Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2007/07/11

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Subject: [Leica] Re: Canal boats (OT)
From: robertmeier at usjet.net (Robert Meier)
Date: Wed Jul 11 08:52:13 2007
References: <200707102206.l6AM5WkQ031219@server1.waverley.reid.org> <B188E5D8-2FAE-493F-BF2D-2E9FC18C772B@optonline.net>

"Since the advent of rail..."   Would that be in the decades after the Civil 
War?


> I've heard it described as cruising in a moving hallway. The British 
> canal boats are a bit more than six feet wide. If you stand in the  middle 
> of the boat and stretch out your arms, you can touch both  sides. In our 
> Erie canal, boats are a foot or two wider, say about  eight feet. 
> Incidentally the Erie Canal was responsible for  developing New York City 
> as a major port. The canal, stretching from  the Buffalo area runs the 
> length of New York State to the Hudson  River. When completed in 1826 it 
> permitted a direct water route from  the Midwest to NYC. Passengers and 
> agricultural produce could make  the trip to New York in a bit more than a 
> week. Overland the trip  took twice as long and, for bulk cargos, was ten 
> times more  expensive. The current canal, now known as the New York Barge 
> Canal,  is a monumental piece of engineering, rivaling the Panama Canal. 
> It  has 52 locks, some with 40 foot lifts, and climbs over the small 
> mountains in the middle of the state. Since the advent of rail, barge 
> traffic has dropped off and the canal is being transformed into a 350 
> mile long recreational park.
>
> To put a photographic perspective on all this meandering, the Erie  Canal 
> passes through miles of some of the prettiest and most bucolic  landscape 
> in the USA. Side canals head to the Fingerlakes. glacially  carved crystal 
> clear lakes 40 miles long and 4 miles wide with one of  the best wine 
> grape growing areas in the US nestled between. If you  like GeeBee's 
> photos of the English countryside, you will find it all  here (except for 
> the churches).
>
> Larry Z
>
>
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Replies: Reply from sonc.hegr at gmail.com (Sonny Carter) ([Leica] Re: Canal boats (OT))
In reply to: Message from lrzeitlin at optonline.net (Lawrence Zeitlin) ([Leica] Re: Canal boats (OT))