The Chenango Canal (1837-1878) had 116 locks between Utica (Lock 1) and Binghamton (Lock 116). Locks 85 through 105 were in Chenango County.
The canal had two hydraulic problems: too much water and too little water. It addressed these problems by placing waste weirs and feeders in strategic locations. The waste weirs were valves that, when opened, let water drain out, usually into a nearby wetland. They were built of stone with wood gates. The feeders were more elaborate because they had to transport water over considerable distances from a reservoir or from the river. The feeders were themselves narrow, unnavigable canals that fed water to the main canal. They too were controlled by wooden gates.
Lock 100 is special, in that it has a waste weir on its upstream side and a feeder (Feeder 4) on its downstream side. A stone dam angled across the river diverted water into the feeder. The stone abutments still stand. The waste weir emptied into the feeder. Moreover, all four of these components are still recognizable, not completely intact, nor obvious, but identifiable. They are described in the 1995 reconnaissance survey by Cynthia A. Carrington, Emanuel J. Carter, and Jennifer L. Carrington, pages 116, 124-126, plate 114.
In the photo, Debbie and Al Davis, the proud owners of this stretch of canal, are standing in the chamber of Lock 100. They are showing me an iron rod which once held a large wooden timber, called a fender, in that vertical groove. Behind them is the east wall of the lock. The stone walls were covered with wood planks to make the chamber waterproof, but they have since rotted. The fenders protected the lock walls from being banged by the canal boats.
The lock chambers were 15 feet wide and 90 feet long. A canal boat had to be several inches less than 15 feet wide to fit into the locks. The canal itself was 42 feet wide at its top and 26 feet at its bottom. A cross section would be a prism and canal aficionados often refer to the canal channel as a prism. It contained water four feet deep. Boats were built to have a draft of three feet but some heavily loaded boats dragged along the bottom. A V-shaped wood gate stood at each end of a lock, with the Vs pointing upstream so that water pressure kept them secure. The lock walls extended beyond the gates to protect the earthen canal banks from being washed out by the water currents churned up by ingress and egress. Dimensions and other data are from Michele A. McFee’s 1993 book, “Limestone Locks and Overgrowth...”
Lock 100 and its accompanying structures are in the area of the hamlet of South Oxford, in the town of Oxford. In fact, the South Oxford post office (1828-1915) was just north of the Davis dairy barn. Lock 99 is upstream of the South Oxford Bridge and Lock 101 is behind the Ten Broeck Cemetery. The canal here ran east of State Route 12 and west of the Chenango River. It crossed over the river in the Village of Greene on an aqueduct.
Al and Debbie are very interested in their piece of the old canal and intend to protect it. I commend them and encourage other canal owners to do likewise.