Click here if you missed Day 1.  Below are some of the folks on the tour at Stillwater Reservoir.  Note that some folks have a booklet in hand?   

(1). I’ve numbered the photos to facilitate comments on specific photos.

Kudos to Bruce and Craig for preparing an excellent 44-page field guide.  (2)

If you thought day 1 was an informative marathon, it was just the warm-up for the rest of the tour.  Day 2 began with coffee and donuts in   (3)

in Carthage NY, where      (4)

town historian Lynn M. Thornton provided a brief introduction to the impact of the Black River on the town’s development.  See her book here. (5)

From there, we went to Lowville, where after some distraction created by this 1933 Chevrolet and more,   (6)

antique car collector Arel Brown directed our attention back to his historic Nelson J. Beach home, built in 1836, at Beach’s Landing on the Black River.      (7)

From there and with a hearty appetite, the group made its way to Millers Meat Market, across the road from Bush Landing Lock.  After a delicious meal, we posed for a group photo and (8)

then received more orientation to this stretch of the River from Charles Bunke, Watson town historian,  and     (9)

Dan Miller.      (10)

Then, remotely we had an opportunity to do a reconnoitre of Bush Landing lock,   (11)

which is being overtaken by nature, as seen above.

Along NY 12, vestiges of the Black River Canal locks are ubiquitous and worthy of stopping to look at closely.  Boonville’s Black River Canal Museum is certainly worthy of a visit.    (12)

After taking it in, consider a visit to Woodland Farm Brewery, a destination for over 200 years.

Day 3 took us higher up the watershed to dams at Kayuta Lake,    (13)

Forestport,    (14)

(15)

(16)

and as the fluffy white clouds started to take over, we arrive near the top of the watershed at North Lake, the penultimate highest* of  Black River Canal water storage impoundments.   South Lake, which we didn’t visit, is almost 200′ higher.   (17)

This is the view below the dam.  It’d be off to the right in the photo above.    (18)

Below is a photo of the map of parts of the Black River, from a kiosk along the river.  I hope someone reprints this map.     (19)

The Canal Society of NY does about two study tours per year exploring the canal history of New York state.

All photos, any errors and omissions, WVD.  I look forward to comments and questions.