Stop 25- The Drydock: Build 'Em or Fix 'Em

 GPS- 43.066454, -76.471403

So what do you do when you are miles from home,

and your packet boat begins to spring a leak?

You can just let it sit and sink to the bottom. 

A sunken canal boat would be a hazard to other canal boat captains, 

mules, and their drivers.

You took it to the repair station, 

The Dry Dock!

The semi-circle of stones on the has nothing to do with the canal...it was put in as a bench when this section of the canal was made into a park by the WPA workers...but the rest of the walls have a canal story to tell...

When a boat needed maintenance, you didn't just throw it out...

you took it to the closest dry dock which were spaced along the canal 

like service stations for cars are along the roads today.

So what is a dry dock and what does it do? A dry dock served one, sometimes two functions. First, they were the repair station for boats. Like care repair and service stations sprinkled along Rt 20 in its heyday, drydocks fixed boats. A boat that sunk anywhere along the canal could back up boats for miles. So dry dock literally and figuratively helped keep the canal afloat. Also, a few drydocks actually built boats. In short, while all dry docks fixed them, not all constructed them. More about Dry Docks along the canal

https://freepages.rootsweb.com/~nc99usgw/history/drydocks.html?fbclid=IwAR2acYghsUeZkPU59VJHm1G629BEItG2rmI3CRUSg-MSSrlQhscy_csdR94

A postcard pic of the Dry Dock in Illion...

note the chamber gates opening to let the boat out

And one on the Champlain Canal...note the gates holding the water out of the chamber

Jordan's original Dry Dock was located south of where the Locktender's House is today

Here it is on a map from 1834

After the Erie Canal was Enlarged, 

a new dry dock was built just a bit west

where you see the entrance today. 

While not very easy to see today, as it was filled in long ago, 

the Jordan Dry Dock both fixed and built boats. 

The wall was curved to allow boats to swing into the dry dock. 

Here it is on the 1859 map

Here you can see the curved wall on the right.

This allowed boats to swing into the dry dock more easily.

Canal boats were made of wood which lasted about 20 years and needed regular maintenance. Here are a few pics of Dry Docks at work along the canal...

here is the Dry Dock in Port Byron

Here is the one a Vischer's Ferry...Clute's Dry Dock

and another view of its dry dock

A great pic of at Vischer Ferry of Clute's Dry Dock looking into the chamber. A boat would enter, the gates would close and water would be drained off so that repairs could be made. The boat rested on wooden supports which helped distribute the weight and stabilize the boat.

Another busy drydock was in Durhamville, the Doran Dry Dock. 

These craftsmen helped keep the canal afloat.

Not only did they fix e'm, they built 'em...

Here's one they built being launched

Another one nearby is the one in Chittenango at the Chittenango Landing Canal Museum. This one was lovingly restored by volunteers who dug it out so that future generations could see the only original Dry Lock along the Erie Canal that is intact

More about the 3 Bay Chittenango Landing Dry Docks

https://www.eriecanal.org/Chittenango.html?fbclid=IwAR3SCV1VF9q5QSOUrNEMpOqPtHXpT_vFFvRIrb5FRpnIhvxN8CPJTofsyU8

The one in Jordan was next to a lumber complex...

handy when you want some wood to fix a boat

But today there is a stone wall where the gates would be...

looking out toward the canal from the top

Today, a storage barn for the library and other village items, the Library, 

and part of the access road to a store sits on top of Jordan's Dry Dock...

looking south from the wall

Some stones uncovered from it when they put in a new sidewalk to the library

But Dry Docks are a part of the Modern Barge Canal, too. 

Even Steel framed boats need regular maintenance!

(pic by Gary Prodrick)

But our packet boat doesn't need maintenance today, thankfully! 

And so we pass it by and head onward to our next stop...

Stop 24: Locktender's House: The Office

 GPS- 43.067720, -76.468753

As we come to the edge of the Village of Jordan we come across 

a building out of place. It wasn't originally here.

