"Clinton's Big Ditch"

  The Erie Canal was New York Governor Dewitt Clinton's dream and in 1817 construction began. At that time it was often referred to as "Clinton's Big Ditch". The Canal opened on October 26th, 1825 and became famous the world over. The first ship to travel the Erie Canal was the "Seneca Chief"  carrying Governor Dewitt and other dignitaries. The start of the voyage in Buffalo was accompanied by the firing of a cannon and this was echoed by the booming of a line of cannons stationed along the canal, the Hudson River, and all the way to the New York Harbor. The "Seneca Chief"  bore two barrels of water from Lake Erie, which Governor Clinton emptied into the ocean at New York in a ceremony generally referred to as the "Marriage of the Waters" between the Great lakes and the Atlantic Ocean.

  Bill and I passed through 10 locks today and one very nasty thunderstorm, arriving at St. Johnsville Marina at 5:30. Tomorrow is crew change, Bill has been on board 6 days and we agree that the time flew by fast. The Eastern portion of the Erie canal is really picturesque with mountains and the Mohawk River in contrast to the excavated waterways characteristic of the western section of the canal.

We were definitely the largest boat in the marina.

 

This was a 32 foot lift. Entering the canyon is a little intimidating.

Unlike the western 1/2 of the Erie Canal, we have mountains to look at here.

The cold front hit us around 3:00 with 40 - 50 mph winds. We had whitecaps on the damn canal. Notice the bow window canvas that ripped loose.   

Tucker and Clark took the storm in stride (slept right through it).