National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet ERIE CANAL
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NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior New York State Barge Canal Historic District National Park Service Albany, Cayuga, Erie, Herkimer, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Seneca, Washington, and Wayne Counties, New York National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 50 ERIE CANAL Waterford to Tonawanda Mile UTM Easting / Northing Feature Mile 0.0 Beginning of NYS Canal Maintenance (geographic reference) (Hudson River roughly opposite 122nd Street, Troy, Rensselaer County and eastern tip of Peebles Island, Waterford, Saratoga County) Mile 0.2 Junction – Erie & Champlain canals91 (geographic reference) Opposite Battery Park, Village of Waterford, Saratoga County Mile 0.41 Second Street Bridge, Waterford (Bridge E-1) (1 Contributing Structure) E608017 BIN-4415090 N4737939 Village and Town of Waterford, Saratoga County Two Warren through truss sections with plate girder mid and approach spans 665’ total length. Open grid steel decking, 12.2’ wide roadway in former rail bed, plank sidewalk on east side outside truss supported by extended deck cross-beams. Constructed 1913 by Delaware & Hudson Railroad (D&H RR) to carry spur line 91 Section 2 of the New York State Barge Canal System includes the Erie Canal from Waterford to the Schenectady/Montgomery county line including locks E2-E6 of the Waterford Flight, E7-E9 on the Mohawk River, and a number of bridges, dams, and terminals. See continuation sheet NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior New York State Barge Canal Historic District National Park Service Albany, Cayuga, Erie, Herkimer, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Seneca, Washington, and Wayne Counties, New York National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 51 serving Peebles, Van Schaick, and Green Islands. Mile 0.47 Waterford Terminal (1 Contributing Structure) E607993 HAER NY-370 N4738055 North bank of canal channel between Battery Park and 4th street, Village of Waterford, Saratoga County Constructed 1914, Construction Contract T-24 Waterford Terminal wall extends approximately 1,260’ from the Erie Canal’s junction with the Hudson River to the 4th Street bridge. Its surroundings have been heavily altered when the shore-side area was redeveloped as Waterford Harbor “promenade linear park” during the 1980s. Mile 0.57 Fourth Street Bridge, Waterford (Bridge E-2) (1 Contributing Structure) E607880 BIN-4415100 N4738171 Village and Town of Waterford, Saratoga County Pratt through truss, 163’ long, 17.8’ between curbs with sidewalks outboard of truss on both sides. Erected in 1907 by M. Fitzgerald under Contract 34. Mile 0.63 to 2.9 WATERFORD FLIGHT - SUMMARY (see details of individual locks below) When they went into service in 1915, and for more than 70 years after, the five locks of the Waterford Flight (E2,E3, E4, E5, E6) composed the highest lift over the shortest distance in the world, raising and lowering boats 169 feet in just over 1½ miles. The 85’ high waterfall on the Mohawk River at Cohoes, about a mile upstream of its confluence with the Hudson, has always been a barrier to navigation. Before the eastern section of the Erie Canal opened in 1822, cargo and travelers bound for the interior left the Hudson at Albany and journeyed overland to Schenectady, where they boarded canoes, bateaux, or Durham Boats for the trip up the Mohawk. The original Erie Canal (commonly called “Clinton’s Ditch”) included 18 locks to lift and lower boats past the Great Falls of the Mohawk along the south bank of the river through what became Cohoes. The Enlarged Erie Canal, started in 1836 and completed here by 1842, used 16 pairs of double locks with slightly higher lifts and greater length, width, and depth over sills to achieve the same change in elevation. The Enlarged Erie followed a different alignment through Cohoes than Clinton’s Ditch. Portions of the earlier waterway were soon incorporated into the Cohoes Company’s system of power canals, which delivered water to industrial users. Proposals to enlarge the Erie See continuation sheet NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior New York State Barge Canal Historic District National Park Service Albany, Cayuga, Erie, Herkimer, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Seneca, Washington, and Wayne Counties, New York National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 52 Canal during the 1890s included a two chamber boat lift on the south (Cohoes) bank and a massive staircase flight of five locks attached to the gorge wall on the north (Waterford) side of Cohoes Falls. Neither