This is for all the history buffs and shanty boats and Erie Canal Fans.
1:29 E2 is the first lock. They also eliminated the lateral canal sections on the Hudson. I787 buried one section just south of the Mohawk River. There are some remnants with water on the north side of the Mohawk behind the Waterford Museum.
1:52 This one is not bad, try the stairs for the mighty Little Falls Lock, 3 or 4 stories and wide open below you.
4:22 The Bald Eagles have made a significant comeback in New York. Fun Fact, in winter you may see up to 50 gathered at the only open water in New York at Onondaga Lake in Syracuse.
6:56 off to the right of the E2 lock are the remains of the Old Champlain Side Cut Locks, currently used as a waste weir.
7:25 The locks are filled by gravity. There are electric motors to open the sluice gates and the internal chambers are very large. Originally the locks were far from anywhere, so you'll see almost square buildings with tall windows and that was the power plant for the lock, they were powered by a water turbine to generate electricity to open and close the gates. "Off-grid solution in 1918"
8:31 The Rexford Canal which is still several miles upstream. Most of it is buried under roads, but there are a few arches remaining.
8:37 The fabled grain elevator in Little Falls, the base is now 50 some feet underwater, the "hill" behind it is now an island. The stone wall for the railroad is still there.
10:01 A great aerial view of the lock and reservoir ponds. The "walkways" are for channel guidance and in 1918 most boats were self propelled. There is a famous picture of the excavations for these locks and it shows the walkways way up in the air, and a dirt hauling locomotive on temporary tracks in the center of the channel, dwarfed in height by the piers and the encasement walls of the lock behind that. This is why the locks fill so fast. It is interesting to note that the original "Clinton's Ditch" the first Erie Canal was built by surveyors and not engineers, but they still remembered to calculate the water loss to locking boats and evaporation and a certain amount to leaks.
10:49 Out the window you can see one of the old power houses.
11:04 A map of the canal system. The Oswego gets you to the Lake Ontario and to continue the loop there, you can take the Welland Canal or the Trent-Seven Canal in Canada to Lake Erie or Lake Huron respectively. Also the Lake Champlain Canal, and the Cayuga-Seneca Canals open up Northern New York or the Finger Lakes. There also used to be the Chenango, Black River and Genesee Canals. These funneled commerce to the Erie and onto New York. Chicago was built from the goods passing through the Erie Canal.
11:21 The Waterford Flight was to climb around Cohoes Falls, which by some accounts rivals Niagara Falls, especially at flood stage. The original canal was south of the Mohawk and some parts were used as water races for mills and some for foundations after abandonment in Cohoes.
14:34 Another great shot of the power house for the lock. Many  of these are now museums at the lock. Ask for a tour if the lock tender is not busy.
16:44 Guillotine guard gates are used to stop the river from entering the system when they need to drain it for maintenance. They are allow sections of the canal (not river) to be drained, some protect locks like Lock 24, some isolate the system from the river like these two, You will find them all along the system all the way to Lake Erie. The designers had to have hard stops to keep Lake Erie from draining through the canal into the Hudson (although, there are 2 plateau areas).
17:07 The moveable dams or bridges to nowhere create pools for boat travel and they can seem quite large. It's still the river.
19:08 Fun fact: sometimes cat fish get sucked into the locks and get stuck for a while. They can be huge, 4 or 5 feet long.
19:54 Private Estate
23:31 That's a moveable dam or for all the kids, a bridge to nowhere right behind him. These are closed for canal season forming all the pools. In the winter they are wide open and in the spring, there is a bit of work to clear all the logs out of the way so they can close.
24:40 That I think is the Rexford Bridge, I90 is to your south and up out of the valley, eventually, I90 will be very close to the canal, in fact in the "Notch" I90 sits on top of the original canal bed and the stone wall can be seen next to the shoulder of the highway. In that spot, there were a railroad and a road on each side of the river and the canal ran on the south side.

This truly doesn't get old.Thanks for taking me along.

Your excitement for the locks was contagious 😂

I'm 82 now but I remember roughly 75 years ago attending a picnic with my grammie, who was born and raised in Lockport, when a big ocean going freighter seemed to be coming right through the corn field! It was quite a sight for a seven year old.

Cuz it's just like a flight of stairs. (A set or section together stair stepping up/down.) It's almost like your walking up an elevation stairway up the side of the continent from the coast to the center. (except your floating) Locks are such a trip. 😊

You are my mentor. I’m 75 and going to live my dreams. Got a hobo.Thanks so much. What great video.😊

Man I love your videos. Makes my day to follow yall, give Wavey a hug.

What an adventure y'all are having.

Mr. Brenton that is such a cool canal system and the history behind it.

They call that part the flight consists of 6 locks. Grew up here many yrs of great memories.

You are so lucky to have wavey. After losing my constant labrador companion for the last 10 years I envy you and your furry best friend wavey. Cherish  every moment with her as we do not get any second chances. Love your channel. Take care.

Many don't know that the entire eastern end of the Erie canal was closed for repairs from flooding damage due to Hurricanes Irene and Lee in the summer of 2011 for three years to completely rebuild many of the locks in that area!

Thank you for your experience 😊

The Erie Canal is indeed special. I am so glad you enjoyed your time on the canal!

Guard gates on the Erie Canal are mechanical barriers placed across the channel to isolate specific sections for maintenance, winter dewatering, or flood control. They are kept open during the navigation season but can be lowered to drain stretches or block surging river flows. In the event of a break in a canal wall, guard gates can be lowered, to prevent water from long stretches of the canal being released. These structures also serve as a built-in emergency response system for the New York State Canal Corporation (NYSCC), who will raise or lower the gates to mitigate the effects of flooding.

So cool, thanks for posting 👍

That s some beautiful country! The Erie Canal!

Clean city

This is great see the Erie Canal

I cant Imagine the conditions the Men lived thru who Built this ditch. . Amazing