June 20
After seeing all there was to see in Canajoharie and despite
a forecast calling for a day of heavy rain and possible lightening/thunder we headed out at the first opening
of lock 14 at 7 AM hoping to make some progress on our way to Little Falls before
the rain set in. Our plan worked as we
passed through locks 14 and 15 but by the time we approached lock 16 the skies
started opening up. Lock 17 with it’s 40’
lift (the highest single lock lift on the Erie canal) and slow fill rate was looming ahead. While the rain eased up occasionally we still
got pretty wet (Martha much more than me)
handling the lines before exiting the lock.
Heading up the Mohawk River
Waiting our turn to pass through the 40' lift of lock 17
Entering lock 17 with it's unique guillotine gate instead of doors
Flood gate #4. We got thru before they closed them to control the water flow
Thankfully Little Falls was just a bit further and we got quickly and securely
tied up to the floating dock. Flash flood notices were showing on the weather
apps so we were glad to get inside, get our wet clothes off, reheat some Italian
food for lunch and take a quick nap. Amazingly, the Mohawk River was quickly rising
to flood stage and water at the dock had risen a good 4 feet, large trees and
limbs were floating down the river, they had closed the flood gate between us
and lock 17 and had closed all traffic through locks 18 and 19 ahead of us. The rain we received here was
just on the fringe of a significant front with a lot of rain to the north
and west that all feeds down into the Mohawk.
Mohawk River raging through Little Falls
At this point we’re not sure how much higher the river may go or when
they may reopen the canal. Lots of speculation but we’re waiting for
the canal authority to issue some official notices.
Flooding at the town dock
In the meantime, the rain let up in Little Falls in time to
head into town. They have a unique Arts
Walk on the 3rd Thursday of each month (which happened to be
today). The town still has a nice and
active downtown and each store displays
a different artists work in their
front window a different musician in the
middle of each block. It’s very well
attended by the local citizens.
Great downtown area in Little Falls
I’ll
also mention they have a very nice pub in town with 30 craft beers on tap. We’re
looking forward to spending an extra day here and exploring the town further.
Like most towns along the Mohawk it’s history goes back to factories built in
the 1800’s that used water power from
the river to run the plants. This was
also a famous cheese producing region based on the superior local dairy farming.
Old factories along the river converted to an antiques mall and condos
Picturesque area
Journey for June 20
What was that building sticking out in the water in (or near) Little Falls? Looks interesting.
ReplyDeleteAt one time both sides of the river were lined with over 100 manufacturing plants, warehouses and power plants. I suspect that stone building was a power plant for one of the long gone mills.
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