The Erie Canal was called “Clinton’s Big Ditch” by people who were very skeptical about the idea of digging a canal through wilderness. DeWitt Clinton was the governor of New York, and he saw the canal as a great opportunity to create infrastructure. This canal was to link the Hudson River with the Great Lakes, to extend commerce westward.
The canal included a series of locks. A canal lock is a type of elevator, that raises boats up or lowers them down from level to level. The locks are used to get past obstacles, such as hills. In Lockport, New York, the locks are called the Flight of Five.
Soooo, the name “Lockport.” Yesterday, Doug let me know in comments that he has been in Lockport, Manitoba, to go fishing. And, he mentioned, Lockport is a common name along canals, which was very interesting.
This is what AI has to say about the “Flight of Five”: “a set of five stacked, historic Erie Canal locks built to lift or lower canal boats over the Niagara Escarpment. Originally a double flight, these locks were a remarkable engineering feat that raised boats approximately 60 feet. Today, they function as a spillway for the modern Erie Barge Canal locks (E-34 and E-35) and are a popular tourist attraction that showcases 19th-century canal history.”
A view of the lock with a boat in it and crew on top.
Traveling through the locks.
This is totally fascinating.
I’m not the only one to be fascinated. Look! Here’s an audience for the Big Event! Isn’t that a good looking audience? This audience is an amazing sculpture, designed and created by the one and only Susan Geissler. She travels all over Western New York, creating incredible sculptures that tell so many stories. And not only does she create these sculptures, she also maintains them so they stay in their best condition.
The lock tenders were people who worked “12-hour days from April through November every year to enable boats to navigate through the Erie Canal Flight of Five Locks and deliver their freight to Buffalo and points west, or east to New York City and subsequent final destinations including other continents. An 1897 photo of 12 Lockport Lock Tenders and a little girl has been hailed as a striking depiction, worthy of memorializing as the Lock Tenders Tribute Monument.” This quotation came from the Erie Canalway website (https://locksdistrict.com/lock-tenders-tribute)
Here is an historical marker to commemorate the construction of the Erie Canal.
See you tomorrow!!
