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, bicycling, cross country skiing and other recreational activities. The Canalway Trail parallels the New York State Canal System, comprised of four historic waterways: the Erie, the Champlain, the Oswego and the Cayuga-Seneca Canals. The Canal System spans 524 miles across New York State, linking the Hudson River with the 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. When completed, the Canalway Trail will span over 500 miles connecting numerous cities, towns and villages along the Canal System, making it one of the most extensive trail networks in the country., 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 and walkers should yield to equestrians. In addition, please observe the following tips for safe trail use: Rules 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 locktenders 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., [photos and illustration captions:] , During construction of the Erie Barge Canal in the early 20th century, engineers designed movable dams to control the flow of water in the river which made navigation possible. , These dams hold back the water in large pools when the canal is open. In winter, the dams are lifted out of the water so the river can resume its natural course., View of Fort Plain from a hill, ca. 1909. (Notice the covered bridge on the left.), A bird’s eye view (right) of Fort Plain ca. 1879. Modernization came after 1908 when the canal was shifted into the Mohawk River. Although much of the old canal was abandoned and filled at Ft. Plain, some portions are still visible near here. , 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.”, Modernization. The Eric Canal kept evolving. Completed in 1825, the canal has been enlarged again and again. With the introduction of self-propelled boats in the 20th century, it even changed its path to take advantage of New York's many inland lakes and rivers., The lock that you see today, part of the Erie Barge Canal, is evidence of the changes that kept the canal operating. Approved in 1903 and completed 15 years later, this modernized canal accommodated barges carrying 3,000 tons of cargo, 100 times more than the capacity of a canal boat from the 1820s. , An impressive engineering accomplishment conceived in an age of national expansion, the barge canal is ten times longer than the Panama Canal., Controversial Concrete , In the early 20th century, when the state approved millions to enlarge the Eric Canal, concrete was still a controversial building material. Stonecutters and masons lined up in opposition to the use of concrete for canal construction. Some argued that concrete could never withstand the harsh winter weather of upstate New York. , Before deciding, the state sent an engineer to examine concrete structures already complete. He consulted experts familiar with concrete. Accountants tallied the cost and reported that stone structures would cost 16 million additional dollars., The state chose concrete.