Thursday, November 01, 2007

"We've Hauled Some Barges In Our Day..."

I liked this pic I took of a boat on a waterway near where the Erie Canal meets the Hudson River in Waterford, NY. My friend J and I meet in the little town for lunch — I always get the fish and chips — every couple of weeks to catch up with each other. (Anybody looking for a handsome, intelligent, nice, tall strawberry blonde in his 40's? Leave a comment and I'll pass it along...or he may read your comment himself. )

The Erie Canal follows the Mohawk River across most of central New York State from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River. This is one of the ways that goods flowed from the Midwest/Chicago during the 1800s prior to the advent of steam engines and rail. There are many locks in the area, serving both the Mohawk coming from the West, and the Hudson coming from its northern beginnings in Lake Champlain, through Lake George, on its way to New York City and the Atlantic Ocean.
*

3 comments:

michael sean morris said...

The Erie Canal just had an anniversary, as I mentioned on my blog. It's always fascinated me, since I was a little kid, and thought it was an Eerie Canal - spooky!

I wonder how much of it is navigable still; I betcha that would make for a fun vacation.

It's nice to know there are so many nice single guys in Albany... Care to move your entire city a couple thousand miles to the West?

evilganome said...

I remember reading about "The Big Ditch" in history class. My understanding is that most of it is no longer navigable. It's great to be reminded of that time period though. If a great deal of the politics of the time were as horrendous as current affairs, it is also a symbol of an optimism that this country seems to have lost.

michael sean morris said...

Too bad. I'll bet there are some interesting sights along the route.