Canal closes out 191st season
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The tugboat “Lockport” is tied up in Albion between the Main Street and Ingersoll Street lift bridges on Tuesday.
The navigational season for the Erie Canal ended today, concluding the 191st season of the waterway that turned New York State into an economic powerhouse in the 1800s.
These days, the canal is more of a recreational waterway, and the towpath is popular for joggers, cyclists and walkers.
Many of the tenders, tugboats, and other vessels in the canal fleet will “winter” in Albion before the canal season starts again next May.
This year the canal opened on May 8. The draining of the Erie Canal between Lockport and the Genesee River in Rochester will begin on Tuesday, Dec. 1, Canal Corporation officials said today.
