines along the steps.
[This is one of the other photos on tug44. The information about the grooves is also from that webpage.]

I found the location of Lock #8 by looking for a satellite image that did not have any leaves. I think the power lines are over the former towpath of the canal.

Google Earth, Mar 2021

Adam Debec posted three images with the comment: "Lock No. 8 in question.  Can you call the correct Lock No. (credit to Derek Baranski)"

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Adam Dubec posted two photos with the comment: "Lock No. 8  The remains of Enlarged Erie Canal Lock No. 8 are located at the northern edge of the working area of the Norlite property. Taken April 2, 2023 by Ted Olsen."

[The source for these two photos is ErieCanal.]

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Adam Dubec posted
Lock No. 8 which is no longer visible as it's overgrown down in Norlite area. earl johnson

Lock #5

Two Canal Society of New York State photos, 1950-1955? -- Albert Gayer photographer, via ErieCanal. 

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The above two photos show that the power company has been using the towpath for a long time. I'm surprised the voltage was that low in the 1950s. Those towers and insulators don't look much larger than the ones I've seen from 1907.

Dennis DeBruler

Ingersoll Plant in Chicago, IL

(Satellite, it is now, literally, brownland.)

Frank Piha posted 16 photos with the comment: "Ingersoll."

Frank Piha: 1000 w 120th Street Chicago

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Dennis DeBruler commented on Frank's comment
Thanks. I see that it was right across 120th Street from International Harvester's Plano Works. 1939 Aerial Photo

Ingersoll Rand has a customer service center in Elmhurst, IL.

Street View, Oct 2019

They could at least cover it with solar panels like they do the Plano Works just south of it.

Satellite