Canal Banks 5

The Canal runs less than 400 miles across the state, but possibly because my journey has lasted over a hundred days now, it sometimes seems that I’ve crossed a continent since June, and an unfamiliar continent at that.  The countless unexpected details–in spite of  some familar ones–prompt the suggestion that these details are remnants of a lost civilization, vestiges of a culture that once valued them before those inhabitants vanished.  All photos here by Will Van Dorp, taken between Brockport and Pittsford.

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Whatzit 23

Anyone know the story here?  It’s a state boat, though not in NYS Canal Corp colors.

 

Canal Corp Boats 8

All grounded here . . . buoy boats 113, 110, and 115, respectively, and all within a quarter mile of the Lockport flight.  I love the design of these boats.  I’m told they were designed in the 1920s.

I need to research their genesis.

 

Canal Banks 3

All photos here were taken between the east side of Oneida Lake and Seneca Falls.  In the row of buildings behind the boat in the photo above, there is wifi, as well as laundry machines and clean hot showers.  I counted about a dozen eagles–of all ages–along the waterway.

Longevity

Boston Navy Yard, February 1932 and launch day.  Click here to see the context.

Grand River at Grand Haven, February 1907.

82 years later, the same vessel as the top one and now known as Seneca, pushes Tender #10 eastbound just east of Oneida Lake.

107 years later than the second photo above, H. J. Dornbos, now known as Urger awaits dry-docking between Locks 2 and 3 in Waterford last week.  For a sense of how Urger looks high and defy, click here.

Enjoy these additional shots from Seneca‘s wheelhouse.

Here’s the story, and

here’s what the 1960ish waterways of New York State looked like.

Click here for an article on an international set of passengers Seneca has recently carried;  ditto here for an fall 2013 article on Seneca.

Thanks to William Lafferty for the 1907 Dornbos image.