In the afternoon the rain let up and I was able to visit Locks 34 and 35 – opened in 1918 – and the original Flight of Five – built of local stone in 1822-25. The original canal opened in 1825.
The Lock tender was locking a tour boat going downstream so I watched as he first brought the water down in 34 to equalize to the canal below, while also raising the water in 35 (upstream) to the canal above. Then he could open the downstream gates on 34 for the tour boat to proceed.
Here he is at the control room – no fancy electronics here:
The gates and valves are operated on D.C. Power. The canal system used to have its own hydro plant using the water power from the Flight of Five, but they now use power off the grid. He showed me the electrical gear inside the cabinet:
In the fall, they close the guard gate located between Lockport and Buffalo, and drain the entire canal as far as Rochester, to prevent damage from freeze- thaw cycles. They take apart all the electrical gear, polish the brass, re=varnish the wood, make sure all is in good condition (almost 100 years old!) and re-assemble it.
When they built the new locks, they demolished the southern set of five locks and retained the other five as a spillway. Now the local people are working on restoring the original five locks, including making replacement gates of white oak, so that they can be operational at the 200 year anniversary of the canal opening – 2025! One set of gates is already installed and they are working on getting the remaining four sets – the wood has to come from Maine, because they don’t have large enough trees locally to supply the large timbers needed.
Here’s a view looking upstream on the Flight of Five. Each lock lifts 12 feet.
Judy's Bike Ride 2017 
When the Erie Canal was built nearly 200 years ago it was considered one of the engineering wonders of the world. My dad — MIT class of 1933 — said that he studied the Erie as well as the Panama canals in his engineering classes. It is neat to see that it is still used and functional in many portions of the original path, and that restoration of the old locks continues. Onward, Judy!
Amazed this canal is still in use. Clearly predates container ships!