July 2nd & 3rd

Weighlock with a "boat " coming thru the "locks"

Sunday afternoon we took off from New Hampshire for the short hop over to Syracuse for a Cracker Barrel  overnight. We had found an Erie Canal Weighlock in Syracuse that had been converted into a museum. We had been up to the the Welland canal a few years back, and we thought we'd like to see how the canals in our country got their start. Geo. Washington looked at the Mohawk river valley, and first commented "with a little creative excavation we could create a canal here", or something like that. NY Gov. Dewitt Clinton started work on it in 1817, despite some opposition. "Clinton's ditch" went through field and forest, joining the river where possible, and had 83 locks to raise boats almost 600' from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. It was complete in 1825, and was so successful that they almost immediately started digging feeder canals and modifying the original. It promptly earned back the original investment many times over.

The generator at lock 28B Newark, NY

Years ago when I was travelling, I would fly into Syracuse and drive over to Newark to call on Eastman Kodak, and ultimately Ultralife Battery. Looking for something to do on the drive back one day, I glanced at a small sign that said Lock 28B, and - having already missed an earlier flight decided to duck in. What a surprise! The lockmaster, who met me at the parking lot, was looking for someone -anyone - to talk to. He took me down and showed me his prized possession. Soooo, here at least 10-15 years later, we were driving down route 31 in New York looking for my lock. Well we found it after a couple of tries. It turned out to be right in Newark,and the prize possession is pictured here. I was told by the lock master that every lock on the canal had a competition to see who could keep their locks the best maintained. Lock 28B was unique in that it had original generating equipment in it to supply power to the town of Newark and surrounding farms. Power was not yet distributed to small towns at the turn of the century. You can see all the old equip is still in excellent shape, even the copper on the commutator in the center of the generator. (Note, if you double click on the pictures you'll get a bigger version). This generator actually ran when I was there years ago. Today, the lockmaster unfortunatly doesn't poses the skills to get it to operate. But he does keep it nicely polished! The place was set up like a museum, just as I remembered it. One of our surprises.

Boat in lock, with lockmaster on left, in blue

The locks still operate for pleasure craft, on an annual toll, $100. You can see a boat from Wisconsin, which has just entered the lock. The water is rising, and if you look closely to the right of the boat, you'll see large circles of turbulence in the water. This is the water flowing over the turbines, and through openings and filling the chamber. Lockmasters are still bored , and looking for anyone to talk to. This one has a trapped target, and he is discussing the weather and the economy with the sailors on the boat. The last shot shows the lock open just ahead of the boat, the lockmaster probably still talking, and the boat leaving.

Locks full, and boats away!

Checking out the car fire

That night we went over to another of our travelling campsites, a Wal-Mart just south of Rochester. We pulled in and Liz fixed a nice meal. While sitting outside  I noticed a small black car with the windsheild washers going. Strange. A little later I noticed the car smoking and a guy running out of the Wal-Mart carrying a fire extinguisher. He burned his hands opening the trunk, but when he did smoke came pouring out. By the time I was there another guy was calling 911. The extinguisher did the trick for most of it, and by the time the fire company arrived it was just a little smoke.The car had blistered paint in the rear quarter, and the firefighters found fried wiring in various places in the car. Pretty neat fire departement, 19 volunteers 5 paid, handling 370 fire calls, and 150 EMS. Rich town, lots of nice trucks!! 

Our trailer in Wal-Mart