This set of photos has intrigued me for several years. Let me share. Some teenaged boys appear to have built a floating platform for a voyage on the Barge Canal. This could be above E-9. No photos in the set show the sail set, so I can tell if they made that work.

Lock E-9 has been drained.

The boys hold position with a boat hook attached to a rung on the built-in ladder. See the rear fender of the 1957 Studebaker Champion the family must have arrived in. In 2025 a fence keeps folks from getting that close to the lock.

After the boys depart, the family hurries back to the car. That foam . . . some of it is natural but the amount of it makes me wonder about water quality.

Ditto here: is that an oil slick in the water or an illusion of a slick created by the dark image?

Above lock E-8, they seem to have lost one of their improvised fenders. I admire the improvisation involved in their raft, their having an adventure on an improvised boat. Some I hear people say some variation of “if I were young again, I’d . . .,” but would they really, I wonder.

Slightly later, John E. Matton exits the lock pushing a barge. A family seems to have arrived there–sans cell phone–and the boy sitting on the wall seems eager to

step aboard.

The raft shared E-8 with some recreational boats, and

the raft leaves first, then the big cruiser overtakes them. MMUS shows a 1950 and a 1936 cruiser named Water Nymph, 52′ and 48′ respectively. I’d go with the 1950.

Among the photos is a shot showing propulsion arrangement.

Are those two small engines, each of which can belt drive to the propeller?

Anyone know more about the story? the boys? Did they go on to work on the water somewhere?

Remember this late 1950s adventure on the Barge Canal post involving a replica?