Lockport

Another rainy day.

Lockport is as far west as we're going. It's about 15 miles from Buffalo and Lake Erie.  We stopped between a lift bridge and a lock--both of which close for the night at 5 pm.  So we couldn't leave if we wanted to.  Not really a designated docking area, but it will have to do.

 

Lockport was the last part of the canal to be completed.  There was a 60' elevation difference here that had to be dealt with.  They managed it by building the "flight of five."  It's five locks in line that each lift twelve feet (or drop twelve depending on which direction you were going.)  Back in the early 1800's when these were built, there was no power equipment to move mountains.  There was also no engineering school to teach lock building.  Originally, there were 10 locks.  Five up, five down.  Since then, one set of 5 was replaced by two locks lifting 30' each.

 

 

 

 

I bought a canal chart book / cruising guide when we launched near Seneca Lake.  At that time, I checked the locations of marinas where I could purchase gas.  I figured how far we could go, and located two marinas close to where we are now.  This one is in Gasport.

What I should have done was call to see if the marinas are open.  They're not.
So today I found an old hardware store--a lot like Kirk's in Noblesville, and I bought an expensive 5 gallon gas can.  On our return trip, when we stop in a town with a gas station not too far from the canal, I can make enough trips with my can to buy enough gas to make it back where we started.