Friday, January 16, 2026

Erie Canal Lock #62 near Pittsford, NY

(Satellite)

The Great Embankment is about a mile east of here.

"The lift was 9.22 feet to the west." [ErieCanal]

Looking at the downstream side. In the center is the wall that expanded the south lock on the left to speed up the transit of 250-ton grain barges.
Thomas Griebel, Sep 2018

Thomas likes this view. I include this photo that was taken three years later because it is easier to see the outlet of a conduit in the central divider. And it shows how nature has progressed and the appearance of graffiti on the end of the wall.
Thomas Griebel, Sep 2021

A close up of the outlet.
ErieCanal

This is the upstream side. Note the three inlets to the conduit in the central divider. There was a flow in the canal to supply water to operate the locks. If the locks were not being used much, the water level in the canal would rise. When the water level reached the inlets, the excess water would overflow into the conduit and continue downstream.
Adam Rothman, Sep 2017

Back in 2017, they cleaned nature off the south lock. But the above photo shows that the north lock still had a lot of growth in it.
Debi Bower, Apr 2017

I think we are looking downstream in the north chamber.
mine big gut, Jun 2019

Unfortunately, preservation is now plagued by graffiti as well as nature.
Jules Hoepting, May 2025

Being treated as a garbage dump is not a new problem. Each winter when they drained the canal, they had to clean a lot of trash out of the prism.
Chris Hecht, Aug 2020

Back in 2008, the south chamber looked real good. The person gives an idea of the size of the lock.
ErieCanal

The pin shows where the Erie Canal turned north to go through Rochester, but the Barge Canal continued going West. Lock #62 is in the top center under the "Barnes & Noble" label whereas Barge Canal Lock #32 is at the bottom.
Satellite

Robert Corby posted
ERIE CANAL LOCK 62
The well preserved remains of this paired lock are located at the crest of the berm borderng the west side of the Pittsford Wegmans parking lot.  
In the photo below, the small catwalk above the lock gates allowed the lock tender to move quickly back and forth across the lock chamber.  Also visible are the large timber balance beams that provided leverage to allow manual operation of the lock gates.  The turbulent state of the water indicates the lock chamber was being drained at the time of the photo.
Robert Corby shared
Dean Cady: Well doctored photo
Robert Corby: Dean Cady ?
[I deleted this comment because I realized that we are looking at the longer south chamber and the right chamber would not be visible.]
Dennis DeBruler: Robert Corby Judging from the angle of the gates and the flow of water, we are looking at the downstream side of the chamber. If we are looking at the south chamber, the photo is from the 19th Century before the south locks were doubled in size and there should be a north chamber on the right side. If we are looking at the north chamber, there should not be any land on the left side, but there should be land on the right side.

1841,1888 Enlarged Erie Canal Lock #28 (Yankee Hill) near Amsterdam, NY

(Satellite)

Barge Canal Lock #12 is just north of Fort Hunter; the Schoharie Creek Aqueduct is just west, and Enlarged Canal Lock #30 is in Fort Hunter.
Enlarged Canal Lock #29 is a little east of Fort Hunter. This lock is further east, almost to Amsterdam, NY.

The Canalway Trail - Erie Canal Trail just south of this lock is probably on the towpath of the Original Erie Canal.

This lock had a lift of 8'. [ErieCanal]

Given the angle of the gates, we are looking downstream. So we are looking East. That means the store was on the south side of the canal, where the tow path was. The recreated store is now on the north side.
ErieCanal
"Yankee Hill Lock [Lock 28], Erie Canal - date unknown, 1905? [CSNYS]"

And the south side of the canal is now a parking lot. (The store is out-of-frame to the left.)
Collin Simmons, Aug 2023

I think we are looking upstream (westbound) at the north lock.
Jimmy Gonzales posted
Town of Florida, NY
Walter J Eaker: Look how straight and flat lines of hand cut rock amazing work
Tricia Shaw: Walter J Eaker this lock was one of the last ones on the Canal to be built. The stones was not hand cut by then. This lock didn't open for navigation until 1856.

john, Aug 2025

john, Aug 2025

At Google Maps resolution

This explains why only the southern (eastbound) lock was enlarged. It was to speed up the haulage of 250-ton grain barges.
Ateeq Ahmad, Sep 2020

Here we can see the notches for the gates in the original part of the south lock. I wonder why nature has grown on the original part, but not the enlarged part, of the lock.
Kathleen Johnson, Oct 2021

Here we see nature growing out of the sides of the enlarged part. So those vines evidently grew in just the three years since Kathleen took the above photo.
Petr Dlabac, Sep 2024

