One of the more common vintage photos seen in NYS Canals signage is this one below, taken in June 13, 1921; tugboat Lorraine tows ILI 101, the first of many Eriemax motor freighters through the canal near Fairport. Maybe someone can identify the exact spot where the photo was taken, or so I hope. I count at least six spectators on the bank to the left, five people on the 101, four on Lorraine, and then five more on the bank to the right. A future project might be to get the highest resolution of this image and then focus on each of these groups. More of that voyage can be seen in this post from tugster.

I took the next two shots in Waterford on September 4, 2014, showing what ILI 101 had become, and then passing alongside

Grande Caribe, a 1997 Eriemax built to carry passengers through all the same waterways, i.e., between salt water and the Great Lakes.

The next two photos credited to a Liz and Dave Beebe Camillus Erie Canal Facebook post, featuring former crewman Jerry Bollinger’s visit to the Day-Peckinpaugh lifeboat display at the park earlier this week.

Exhibits like these will help folks remember when vessels and people like these called the canal their workplace.

Please comment below if you have your own memories of these these Eriemax vessels now no longer seen on the canals of New York.

More Eriemax vessel information can be seen here.