More Erie

We continue to creep up the Erie Canal toward the Oswego.  The reason this part of the trip takes so long is that we are going up.  If you consider NY city at sea level we are now almost 400' above sea level and each foot up is done with a lock.  A lock is a water elevator for boats.  It takes 30 to 45 min. for each lock.  Our first day on the Erie at Waterford on the Mohawk river we did 10 locks in 10 hours and traveled only 43 miles.  We won't do that again.  It took us three days to recover from it.  Now we are moving slower but enjoying it more. The view is spectacular!!  We are on top of a mountain on a canal sometimes only 100' feet wide and we are able too look down to the valley. Businesses welcome boaters and many provide free dockage for them.  We are parked behind a resturant and gift shop.  Tomorrow we will reach tthe top and start locking down the back side of the Adirondacks toward Lake Ontarino.  All of these locks are operated by the New York Canal System as they have been since the canal opened in 1825.  Now mainly for pleasurer boaters, you buy a pass for a certain number of days to transit the system.  When the Erie first opened it was called Clintons ditch.  Governor Clinton had proposed it and pushed it through the NY legislature. The opponents said it would never pay.  It recovered it's cost in three years and still holds the record for obstacles overcome and revenue produced. Railroads were it's downfall and now many of the old canal right of ways are payed over with interstate highways. We will try to send pictures, may not be successful.  Something is wrong with the blog site and we can't send them.  You may have to wait till we get home.