It is the "Locktender's House".

Originally located about 1.5 miles west at Lock 51,

this little building has had quite the journey!

Its Historical Marker

So how did it end up here?

And more importantly,

who is the locktender and why is he so integral to the canal?

The Locktender, probably only second to the water, was the hinge that made the canal run. Every day during canal season, a locktender's job was never done. Between operating the locks, counting boats, and tending equipment, his day was a long one...especially in Onondaga County where the canal traffic was higher due to the confluence of the Oswego Canal and the Erie.

More about a Locktender's day...

https://www.lockportjournal.com/opinion/columns/canal-discovery-the-duties-of-a-lock-tender/article_a81625b4-49ff-59d5-9c5e-98c3afbcebb7.html?fbclid=IwAR2R2Tv6O3cQm-BArmvjzb_87FzJ7bi1p_5XPntqF0T6kY59GcIXwj5nQ7U

And some more info from another canal...

https://talesofthetowpath.org/up-up-up/?fbclid=IwAR2WtVqLi7plhGOKPSiuWQ2px2jm5xm2YDvffugxj7aK2J3YVAIul7BBj7w

Locktender's "Houses" were usually located next to the canals they served...often in the center of a double lock to be able to work both sets of gates...there would be at least 4 sets of gates--two sets for each lock chamber--to open and close all day long. 

Here is the Locktender's Shanty/Office in the middle at Gere's Lock

Here is another example of a double lock and shanty at the Lodi Locks

And the Townsend Lock 49

And here is Jordan's Locktender's Office

in situ at Lock 51

Note the Locktender!

Here at Mud Lock, the Shanty was on the side. 

Mud Lock on the Oswego Canal was a single lock.

And as you headed toward the congestion of Syracuse, 

you'd go through the locks by Park St...notice the Locktender's Shanty behind the boat

Locktenders made all of the canal passage possible...

some names have been lost to time...some we know...

like this one: Henry Nestle

So how did they make the lock gate open and close before they were mechanized? 

The UK canals give us a glimpse...they use manually operated gates in most areas today and canal boaters operate them themselves!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmZ7hBMTY8Q

These style are still used today on Saranac Lake! And a ranger is the locktender!

But Locktender's House is a bit of a misnomer...

they usually lived in a real house by the canal. 

The Shanty kept them dry in the rain and was their office...

here at Mud Lock you can see the house next door.

And here's another example of the shanty and...

where the locktender ACTUALLY lived at Gere's Lock

Here is a good diagram distinguishing the two at Lock Berlin 54

 (pic by Phil Dutcher)

Most were plain like Lock 51 in Jordan

Lockport had a two story one!

But after the original canal was abandoned for the Modern Barge Canal, 

these small structures were among the first things to disappear.

The one in Jordan would have too...

if it weren't for a hermit who lived outside of town who moved it into the woods 

and made it into his house!

Louis Girard lived in it until he passed away.

Then it deteriorated in the woods and the local historians decided to rescue it...

And they brought it to the Village of Jordan's Festival grounds

and restored it!

Today it is the only restored, original locktender's shanty of the old canal!

The Drivers and Mule Teams, the Boat Captains, and the Locktenders were the trio who got cargo from Point A to Point B along the canal. To honor them, there is monument to them at Lockport...almost completed, there are a few more statues to be placed

(pic from NYS Canal Corp.)

https://locksdistrict.com/lock-tenders-tribute?fbclid=IwAR2kRx0WXP6dMbbL0TCUnwqkw3aQgU8sPPXB5e2RKHHlajbqEWUTDYbm4GY

And today Locktenders still keep the canals going...

their "houses"/ offices are a bit bigger...painted a signature white with blue trim

And their work keeps the canals running during canal season

And boats still going from Albany to Buffalo

And doesn't end with the closing of the canal for winter

(pic by Suzanne Thompson)

We pass this section of the canal along the towpath 

where this Locktender's House will one day stand...

we pass a widewaters...

the next village is in sight...

and so is our next story told in stone and water as we head to

our next stop...

