Continuing upstream on the Mohawk River we passed by a Mohawk reservation with an unpronounceable name but still no drums. Maybe they ditched music in favor of exotic barbering.
Old sections of the original hand-dug canal can be found paralleling the river. Why didn't they just use the river as we are doing? Because they didn't have engines as we do. The barges had to be towed by mules or horses and that takes a well constructed tow path and a plumb canal wall. There were no dams regulating the water level and a ten by four-foot wide ditch is easier to put a lock in than the half-mile wide river. The river was used only as a source of water to run the canal and locks. It is said that the Irish were hired to dig the ditch and each morning a bottle of whiskey was placed out ahead as the day's goal. Thus, the Irish laser transit.
As we went upstream in the Mohawk we saw layered sandstone river banks from a foot high to palisades over 100 feet. It must have been tough going for the canal builders. Further up river the ground was an easier to dig, plain old dirt.
Lock tenders tend to be a pleasant type, as well they should be, having a neat job in a resort environment. The locks are all modern all electric causing an equatorial robustness in the lock tender's physiognomy. They say the summer traffic gets very busy at its peak but they admit they don't overwork themselves. Lock tenders realize their function is to serve the needs of the boat traffic and they seem to be motivated to provide it. They are a chatty bunch. They say the rural, "Howyadoin?" in four syllables rather than the more urban dialect of three. The urban Howyadoin (no question mark) is not a question and answering as if it were only causes a person to be stigmatized as a rank tourist to be vigorously ignored - unless, of course, they present a merchandising opportunity. The proper urban response is, "Howyadoin" right back thus ending the volley and nothing more is expected. On the other hand, the rural four-syllable, "Howyadoin?" (unknown in the city) is an invitation for response which may be anything even an actual evaluation of health but weather possibilities are more common.
Locks are one to twenty miles apart but tend to average ten. The lock tender calls the next lock to advise them of traffic so that the next lock can be ready. It can take 15 to 20 minutes to "turn around" a lock. Boats will be bunched in groups between locks with the slower catching up as the faster ones arrange themselves in the next lock. The doors close and the lock fills or drains and then the doors open and the process repeats. However the preseason traffic we encounter is very light.
Approaching a lock we were passed (passing is prohibited in the lock approach zone) by a big, new, million-dollar, extra fancy yacht who entered the lock ahead of us. We followed and were, in turn, followed by another BNMEF yacht. These things followed the Italian design of sleek and pointy more suited to busting mach than leisure boating. Inside they are a fabulously upholstered fiberglass cave with practically no view out as if the tenants therein need to be insulated from the rude nature existing outside. The boats were 65-70 feet long. Our modest craft maxes out at 37 feet on a warm summer day. The owners and operators of these fancy things are certain they are persons of great import and purpose who deserve not to be hindered in their endeavors. But it was easy to tell by their radio calls they were novice sailors.
The three of us locked up and the doors opened. The protocol is that the boat ahead has the right-of-way and exits before the boat behind. In this case the BNMEF behind us passed us in the lock and the two BNMEF's, obviously traveling together, took off in a furry of noise, spray, and huge wakes. If anyone had been fishing on the bank they would have been washed away. The lockmaster called them on the radio and asked them to take it a bit more calmly in the lock area. A few minutes later he called again saying a fishing skiff was due back shortly and he preferred not to see them arrive upside-down.
We cruised leisurely along the river for about an hour. As we approached the next lock the lockmaster called and asked on which side we wanted to moor in the lock, stating that, "those guys on starboard were kind of spread out". I said it didn't matter to me but the port side looked free. He said that would be fine, etc. The two BNMEF's were sitting there in the lock silently waiting and hearing all this polite repartee on the radio. We came into the lock and the doors closed. The lockmaster was chatty with us. All was quiet on the starboard side of the lock.
As we cruised, we were advised that the BNMEF named "Sassy" caused such a large wake approaching lock 19 that one of the doors was damaged and could cause a long delay. Fortunately it was fixed good enough to use by the time we got there. The lockmaster said he had never seen such a huge wake at the lock. This could happen if a boat were to suddenly slow from a very high speed. The speed limit in this area is 10 mph. The incident made the lockmaster rather gnarly and a few minutes after leaving the lock, we heard the lockmaster on the radio say to an approaching boat, "You're 35 minutes early and you've just entered the approach area against a red light." The lockmaster knows when the offender left the last lock and computed the elapsed time at the speed limit. Thirty-five minutes early showed the boat to have more than doubled the speed limit. I would guess that any time gained was lost in slow lock fills, slow and tardy lock door operation, and other imaginative maneuvers.
Pulling into Little Falls to moor for the night, we asked directions to the local market. After describing the circuitous mile-long route, the lockmaster decided to give us a ride there and back since he had business at the city hall anyway. He had lived all his life here and remembers the "old days" when a boat would row out each night to refill and light the buoy kerosene lanterns. This was when it was a 24-hour commercial canal.
So far we haven't seen much of civilization except briefly as we pass a small village. The original canal attracted commerce and development but the modernization process abandoned the original track and used the mostly uninhabited Mohawk River instead. We are near the end of the Mohawk (still no drums) so I imagine we will be seeing more signs of development.
