Canalway Trail: Fort Plain

Canalway Trail: Fort Plain. . , Welcome to the Canalway Trail System, offering hundreds of miles of scenic trails and numerous parks for walking, cross-country skiing and other recreational activities. The Canalway Trail parallels the New York State Canal System, compromised of four historic waterways: the Erie, the Champlain, the Oswego, and the Cayuga-Seneca Canals. The Canal Systems spans 524 miles across New York State, linking the Hudson River with Lake Champlain, Lake Ontario, the Finger Lakes, the Niagara River and Lake Erie., Cooperative initiatives between the New York State Canal Corporation, volunteers, local governments, and federal and state agencies have created this great network of trails for public use., Enjoying the Canalway Trail: Safety Tips The Canalway Trail is intended to accommodate a variety of users. It is important to extend courtesy to all trail users and respect their rights. In order to avoid conflicts, trail protocol dictates that bicyclists should yield the right-of-way to all trail users. In addition, please observe the following tips for safe trail use: [Rules were not transcribed], Then and Now. Although basic principles of operation remain the same, locks along the Erie Canal have changed over the years. The canal's first locks, products of careful stonework by masons, measured 15 feet wide and 90 feet long. The concrete lock that you see today, completed when the canal was modernized in the early 20th century, is nearly 45 feet wide and 300 feet long. Electric motors, not human muscles, are used today to open huge metal gates that weigh over 20 tons., The area immediately around the locks has changed as well. The homes of the lockrenders and their families, sheds, barns, and the popular canal stores that existed near locks, have been replaced with power houses, lock operator control stands and the blue and yellow electric cabinets., During construction of the Erie Barge Canal in the early 20th century, engineers designed moveable dams to control the flow of water in the river, which made navigation possible., These dams hold back water in large ponds when the canal is open. In winter, the dam's panel are lifted out of the water so the river can resume its natural course., View of Fort Plain from a hill, ca. 1900. (Notice the covered bridge on the left.), A bird's eye view of Fort Plain c.1879. Modernization came after 1908, when the canal was shifted into the Mohawk River. Although much of the canal route was abandoned and filled in at Ft. Plain, some portions near here are still visible., Crossing Troubled Waters , When constructed and enlarged in the 19th century, the Erie Canal used a series of aqueducts, including one built in Fort Plain, to cross rivers, creeks, and ravines., Impressive structures, often of stone, these aqueducts attracted the attention of numerous travelers and artists like Thomas Cole, who described them as the "castles of the United States" destined to "tell the tale of the enterprise and industry of the present generation."