Erie Canal Wrap Up and Stepping the Mast

Men Working sign on the Erie Canal

The current Erie Canal starts in the east on the Mohawk River at Waterford to Frankfort, NY. After Frankfort a canal was cut to Oneida Lake (the original canal went south of Oneida Lake because the mules couldn't pull the barges through the lake).  On the other side of Oneida Lake, the Canal uses the Oneida and Seneca Rivers, with some cut canals mostly to eliminate horseshoe bends in the river.

The western part of the Canal, past Rodchester, is rather remote and you can tell it is a complete man made canal, compared to the eastern part of the canal. There is plenty to see on the western part of the canal, but it is further between available stopping points, certainly Brockton is well worth stopping over and we saw a couple of other possibilities.

Culvert Road tunnel is under the Canal.
 (picture stolen off the internet)

At Eagle Landing Marina we saw an eagle, the first one
close enough to get a decent picture (he is still hard to see)

The western canal took advantage of the slopping landscape, on one side of the canal the houses are mostly above the canal while on the north side you can often only see only the rooftops of the houses. Passing through the western canal I was in awe of the work it must have taken to build this canal in a time when modern machinery was not available, only picks shovels, mules and I hope dynamite.  At mile 301 Culvert Road actually passes under the canal.

I read in the guide book that locks 34 and 35 are right next to one another, but I didn't realize that the west gate for lock 34 is the east gate for lock 35.  Here is a link to time lapse video of us locking through 34 and 35. .  For more pictures check out the map, each way-point has a picture associated with it;

The Erie Canal has been my favorite part of the journey so far. Most of the little towns along the way has a free or low cost walls, some are better than others. Some have showers and free laundry, others (only a few) have only a port-a-potty. I wished we had more time to spend in some of the towns. I can see coming back to the Erie Canal in my future, maybe spending a couple of months each summer for a few years. The locks can be a bit tiring, but I will come back with fender boards to help with that issue. I would also plan to do the Champlain Canal to Montreal and then maybe the Trent-Severn in Canada. Who needs a summer home up north when you could get a boat and spend the summer tooling around the canal systems.

Thursday night after locking through the last set of locks on the Erie Canal we arrived in Tonawanda, NY.  And then Friday it was a happy day. Lesson Plan was restored to her full glory with her mast standing tall and we would soon be under sail again, even if it is more often motor sailing.

Lesson Plan with her mast back in place

 Mast Stepping is the process of raising the boat's mast. The ceremony involves placing or welding one or more coins into the mast step of a ship.
The ceremonial practice is believed to originate from ancient Rome. One theory is that, due to the dangers of early sea travel, the coins were placed under the mast so the crew would be able to cross to the afterlife if the ship were sunk. The Romans believed it was necessary for a person to take coins with them to pay Charon, in order to cross the river Styx to the afterlife and as a result of this, coins were placed in the mouths of the dead before they were buried. Another theory for this practice is that the insertion of coins in buildings and ships may have functioned as a form of sacrifice thanking the gods for a successful construction, or a request for divine protection in the future.

Lesson Learned for this segment:  I always thought I would like river cruising, the Ohio, Mississippi, and the Tennessee, but I have to add Erie Canal to that list.