Day on the Cruise: 87
From: Kingston City Marina, Kingston, NY
To: Kingston City Marina, Kingston, NY
Statute Miles: 0.0 SM
Time: 0.0 Hrs
Cumulative Miles: 1,874.5 SM
On Board: Susan, Chuck, Maggie, Trooper, Peanut
We drove up to Amsterdam, NY today to look at the damaged lock on the Erie Canal and to try to find out when the Canal might open. The Canal Corporation has been silent on both the status of the repairs and the forecast for opening the Canal back up. Lock 12 is the big one that is damaged, and this lock is west of Amsterdam by a few miles.
We crossed the Canal at Amsterdam to get to the North side. We then drove West and followed signs to Lock 12. After looking at the situation, I finally understand what happened.
There is a bridge across the canal at Lock 12. There are a number of structural steel frames that are hung from the bridge structure. Each frame has timbers bolted to the back side that make a wall on the back of the frame. Each frame is hinged where it connects to the bridge so that the frame forms a movable "gate" that can be pulled up or lowered down. When the gate is lowered down, it is in the vertical position and forms part of the dam. All the gates in the down position form a continuous wall across the river, thus the dam. The bottom of the frames or gates rest against a concrete wall under water that should prevent the gate from being pushed downstream when the current flow pushes against the gate. The gates are lifted by a hoist on a car that rides along tracks on the side of the bridge. The car stops at each gate, rotates it up, and then it is hung from the bridge in an open position, allowing water to flow through the space where the gate was rotated down.
The dam was damaged when a freak rain event dumped like 5" of rain in 2 hours over the Mohawk River Valley. Water rushed down the Canal and the Gates could not be raised in time to allow the water to pass through. Water backed up against the gates along with a tremendous debris field. The force was too much and the gates were badly bent and pushed out of place.
Today we saw a good deal of work going on. All the debris has been cleared, and the gates have either been rotated up or have been removed. There is essentially no dam in place now. Barges are in place down stream of the bridge and cranes and equipment on the barges are working the repairs. It looks like there are 4 to 6 gates that still must be re-installed. We observed gate frames that have been fabricated and are on the bank waiting to be installed. We also observed a barge downstream of the Lock that was being used to dredge the Canal.
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| Following the road to Lock 12 |
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| Standing above the Lock looking at the Bridge that supports the dam |
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| Work on repairing the gates |
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| Work on repairing the gates. Here some gates are rotated to the "up" position. |
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| Work on repairing the gates. Here some gates are rotated to the "up" position. Gaps between the gates are where missing gates remain to be installed. |
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| Four new gate frames waiting to be installed |
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| Four new gate frames waiting to be installed |
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| Barge and equipment dredging the Canal downstream of the Lock 12 area |
We then drove East to Waterford. Along the way we stopped at three or four more Locks. Not much going on.
When will the Canal reopen? We talked to a boat captain who was at Lock 12 looking at the work. He is hearing next Wednesday from a Canal Official. Back at Lock 2 at Waterford, we talked to some people that have heard Wednesday to next Sunday the 21st.
We had a good visit to Waterford. We saw our friends from "Spiritus", "Adagio", and "Oyster". All boats were on the wall at Waterford. "Daybreak" was there at the wall but Kenny and Jeanne were not on board.
We walked up to Lock 2 and met the Lock Master and a couple who are on a sailboat heading West, but the boat is docked on the upper wall waiting for the Canal to open. We also saw an old portion of the original Champlain Canal that is still flowing water. Pretty amazing!
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| Lock 2, the Lock that begins the Erie Canal at the Hudson River |
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| Looking down the old Champlain Canal |
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| Looking up the old Champlain Canal |
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| Lock 2 looking toward the Hudson |
Today we extended the rental car to Monday. We will stay here in Kingston now at least through next Monday. Tomorrow we will probably go up in the Catskill Mountains toward Woodstock and check that out. It is not too far.
Thanks for Reading!
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