Ateeq Ahmad, Sep 2020

Phillip Gioia, Oct 2024

Ateeq Ahmad, Sep 2020

Ateeq Ahmad, Sep 2020

Photo, Aug 2019


Phillip Gioia, Oct 2024

Yuzhongbutong Great, Sep 2024

Photo, Aug 2019

This text is to the right of the above exhibit.
Photo, Aug 2019


Thursday, January 15, 2026

NY-13 Bridges over Barge Canal in Sylvan Beach, NY

(Satellite)

Erie Canal Overview

I can't determine with this photo if it was pin connected.
Yvonne Wall posted
Bridge over Barge Canal, Sylvan Beach

Street View, Aug 2023

Brandon Dacy, Sep 2016

Champlain Canal Sidecut to Mohawk River in Waterford, NY

(Satellite)

These locks are next to Barge Canal Lock #2.
There was a sidecut to the Hudson River down in Watervliet, NY.

Note the "sidecut" sign on the post.
Matt Korona posted
A boat entering the Champlain Canal in 1880

Jevon Waldron commented on Matt's post, cropped
I am pretty sure this is Waterford. this is the same house in background of pic.
[Street View, Jul 2022, Satellite]

I could not find Jevon's house until I saw it in the background of this view.
Kim Young, May 2023

Barge Canal Lock #2 on the left and the sidecut channel on the right.
Street View, Jul 2025

The above view was taken from the bridge in the background of this photo. The concrete wall on the right is part of Lock #2.
Josh Schmid, Mar 2022

On the sides, we can see part of the notches that held the gates when they were open.
DivingDancer, Sep 2018

Wednesday, January 14, 2026

Forestport Dam on Black River and Sand Loader at Forestport, NY

Dam: (Satellite)

Street View, Jun 2025
[Note in the right background that NY-28 still has a truss bridge.]

This dam diverted water into a 10-mile feeder canal to the Black River Canal (BRC). The BRC, in turn, was a feeder canal for the Enlarged Erie Canal. Boonville was the summit of the BRC, thus this feeder canal joined the BRC in Boonville. That allowed 2/3 of the water to go south to the Erie Canal and 1/3 to go north to facilitate navigation on the BRC to Lyons Falls then on the Black River to Carthage.

The Black River must have a healthy, year-round flow because this is about the lightest flow I saw over the dam.
Josh Geist, Jun 2021

This feeder canal was navigable.
BlackRiverCanalMuseum

The canal goes off to the west including a large embankment that creates Alder Pond.
Satellite

This shows how the feeder canal stayed above the elevation of Boonville while the Black River went lower in its valley.
904 Booneville and 1897 Rmsen Quads @ 62,500


Hennepin Canal Aqueduct #3 over West Bureau Creek east of Wyanet, IL

(Satellite)

Hennepin Canal State Park posted
Today's Throwback Thursday photo was taken in 1898 and features the construction of Aqueduct 3, East of Wyanet.

Cub Cadet Hoard, Jan 2024

Jacek O, Jul 2025

This shows that the aqueduct is "wet."
Jacek O, Jul 2025

Taking another look at a satellite image, one can see that it is wet.
Satellite



Tuesday, January 13, 2026

Black River Canal Locks and 11.2mw?/5.6mw Powerhouse in Lyons Falls, NY

Powerhouse: (Satellite)

Black River Canal Overview

This is the waterfalls of Lyons Falls.
Evan Swingholm, Sep 2021

While looking for an image that still shows the paper mill, I found an image that allows us to clearly see the Black River Canal west of the river.
Google Earth, Apr 2005

Lyons Falls was the northern terminus of the Black River Canal. It used a series of locks to go around the falls.
1905/05 Port Leyden @ 62,500

This would be some of those locks.
LyonsFallsHistory

This is where the canal left the Black River upstream (south) of the waterfalls.
LyonsFallsHistory

Before the locks, it appears the canal went through a cut next to the paper mill. The hydropower house is behind the white tower near the center of this photo.
LyonsFallsHistory

Once you know where to look, the canal is easy to find along the river. The paper mill closed in 2001 [LyonsFallsHydro_history], and this is the last view that still has all of the paper mill buildings.
Google Earth, May 2013

Today, the only thing left is the power house.
Satellite

The dam was built on top of the waterfalls to provide a larger hydraulic head for the mill.
LyonsFallsHydro
The last update on their website was Aug 10, 2016. They got their FERC License Amendment, but the economy was "challenging." So I don't know if the $40m project was finished. Thus the question mark in the title: "11.2mw?/5.6mw." It appears that they did finish the site cleanup.