Competing with the canal.

The Erie Canal was completed in 1825. The section with the greatest elevation change is the climb up from the Hudson River. It took a long time to fill the original Clinton's Ditch locks will water. Because the canal was so successful, there was lots of traffic and boats had to queue up for the locks.

Already by 1826 railroad men sensed an opportunity and chartered the Mohawk and Hudson railroad to run from Albany to Schenectady, bypassing the congested locks. It could take passengers a whole day on the canal just to get from Albany to Schenectady. When the Mohawk and Hudson railroad opened in 1831, that trip took only an hour. The name of the first locomotive on the M&H railroad? The Dewitt Clinton. It's always a good political move to name stuff after the governor.

I'll let you guess which two cities the Schenectady and Utica railroad connected. Because it ran parallel to the Erie Canal, it was initially allowed to carry passengers, but not to carry freight. The state ran the canal, so they could impose any restrictions they wanted. Even if you named stuff after the governor. Later on they allowed the railroad to carry freight, but the railroad had to pay the canal tolls when freight was carried parallel to the canal.

Today we followed the train route.

This mile marker must date to when the smaller railroads aling the canal route had merged into the New York Central RR. We certainly aren't 187 miles from Albany.

We were rushing to finish our ride before predicted afternoon thunderstorms appeared, but we had time for a quick visit to the site of Fort Hunter, where Schohari Creek flows into the Mohawk River. The canal route had to somehow cross Schohari creek. In 1825 mules would walk across a bridge over the creek, using long ropes to pull boats down in the creek. If the creek was running high and a boat was swept down the creek, the boat might have to go 20 miles down the Mohawk to Schenectady to get back onto the canal.

When the canal was expanded in the 1860s, they built an aqueduct over Schohari Creek, making the crossing faster and safer.

Fort Hunter was built by the British based on a request from the Mohawk nation for English missionaries. As Floridians, we seldom have anything positive to say about hurricanes. However, hurricane Irene did a service by flooding the site of Fort Hunter, washing away a parking lot and revealing the long lost foundations of the fort and yielding valuable information for local archeologists.

Fort Hunter foundation stones. Irene started the dig, local volunteers have since taken over.

A robin's nest on the porch of the Fort Hunter visitor center. A hungry mouth is sticking up.

The Mohawks are the easternmost of the 6 Iroquois nations. These nations formed a confederation in the 11th century (well, 5 nations in the original confederation, but who's counting?) under the leadership of a man called the Peacemaker.

For centuries the Iroquois kept the peace among themselves, while making war with neighboring tribes. With the arrival of Dutch, French, British and then Americans, the Iroquois nations were dragged into a series of alliances and wars. At times, different Iroquois nations allied with opposite sides and ended up fighting against each other. Ultimately, this ended the unity of the confederation.

Tonight we are staying at a B&B in Fort Plain. The town has 4 restaurants, 2 of which are pizza joints across the street from each other. How to choose? I asked a passerby which pizza place was better. He said go across the street to Papa Joe's Pizza. When I crossed the street a second passerby told me to go back to the other side of the street because Frank's Pizza was better.

What a dilemma. A third passerby approached and I asked him to break the tie. He pointed at Frank's and said "that place is better, but I'm going to Joe's because I ate at Frank's yesterday."

Here's our B&B - the Green House. Worth a stay, despite the confusing color.

What manner of beast is climbing our bicycle?

It seems to be covered with mini Christmas trees.

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