Civil engineering students, along with a citizens
group known as the Locktenders, have been working this fall to restore
abandoned Erie Canal Lock 23, in its time one of the busiest parts of the
waterway.
Lock 23, known as the “Gateway to the West,”
is a half mile east of Lock 8 along the Mohawk Bikepath.
Andrew Wolfe, professor of civil engineering, is
overseeing the restoration project. The hope, he says, is to make the lock
the centerpiece of a cultural park celebrating the Erie Canal.
Built in the 1840's and used until 1915, Lock 23 was a
major transfer point at the west end of the 17-mile portage from Albany
around the Cohoes Falls. Many passengers left the Erie Canal to travel
overland to Albany; goods stayed on barges for the two- or three-day trip.
Since early this fall, students and other volunteers
have been clearing trees and brush from the site, revealing a fascinating
example of early 19th-century engineering. Measuring 200 feet long and 18
feet wide, the 20-foot high walls are constructed of 1- by 2- by 4-foot
blocks of native bluestone. They were brought to the site by canal and by
horse-drawn wagons, and put in place with horse and mule teams, according
to Wolfe.
Among the unusual finds at the site are the buried
remains of the heavy oak lock doors. (“We plan to use a crane to lift
them out,” Wolfe says.) A close look at some of the stones along the
top of the canal shows grooves worn by the ropes that pulled the barges
through the lock.