The 2026 Winter Symposium takes place this Saturday. Click here for a partial agenda. In early April, the Spring 2026 Study Tour happens. Details will be forthcoming soon. Study Tours entail going to different locations to see and learn about canal infrastructure, observing what traces remain and which are almost invisible, pointed out by local experts. Dispatches has reported on a number of past study tours, both recent and not.

This is intended as a somewhat whimsical post inviting you to answer the following questions: When did the first CSNY Winter Symposium occur? When was the first CSNY Study Tour?

Why whimsical? All of these images come from our archives, photos from one or more Study Tour. Pattern? Places?

Yes, here’s the identification of the car. The tugboat in photo 2, detail in photo 3 is Raymond Russell, 78.5′ x 22′ x 9′ draft, 525 hp, built 1939 in Brooklyn, and owned by Newtown Creek Towing of New York NY. Here’s more about the tugboat, which was scrapped in Charleston SC in 2008.

Any answers to the questions about the Symposiums and Study Tours? I’ll share what I know in my next post.