Stop 23- Carpenter's Brook Waste Weir: Overflow

GPS-  43.075774, -76.424109

Now that we have passed the halfway point, 

no matter which version of the canal you are on, we continue down the Towpath.

As you glance at the water-filled ditch, 

there might be a lingering question somewhere in the back of your mind.

If feeders add water to the canal when there isn't enough water,

what do you do if there is too much?

Enter, or should I say, exit (via) the Waste Weir!

More about its specs here:

So first off, who was Carpenter?...the second settler of Elbridge...

he ran a tavern by a brook that would later be named for him...our ancestors were quite clever in their naming 😉

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/52596049/moses-carpenter?fbclid=IwAR3KVsdQm7MzQbMvq7tqhayWH-oLKX6WaBbkyZLhqBmotX3rlHADsb0Yi0E

Today while there is no longer a tavern nearby , there a plenty of fish to tell tales of at a tavern

https://fishonondagacounty.com/index.php/about-the-fishing/bodies-of-water/carpenters-brook/?fbclid=IwAR0pn77YtKGaAJpk_vedZs1SoB9NVn-b2gwrc_XCfLjtCpEWdX-nsEjtJ0A

So we know that a canal is, in its basic form, a ditch with water. Then you need to add water by means of feeders. You need aqueducts to carry the canal over streams and creeks. Culverts to divert unneeded water. And you need locks to lift or lower the boat as needed in the elevation change. 

But what are waste weirs? Overflow protection! 

It's not nice to flood the neighbors!

About waste weirs:

https://www.eriecanal.org/UnionCollege/The_Waste_Weir.html?fbclid=IwAR3AJ7YSH-vbJ0IwsGW-t8cQ30vkka6XMzbC4g29Ej34b6ip7guyZAw6Ir8#:~:text=Waste%20weirs%20were%20often%20located,a%20towpath%20running%20above%20it

Here is a picture of the Carpenter's Brook Waste Weir 

during canal days

All of the trees today along the towpath, and in the canal have grown up 

since the canal was abandoned. 

Maintenance workers working in this section would 

never have allowed trees to grow up along the canal and its prism. 

Tree roots would have undermined canal structures,

 risking canal wall breaches and canal structure failures.

In the winter, the canal would be drained back for maintenance.

Work was easier on the frozen ground. 

Debris would be cleared and repairs made.

And then refilled in the spring, using feeders. 

Here is a view of the north wall and support structures of the 

waste weir.

A video of another waste weir still extant, this one on the Long Level near Rome

by Historic Erie 350

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBKuf8PlYFA

If water levels got too high due to rain, 

the run off could harmlessly drain into the creek or brook below

Waste weirs channeled the water carefully down a stone channel 

to prevent overflowing water from eroding the canal prism and structures

Then the water entered the creek where 

it could flow downstream away from canal structures to the river

Water from the Carpenter's Brook was also diverted originally in a culvert under the canal...part of that remains today as the opening in the center under the towpath

But as the canal went from 4 ft/40 ft to 7ft/70ft, the need for water tripled. The Jordan Level, being basically a giant swimming pool on a plateau from Lock 50- 51, suddenly needed even more water to fill it...enter another feeder...the Carpenter's Brook Feeder. 

Located just east of here on private land, this feeder helped maintain water levels by taking water from upstream and filling the canal as necessary.

The Carpenter's Brook Feeder is visible 

just east of the waste weir on these maps

Some pics of the Carpenter's Brook Feeder, 

which is on private land today.

pic by Ted Olsen

So in the end, there was a way to add water, 

subtract water and divert water all in the same area!

As it has been a dry summer in our imaginary journey, the feeder, not the waste weir, 

has been more essential in helping keep the water levels navigable in the Jordan Level 

on our imaginary summer trip on our packet boat. 

And as our mules cross this Waste Weir, 

we know the next town is not far off now,...

We head on to our next stop...