Looking for the Ogdensburg, Clayton & Rome grading...

Seventy Degrees forecast for Monday.

Forty for Tuesday, and it doesn't warm up much for the rest of the week.

This is the north country....

RussNelson wrote:

hojack wrote:I think what you're looking at in Lake delta State Park is the embankments of the original Black River Canal.

I don't believe so. The old canal routing joined with the new routing just north of the Delta Lake State Park. The thing I'm looking at in the lake is north of that.

I just realized that I may have confused you with this, hojack. When I said "The thing I'm looking at in the lake" I meant between F and G. The old canal route is H-I. The new canal route joined the old at J where the old was still above water. Switch to Mapnik (in the top right) and you'll see what I mean.

The F-G thing is below the level of the lake. It could be the result of some dredging to create a channel there. I think it's more likely that, given that it's on the route of the OC&R given in their map, it is the OC&R, running down in a cut. Given that it's going through a high area like A-B, F-G probably would have needed a cut, too.
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JACKPOT!!! I spent most of Saturday looking for OC&R grade. Basically, the grade runs the entire north half of Pixley Falls State Park, and a little bit into the private land beyond it. Very clearly identifiable as a grade. It's eroded away in two places, but that's to be expected. I found one culvert which had not gotten clogged; after 160 years, the water is STILL running through it.

Also, on the south side of the Five Combine locks south of Pixley Falls, I found probably a good mile of railbed. It's interrupted in one spot where it seems likely they were going to have to build a trestle. Also has a very small interruption which was probably where a farmer bridge was going to be built.

That railbed ends in a cut just shy of where a bridge was going to be built over the road, canal, and stream. On the other side of the road you can see where the railroad fill just ends, facing towards (where I later discovered was) the matching railbed on the other side.

Also, just as I think I saw on the aerial photographs, the channel immediately to the left when you enter Delta Lake State Park sure looks to be a flooded railroad cut.

Also, I went to both ends of where the tunnel was supposed to be. They were insane to think they could dig a tunnel through shale. They must have had a supported roof the entire way, and even then the tunnel was undone by landslip on the outside.

Pics to follow once I've gotten some sleep, and gone through them. Same for OpenStreetMap updates.

I'm finally getting around to posting my pictures of my discoveries on Flickr (link below).

I found something else on that trip last April that I didn't mention: a treeline running through Boonville. It lines up with the route of the railroad. Hardly seems mentioning, right? BUT I just noticed Railroad Street in Boonville last night. It's *nowhere* near the MA&N, formerly Utica and Black River. Blocks away. A railroad street is typically parallel to the railroad in every town that I've seen one. A Depot Street (or Station Street) will be perpendicular to the railroad and crosses it at the location of the depot. But a Railroad Street is always parallel.

Well, this one *is* parallel, but not to the U&BR, but to the OC&R!! Freaking awesome! Railroad is abandoned in 1868 not ever having been completed, and the street that was railbed is *still* named Railroad Street!

Your persistence is amazing, Russ, and I look forward to more of your discoveries!

I'm still hoping that they lower the level of Delta Lake some time. I've got a friend who lives on the lake keeping an eye out for me. They did lower it in the winter some years ago. He walked out on the ice and got a picture of one of the submerged locks from the old routing of the canal.