The Arkansas Traveler and her crew were ready for the first upstream opening of Lock 11 the morning of July 11. The crew was well tuned and we slipped through the lock effortlessly and continued west.
Just after the Lock 12, Schorharie Creek enters the Mohawk River from the south. We entered the mouth of the creek and we dropped the anchor outside of the river channel. We took the dinghy to explore one of the original aqueducts of the Erie Canal. We then went ashore at a boat ramp on the south side of the creek and hiked to a museum.
Ruins of the aqueduct on Schoharie Creek. Note how it once bridged the creek.
This is a cross-section of the aqueduct. It was lined with wood and filled with water to provide passage for the barges when they came to the creek.
Just behind the upper walls of what was an original canal lock, is a portion of the 1825 Erie Canal. You can see that at four-feet deep, it was not much more than a ditch. This little ditch changed forever the economy and the history of of our country.
At 1300 we raised anchor and continued west to Canajoharie, NY. At 1530 we tied up at the town wall. We had traveled through three locks and a total of 24 miles.
We stopped early to leave time to view another piece of history – the exhibition of Winslow Homer’s visions of coastal and nautical themes on display at the Arkell Art Museum in Canajoharie. The work of the day had been light but we were left with much to think about.
Happened across this wonderful travel log and wanted to say thank you for posting it, but especially thank you for visiting the Schoharie Crossing Visitor Center while you were on site. The NY State operated historic site is a part of the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor that features the remains of the Schoharie Creek Aqueduct as well as two sets of double locks from the Enlarged era and a remaining section of the original “Clinton’s Ditch” that include (the filled in) East Guard Lock and Lock 20 from that fantastic 1820’s canal.
It is a shame you happened to stop in on that Friday as our annual Canal Days event was that Saturday & Sunday (always the 2nd weekend in July). It was nice chatting with you though and glad that the journey was so much fun. Best regards,
David @Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site