June 16 - Lockport Flight of Five

Canal Port Medina

"If we all did the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astound ourselves." —Thomas Edison

We started our morning by visiting the North Tonawanda farmers market...it was full of wonderful sections. After enjoying our breakfast at the market and picking up a few items (we should have gotten more) we headed back to the boat and started our trip east, back to Ithaca. Our planned destination for the day was Lockport, so we could explore the old Flight of Five locks. After spending a few hours wandering through town, reading the history of the area and visiting another farmers market, we decided to move a little further east before finishing our day.

Warning there's a history lesson coming...Lockport’s staircase of five locks (Flight of Five), ascended a height of 60 feet within a distance of only 550 feet, it’s one of the best-preserved structures remaining from the Enlarged Erie era. The present locks are on the location of the original southern portion of the Erie Canal Flight of Five Locks. Lockport’s Flight of Five is one of the top visitor destinations on the entire New York State Canal System.

When surveyors laid out the route for the construction of the original Erie Canal, they selected the site of present-day Lockport as the location where the canal would traverse the sheer rock cliff of the Niagara Escarpment. The Escarpment continues east to Watertown, NY and west to the vicinity of Chicago. Taking advantage of a natural basin at the base of the geological feature, the locks were designed as a set of double locks, five locks lifting boats west to Buffalo and five locks lowering boats east to Albany. The construction of the locks with wooden gates took from 1822 -25 to complete. From Lockport, the excavation continued west for another 1 mile (The Deep Cut), in order to tap the headwaters of Lake Erie.

The construction of the Erie Barge Canal resulted in the demolition and removal of the southern portion of the Flight of Five, to be replaced by two mechanized locks in 1918, Locks 34 and 35. The upgrade was made to handle motorized barges resulting in locks being enlarged from 110’ to 328’ long and from 18’ to 45’ wide, with a combined vertical lift of approximately 50’.

A view of the old Flight of Five Locks and the newer lock 34 and 35. Looking west from the Erie Canal.

An old postcard of the Flight of Five

Looking towards town from the top of lock 35

Looking down on part of the original Flight of Five.

Right after leaving lock 35 we went under what is called "Big Bridge". The bridge is a large 3-hinged arch bridge that was built in 1914 to span the Barge Canal. It is 399' wide and 129' long. It still transports daily traffic, but a small section of it is used for parking for the Lockport City Hall.

An old newspaper photo...almost the same as mine. 

An old postcard of the Big Bridge...once advertised as the widest bridge in the world.

Locking east towards lock 35 on the right and The Pearl docked on the left. This picture was taken from the Big Bridge.

Looking across the locks at the Flight of Five Winery.

Looking down on lock 34 with a tour boat locking down.

Looking east towards lock 34

Looking west at The Pearl and the Big Bridge