Canal Countdown T-13

Here was T-23 days.  Now, in less than two weeks, the canal will be open.  Some of the vessels operated by NYS Canals to perform maintenance were featured in the T-23 post;  more are in today’s post.

Let’s start with Tender 2, T2, in Utica, nose to nose with tug Erie.

Tender #3 is tied up here just west of the dry dock in Waterford.

Left to right here are a self-propelled scow (SPS 60 maybe? the number) and Lockport.  That land derrick marks this location as Fonda.

Port Jackson is one of the new boats operated by NYS Canals.  The location is just west of lock E-13, and Grande Caribe, as well as her younger sister Grande Mariner,  powering her way west to Chicago will likely never be seen in the Canal again.

Tied up here in the shade east of Utica is Governor Roosevelt.

At the Utica section yard, it’s Erie again.  Note the NYS Thruway maintenance vehicles in the background.

Just west of lock E-19, the Dragon dredge gets support from Tender #4.

And on another occasion, it’s the same dredge assisted by Tender #5.  I took the photo between locks E-6 and 7.

And closing this out, how about a shot above the culvert of the tugboat that turns 120 years afloat this year, Urger.

All photos, WVD.  If you’re planning to transit the canal beginning on day 1 of the season  . . .  May 21, these are some of the maintenance vessels you’ll see. But don’t postpone a trip along the Canal because some of these could disappear any year now.

WVD is solely responsible for any errors of fact.

Bikester 5 Rome to Palatine Bridge

Leaving Rome crossing the contemporary Canal to follow the south side of the canal for a while.  That building is in what’s called Rome’s Bellamy harbor and just before that greenish guard gate, that’s the confluence of the canal and the Mohawk River, which enters there from the right.  You’ve seen that guard gate once before here.

Rome is the summit between two watersheds, so water transport for millennia made a short portage here.  To the Haudenosunee, this place was called deo-wain-sta . . . or carrying place, aka Oneida Carry.

The trail to Oriskany was muddy from the earlier rains, made worse for bikes by a four-wheeler that had gone through.  I grant that the four-wheeler may have been looking for downed trees.

But the sun came out . . . and past the swamps that bogged down General Herkimer back in 1777, the trail follows directly south and adjacent to the contemporary canal.

Elaborate bike bridge crossing tributary creek flowing north into the Mohawk

Governor Roosevelt waits in Marcy, lock 20.  She’s been working since the late 1920s.

Here’s Tender #4 on the hard and Governor Roosevelt in the distance. 

I had a big surprise when I approached Utica’s Genesee Street bridge, and saw Jeff, captain on Urger when I worked on her, part of a safety meeting on shore before they headed onto the boats for dredging. 

South of Herkimer/Mohawk after lots of miles from Utica on route 5N, I passed Fort Herkimer church, among the oldest churches in the US.

Having watched this section of the trail being build the past few years, I’d been looking forward to riding it, just above lock E18. 

I got to Little Falls, my easy goal for lodging, but since it was noon that I got there, I rested for an hour, and then I pushed on.

The trail east of Little Falls is spectacular.

The storm I mentioned as having kept me inside the day before had done a lot of damage, downed trees and power lines.  

This Holland Power Services crew had come from New Brunswick to assist.  Their safety flagger stopped me for half an hour while this live wire was re-attached to the pole.

Once I got the all-clear, I was on the road again . . . well, on the trail.  I passed tug Port Jackson at lock 15 in Fort Plain, and made for my day’s goal, Canajoharie and Palatine Bridge.

Report and photos, WVD,  who had completed a 59-mile day.

GWA3: Erie Canal, climbing

GWA is “going west again,” and here we start at about 130′ above sea level.  We’ve just passed the road sign included in a post here in 2006. Ahead of us is lock E-2, the beginning of the flight of five, located in the town of Waterford.

Above E-3, my former vessel waits, along with Chancellor. Those two boats alone have a combined total life of 196 years between them.   In the foreground is the business end of a cutter suction dredge.

Recreation boats come from everywhere.

Beyond the guard gate atop E-6 is Grand Erie, who also came from away, the Ohio River in her case.

Locals know how to enjoy the 200-year-old waterway.

Below E-11, we get a green light in the early morning drizzle.

