stop 1- lock 51

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that boats heading west would be using the new 

canal up to this point and then they would use the

old 1820’s canal until they reached lock 52 in Port 

Byron. This detour was necessary because of a 

route dispute in Port Byron.

 As was mentioned before, this boats passing through this lock stepped down as they headed

 west. This was not normal on the canal, where

most locks stepped boats up as they headed west.

This is because Lake Erie at Buffalo is 550 feet 

higher than the Hudson River at Albany. But be-

cause of the little high spot at Jordan, this lock and

Lock 52 stepped boats down to the Seneca River

level. Out of the 72 locks, only 5 (47,48,49,51 and

52) stepped down to the west. All the others over-

came the 550 foot difference between Albany and

Buffalo.

Since the canal stepped down to the west, so did

 water from Skaneateles Lake fed into the canal at 

 Jordan. As the canal was filled to its 7 foot capacity,

excess water would flow west until it reached the

lowest point at Montezuma. There the water

mixed with water from the west and spilled out 

into the Seneca River. As water was removed from

the canal, either by seepage, lockage or evapora-

tion, replacement water from the lake would main-

tain the needed depth. The three large openings at 

the east end of the lock are part of the water regu-

lating system. If the lock was used, water from the

upper level was released into the lower level. But 

 when the lock wasn’t being used, water in the canal

could by-pass the lock by flowing into the openings

and out to the lower end by way of a large tunnel.

This tunnel can still be seen today.

In 1887, the lengthened chamber was addedto the original 1853 stonework. You can no-tice the difference in the stonework between

the two eras of lock construction. To savemoney, only one chamber was lengthened. A wooden platform and railing was built along-side the stonework to allow room for boatersand locktenders to walk and move around.

All the wood has since rotted and disap-peared, leaving the stone to tell the tale of the canal era.