The Walworthians: Jay Harding, Canal Lock #60

Jay Harding, Canal Lock #60

November 01, 1997

The Walworthians

A collection of telephone interviews published in the Wayne County STAR Newspaper and Wayne County MAIL Newspaper, 1994-209

by Kate Chamberlin

Jay Harding, Canal Lock #60

November 01, 1997

There are 363 miles of the Erie Canal running from Buffalo to Albany. Many people gave their blood and sweat, not to mention their lives, just to construct the Macedon corridor of the old Erie Canal. Their efforts are not going to be just a note in the history books.

The Green Way Project, the Restoration of Lock 60 and the Revitalization of the Canal Trail are three efforts that will become living museums. There is a State Trail System for walking that will eventually hook Albany and Buffalo. In the Turk Hill area, a 10-mile stretch of the walking trail is now open.

Locally, Jay Harding, an Electrical Engineer with Rochester General, conducted narrative walks In Palmyra Between Maple Street and Aqueduct Park During Canaltown Days this year.

“I have Canal Fever,” Jay says. “My curiosity about a rock I used to drive by has turned into a job with no pay!

He took his children, Megan and Matthew, to see Lock 60 and now he has an insatiable hunger to know as much as he can about the structures and history connected with the canal.

For example, originally there were two change bridges in Macedon. The committee recently rescued an 1858 change bridge that a farmer had moved to Garangua Creek. The bridge was originally located in Aqueduct Park.

The change bridge allows animals to move from one side of the canal to another.

This one is the only surviving, dated, cast-iron change bridge. Most of the others were dismantled for the metal.

Other structures of interest are two modern Barge Locks, 29 and 30; an old, abandoned Power House; the spill-way into Mud Creek at Aqueduct Park; and, of course, the large section of the old Clinton’s Ditch that is located in the Macedon-Palmyra corridor.

The committee has been financing restoration and research projects through low interest loans and HUD Grants.

The new funds that were recently allocated in New York are ear-marked for the Mid-Lakes Navigation and will be supporting new marinas and services spaced a half-day’s trip from each other along the canal. The funds will not be available for the Lock 60 Restoration.

Greg Stearns, a Brighton Fireman who lives in Walworth, is one of the handful of volunteers who believe in the value of restoring Lock 60. He bought a second-hand mower to keep the grounds neat.

“I bought the mower,” he said, “because mowing is a great stress reducer. And, besides,  you can’t see the beauty of Lock 60 unless the grass is cut.”

About five years ago, Greg read an article about the work Bill Ryder was doing on Lock 60. He phoned Bill and decided to visit the site.

“The first time I walked through it,” he said, “I could almost feel what it must have been like when people were building it. It was like an on-the-job technical school. It’s important to me to preserve our heritage.”

Bill Ryder was bitten by the Canal Bug in 1986.

“Randy Conard, a Macedon Elementary teacher, asked me to teach a students’ workshop. I said I didn’t know what to do it on and she suggested the lock off Quaker Road. I’ve lived near the canal a long time, but, I had no idea there was a lock there.!”

The first time he visited Lock 60, he had to fight his way through sumac, weeds and trees that had all but taken over the entire north and south sections. Bill began reading all the books he could find on the early canal.

“Mostly it was to stay one step ahead of the kids,” Bill exclaimed, “but, then I found I really enjoyed it and kept digging deeper.

One of the facts he discovered was that around 1963 or so, Dave Tabor and the Yorker’s Club cleaned out the lock. The trees had begun to push the big stones along the walls out of place. They didn’t have enough man-power to do a thorough job, but it helped to push back the ravages of time and nature.

In 1976, Gus Marvin and John Zimmer were instrumental in getting the town to donate gravel and highway workers to donate their time to put in a gravel access road from Quaker Road.

“I’m hoping that people will realize what a valuable resource we have here. It’s a living legend,” he said. “We’re here because of what has happened in the past.”

Bill feels a personal tie to the canal. His ancestors were among the early settlers in Lyons.

“There used to be an historic marker near the old bridge they took down,” he said. “I think the marker is in the Canal Park now.”

The volunteers who work on the research, restoration and preservation of Lock 60 are of like mind: This is our heritage. With a little bit of kind care and attention now, the life of these monuments marking our progress as a people, can be preserved for another century.

If you would like to join this elite, volunteer corps, contact Jay Harding at 597-2651 or Bill Ryder at 986-4721.