of these schemes were built; instead Barge Canal engineers utilized an overflow channel of the ice-age Iro-Mohawk River, about 2-1/2 miles north of the falls. This was one of several channels, carved about 13,000 years ago, when the entire Great Lakes basin and water melted from retreating glaciers drained through what would become the Mohawk Valley. Five locks of the Waterford Flight with lifts ranging from 32-½’ to 34-½’ replaced 18 Clinton’s Ditch and 16 Enlarged Erie locks through Cohoes. Large pools between locks and bypass channels around each one ensured an ample supply of water and prevented overflow as the massive chambers were emptied and filled.92 Work on the Waterford Flight was initiated under Contract 2, awarded to Ferguson Contracting Co. on April 18, 1905 for construction of Locks E2 and E3 and the connecting canal prism. Fort Orange Construction Co. was awarded Contract 11 on May 21, 1906 to build locks E4, E5, E6, Guard Gates GG-1 and GG-2 and the canal prism from the top of E3 to Crescent. Penn Bridge Company was awarded Contract 33 to supply lock gates, valves, needle-beams, and guard gates for the Waterford Flight and other locks on the eastern portion of the Erie and the entire Champlain Canal on January 7, 1910. The Waterford Flight opened to navigation May 15, 1915. In 2012 it was designated a National Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). Mile 0.63 LOCK E2, Waterford (1 Contributing Structure, 2 Non-contributing Buildings, 1 E607811 previously listed Structure - not counted) N4738240 HAER NY-371 South of the intersection of Broad and 5th streets, Village and Town of Waterford, Saratoga County Constructed 1908-11, Construction Contracts 2, 2E, 33, Electrical Contract 92 Lock E2 is the first lock of the Waterford Flight. It has a 34.5’ lift to the west with normal pool elevations of 15.2’ below and 48.8’ above. The complex includes the lock chamber with a downstream approach wall on the south bank and upstream approach walls on both banks; recently constructed lockhouse and workshop buildings; and three stone lock chambers on the “Waterford Side Cut” (HAER NY- 14), which once allowed boats to pass from the old Champlain Canal to the Hudson 92 BoP, plate 3. See continuation sheet NPS Form 10-900-a OMB Approval No. 1024-0018 (8-86) United States Department of the Interior New York State Barge Canal Historic District National Park Service Albany, Cayuga, Erie, Herkimer, Madison, Monroe, Montgomery, Niagara, Oneida, Onondaga, Orleans, Oswego, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Seneca, Washington, and Wayne Counties, New York National Register of Historic Places Continuation Sheet Section number 7 Page 53 and now serve as the spillway for E2.93 There is no powerhouse at E2 because the lock was served by the substation powerhouse at Lock E3. The east end of the north chamber wall is exposed, revealing twelve arches that reinforce the top edge of the wall and support the walkway and machinery. The lockhouse and workshop were built in 1989 to replace earlier structures and are non-contributing. They are located north of the chamber at the upstream (west) end. Both are clad in stucco. The workshop is single story on a slab; the lockhouse is built on a slope and has a walk-out basement. Their long axes and the ridgelines of their gable roofs are oriented at right angles to the lock chamber. Mile 0.73 Old Champlain Canal between Broad St & Burton Ave (previously NR listed 1976, not counted) Village and Town of Waterford, Saratoga County Constructed 1823 A watered segment of the old Champlain Canal crossed the Erie Barge Canal about 400’ upstream of Lock E2. It is maintained to absorb water released from Lock E3 and to provide a supply to fill E2. The southern segment extends one mile to a disused guard lock at the north end of the state dam across the Mohawk River between Waterford and Cohoes and supplies cooling and process water to several manufacturers. The concrete substructure of a “tumble gate,” installed to allow excess water from E3 to flow into the old Champlain while maintaining pool level for industrial users, survives at the head of the south channel, but the wood gates have been removed and the gate no longer functions. A 2,050’ land cut extends from Locks E2 to E3, lined on both sides by concrete retaining walls with concrete walkways and bollards supported by piers and arches. It was constructed under contracts 2, 2-E, and 2-G. Mile 0.84 Saratoga Avenue / NY Rt-32 Bridge, Waterford (Bridge E-3) (1 Contributing E607611 Structure) N4738510 BIN-4022510 Village of Waterford, Saratoga County Riveted steel Warren pony trusses with polygonal top chords; sidewalks outboard of trusses; 128’ long, 34’ between curbs. Erected 1907 by M.