Some shots of Sylvan Beach and Lake Oneida from Bill’s drone. He shot these early before we left today.
We have met many wonderful locals on our trip, but none who were as helpful as Chris from Sylvan Beach, who offered to mail a package for us after Bill regaled his story of running to the local post office and missing closing times by two minutes!! Thank you Chris!
We left Sylvan Beach early to cross Lake Oneida. There were plenty of people fishing keeping us company as we crossed the lake.
Since the channel across the lake is down the center of the lake, we did not get a close look at the shoreline. All along the east end of the lake were homes and woodlands, the north shore more populated than the south shore. That switched as we cruised west with more homes on the south side due to the proximity to Syracuse, NY south of the lake’s western shore. There were a few coves we could duck into if a storm suddenly came up, but we had a beautiful sunny day and calm breeze for our crossing.
Toward the west end of the lake there were three good sized wooded islands just off the channel which pontoon boats might access to explore the islands. Too many rocks surrounding the islands for us to try.
Leaving Lake Oneida, we entered a canal and cruised to the town of Brewerton. This town is technically a suburb of Syracuse and the economy focuses on boating- sales, winter storage and maintenance and supplies.
We stopped at the 43 North Marina to get fuel, pump out the holding tank and tied up to a dock for the night. Will get our laundry done and stock up on groceries, as well as get to some boat cleaning. We seemed to attract some bugs who will soon be rinsed off the boat!
Day 91. July 16. On to Oswego. 29.2 Nm. Total 1976
Leaving Brewerton, we passed through the small town and on to Guard Gate and Lock 23, lowering us almost 7 feet. This is the last lock on the eastern section of the Erie Canal.
We are traveling in the Oneida River mostly with a few dredged canal section when the river wanders too much off. The Oneida River is quite winding and has a mixture of summer cottages and new homes along the shore. Every now and then a walker or biker appears and disappears into the woods along the canal path.
We will next tackle the Oswego River Canal. Some history- after the Erie Canal was completed, the state of New York authorized monies to build a canal on the Oswego River connecting the Erie Canal with the town of Oswego on Lake Ontario. The canal was completed in 1828. Originally, the canal was 4 feet deep with 18 locks and was dug along side the Oswego River and Lake Onondaga. In 1917, the canal was improved to a depth of 12 feet and shortened to 24 miles with 7 locks. The canal lowers boats from the Erie Canal at 363 feet above sea level to Lake Ontario which is 245 feet above sea level- or 118 foot drop over seven locks. This point on the Erie Canal is appropriately call Three River Junction where the Oneida, Seneca, and Oswego Rivers meet. Those who take the Seneca River continue on the Erie Canal to Buffalo, NY.
We chose to take the Oswego Route. As we travel up the Oswego River, we passed a large canal system maintenance yard and approached the small town of Phoenix, NY and Lock 1, where we dropped 10 feet.
In this section of the river, there are homes near the towns, but further afield the shore is woodlands.
The next town and locks are at Fulton, where we dropped 17 feet at Lock 2 and 27 feet at Lock 3.
Five miles further we encountered Lock 5 and dropped 18 feet in the town of Minetto. (Lock 4 was planned but found to be unnecessary during the construction of the improved lock. In this area you could see remnants of the original canal. As the canal continues north past Minetto there are very few homes and the shore is heavily wooded.
Lock 6,7 and 8 are very close together and bring you to the city of Oswego, NY. All the locks on the Oswego have dams that create electricity for the surrounding towns. We will lock through Lock 6 and 7 and tie up to the free dock wall in Oswego for the night.
Oswego is located right on Lake Ontario and is known Fort Ontario and it’s port which ships grains, especially wheat from the Great Lakes.
Fort Ontario is on the site of 3 previous forts. The first was built by the British in 1765 and was destroyed by the French who did not like the British interfering with their fur trade. The British then rebuilt the fort in 1776 and the colonist burned it in 1778. The British rebuilt the fort again during the Revolutionary War due to its strategic location controlling major trade routes. This area was still considered frontier at this time, but in 1794, with John Jays treaty with the British, they relinquished all holdings in the United States. The current fort was added on to in the 1830’s and then refortified with stone during the Civil War. During WWII, 782 Jewish immigrants escaping the war in Europe were housed here from 1944-1946.
We got the boat settled and decided we’d walked quickly to the Fort Ontario to check it out.
On the way back we chatted with several other Loopers, discussing whether to stay in Oswego or get across the Lake before the rains come on Monday. We had opted to cross the Lake, which was why we completed the entire Oswego Canal today.
