Lock 20

Lock 20. Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site. , The stones before you were a part of Lock 20, a lift-lock on the Original Erie Canal. Lift-locks made it possible for boats to climb, or descend, the 565-foot difference along the canal between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. There were 83 lift-locks, 90 feet long by 15 feet wide, on the first Erie Canal. Each lock provided a set lift of from 6 to 12 feet. Lock 20 raised or lowered boats 6 feet., A lift-lock worked as an elevator. The two large doors at each end of the lock and the two sides created an enclosed box called the lock chamber. When the doors were shut, small gates at the bottom of each door could be opened, or closed, to raise or drop the water level inside the chamber. A boat in the chamber would thus be either lifted to the water level above the lock, or lowered to the water level below the structure., ( in-photo caption ) , The possibility of collapse required an emergency gravel fill of Lock 20 in 1980., ( photo caption ) , Lock 20 was adapted as part of a feeder canal that brought new water from the Schoharie Creek into the Enlarged Erie. Courtesy of the New York State Archives and Records Administration.