stop 1- lock 51
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8/9/2019 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.