Geocache Identification Permit Approval Number: AMSP20190907029
Permit Expires on: 09/07/22
The "Morris Canal History Tour" series of caches are placed along the canal towpath in partnership with the Waterloo Village Historic Site and the Canal Society of New Jersey to showcase the important early transportation across New Jersey. The Morris Canal connected the Delaware and Hudson Rivers and facilitated development of cities and industry in New York and New Jersey.
A lock enables a boat to pass from a section of canal at one water level to another section at a different water level. Locks also separate two sections of canal so that water from the upper level does not flood the lower level. Lock Tenders would open or close the heavy gates and wickets to gradually fill and empty the lock that allowed a boat to be raised or lowered at a lock. Even though the gates were angled upstream so that the flow of the river would force the gates together, leakage was still very considerable.
Boat captains would blow a conch shell when they were about a mile away from a lock to let the lock tender know the boat was approaching and for them to ready the lock.
Conch Shell Signal
For a boat going from a lower level to a higher level, the lock tender would first raise the downstream drop gate. This gate swung down into a pocket in the bottom of the lock to allow boats to enter. As the boat entered the lock, a line was thrown over a snubbing post to stop the boat. A winch was used to raise the gate into the closed position. The tender then opens a valve in the upper gates, admitting water to the lock and raising the boat. As the gates were opened, the water poured in … raising the canal boat to the upstream water level. When the water level in the lock equals the level in the higher section of canal, the tender opens the upper gate, and the boat continues its journey.
In the opposite direction, a boat enters the lock through the upper gates. The gates are then closed, the water level is lowered to the level of the water in the canal below, and the lower gates are opened to release the boat into the canal. When moving downstream, the process was reversed to lower the canal boat to the downstream water level. Small doors (or wickets) would open, allowing the water to flow out of the lock until the boat was level with the water on the other side of the lower gate. Then that gate was opened, and the boat was drawn into the canal.
Canal boat locking through
The elevation change for most locks was about 10 feet. Since it took about 15 minutes to go through a lock, the mules could rest. When the canal was closed for the night, mules could be stabled in the barn adjacent to the canal.
A variety of other occupations directly supported the canal, including blacksmiths, bookkeepers, boat builders, boat caulkers, brakemen, carpenters, canal foremen, canal superintendents, clerks, engineers, farriers, ferryman, harbormasters, laborers, plane tenders, toll collectors, shipping agent, shipwrights, and watchman.
Lock Tender
Aside from the boatmen, the workmen were mostly lock tenders, plane tenders and towpath walkers. The towpath walkers walked the towpaths, covering a beat of from 6 to 10 miles, on a sharp lookout for possible leaks which might flood an entire area. The chief enemies of the towpath walker were muskrats who burrowed into the banks to make their nests. A colony of muskrats would almost honeycomb a bank in a few days if not prevented.