Electric City part 3

[15_the_circle]

[OT from cottage renovations]

(click through these thumbnails for higher resolution images)

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Lock 7

strictly speaking, Lock 7 on the New York State Barge Canal is located in Niskayuna though its association with Schenectady is quite strong.  the valley of the Mohawk widens out through there and the river loops into wide meanders.  the lock is downstream and, in a literal way, around the bend from Schenectady, not far from the G.E. Research Lab. 

with a 27 foot rise the lock and associated dam are pretty hefty.  the setting is quite pleasant; we used to go there for family picnics.  I had always wondered whether part of the attraction might have been the similarities of a lock keeper's life to that of a lighthouse keeper.  my mother would have identified with that even across the distance and difference from her childhood in Western Australia. 

upstream approach

basin

lock house and upper gates

dam

the towers for the power line from the hydro generating station across the river are the same ones as seen above in the view of the basin. 

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Day Peckinpaugh

moored in the holding area aside the basin is this preserved 1921 motor barge, the last of its kind. 

the Day Peckinpaugh operated on the canal until 1994 and is being turned into a mobile floating museum. 

detail

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to be continued