Squeezing a 183′ x 39′ vessel through the locks involves a skilled crew and vigilant lock master.

Drivers on the Thruway at this point are 42 miles from Albany, 190 from NYC.

At E-15, still in the drizzle, a Florida boat —Sharon Ann–waits as we lock through.

Above E-16, the 90-year-old Governor Cleveland attends dredge pipes, maintenance dredging being ongoing.  Yes, the canal needs maintenance, and so does the Thruway, any street, RR tracks and infrastructure, my car, my body . . . .

A boxer takes its human for a run . . .

More guard gates–width is 55′–to squeeze through.

Lords of the air watch all along the waterway.

At E-17 we share a lock with Tender #5.

Since we tie off above E-18, Lil Diamond II has to maneuver around.

An SPS lands a crew on the bank for preventative maintenance … keeping dead trees from falling into the water and jamming lock gates.

More recreational boats from far-off ports.

More maintenance above E-19, this time with dragon dredge and the electric tender . .  . #4.

Reinforcement of the canal walls is a canal priority this year.

 

I always imagine the mythical Utica lies beyond the berm marked by the open tower. Central NY was once included in the “military tract,” land distributed to Revolutionary War veterans.

Above lock E-20, we are at the high point of this portion of the Erie Canal,

and Rome was the original high point/ portage in the Mohawk portion of the waterways that pre-date Europeans settlement of North america.

We are now 456′ above sea level, where we’ll pick up the journey tomorrow.

All photos by and any errors attributable to Will Van Dorp.

 

Go West 4, 5, and 6

To clarify this title, the first post in the series has a lead photo showing a map of our journey broken into legs marked by pins.  Legs 4 through 6 took us from Waterford, shown below, to Oswego.

Urger stood by all spiffed up for the steamboat festival.

 

Erie Canal Cruises accommodated sightseers eastbound toward lock E18.

Tender 4, the electric motor vessel, assisted in a dredge project.

Tug Erie tied up at the end of the work day.

Here’s the cutterhead of one dredge.

Lucy H returned light past Rome, NY.

Never have I seen so

many bald eagles.  This one is banded.

And leg 6 ended in Oswego.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, who will post again when able.

 

Canal Corp Boats 11

Besides larger tugboats like Urger, the Canal has a fleet of nearly identical smaller ones called dredge tenders, or usually just “tenders” like the unidentified one to the left in the photo below.

Here’s a set:  Tender #1

Tender #3 stern and

bow and

at work moving Urger out of dry dock.

Tender #4 in February 2014, and

tender #4 after being electrified, and

at work in Utica this summer.

Tender #6.

Tender #7 summer and

bow in winter, with an unidentified tender (registry at MB 5900??) and tender 4 in the distance.

Tender #9 profile and

three fourths.

Tender #10 on the hard and

assisting a dredge.

Tender with identifier ending in 0209,

. ..  0308

. . . 0313 aka Dana?

Dana again.

Again, I need to dig into the history of this class of Canal vessel.  What number was this?

 

and why is it here?  How many others are there?

All photos by Will Van Dorp.

 

 

Canal Corp Boats 4

In order . .  . .  Governor Roosevelt with Tender#4,  Tender #4 with electric motor and unique stack, Urger, Seneca and Tender Dana on the nose, Tender Dana, “newish” antiques on Lake Oneida east end, dredge and Tender #10, Tender T-7, Governor Cleveland, Dragon dredge, derrick boat.  As to the tenders, think . .  a vessel for tending dredges and other vessels.  For Dragon dredge, I’ve no idea about the story there.

Canal Corp Boats 3

Here in a milder season was the previous post by this name.  And here and here are earlier posts with tenders.

But yesterday, along with a partner in crime to be identified later, we discovered not just one,

not just two,

but THREE tenders, hauled out like seals.

Wanna see that again?

How about a third count, just to make sure.

oh . . . partner in crime . . . is this a clue?  Here’s the other tug44.

And motivation?  Well, it WAS presidents‘ day.  I hope this summer to find time to research the construction of these tenders, all of which I believe happened at Inner Harbor in Syracuse.

All photos by Will Van Dorp, whose fingers lasted in the cold long enough to take more, too, soon.