Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride has been on my radar for a few years. This attraction is located just a short drive due east of Niagara Falls, New York, in the city of Lockport. What’s involved is a walking tour around the original Erie Canal locks and the new ones right next to them. The tour moves downstream with a talk about the ruins of factories from the canal’s first days.
The meat of the tour then begins upon entering the ‘cave’. This is a underground tunnel that was constructed in the 1800’s to power the factories above. Part of the cave tour is on foot and the last portion is by boat.
Maybe not much of a thrill ride, Lockport Cave is definitely worth the visit. The historic value alone makes it something I will definitely visit again.
Lockport Cave and Underground Boat Ride
The attraction can be found by taking highway 31 east out of Niagara Falls, New York and following the signs once you enter Lockport. The cave and locks are located in the centre of town and are not hard to find. The address is 5 Gooding Street, next to the Pine Street Bridge.
for your $15, you get an approximately 70 minute guided tour that culminates in the boat ride through the portion of the cave closest to the locks. The tour is in operation from early May until the end of October each year. You get a good look at the new and operational Erie Canal locks 34 and 35. Right beside the new locks are the original ‘Flight of Five’ locks that were completed in the early 1800’s. The gates are gone but water still runs through the original canal.
Ruins remain of three main factories from the Industrial Revolution that used the water power tunnel or raceway. Holly Manufacturing Company was the main user but there is also the remains of the Richmond Manufacturing Company and Lockport Pulp Company. The Holly Manufacturing Company was owned by Birdsill Holly, a (infamous) legend in Upstate New York.
It should be noted that children between 5 and 12 pay just $10.00 while children four and under will cost you just $4.00.
Erie Canal
The canal that connects the Great Lakes to the Atlantic Ocean, via the Hudson River, was first used in 1821 and fully completed in 1825. The canal was restored in 1999 and has an elevation differential of 565 feet. There are currently 34 locks in use. In 2000, the waterway was given the Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor designation.
Birdsill Holly
The tour guides will give you some entertaining insight into this American industrial pioneer that held 150 American patents. Birdsill Holly was born on November 8, 1920 in Auburn, New York. The longtime friend of Thomas Edison was left without a father just before his eighth birthday. This left young Birdsill with no option but to drop out of school with just a third grad education to support his family.
Holly relocated to Lockport in 1859. This is where he becomes a bit of a historic villain. Soon after arriving in Lockport, he divorced his wife, Elizabeth, in order to marry his ‘ward’ Sophia. Sophia was closing in on the age of 14 at the time. Interestingly, he became a social outcast because divorce was severely frowned upon at the time and not so much that his second wife was barely a teen.
Holly Manufacturing was financed by Washington Hunt and Thomas Flagler. Hunt was a lawyer and politician and would become the 17th Governor of New York. Flagler was a wealthy businessman and politician. At first, the factory was rented from the Hydraulic Race Company.
Birdsill is best known for invented the fire hydrant. Lockport was the first city to install the Holly Fire Protection System. A city that did not was Chicago, Illinois. The Great Chicago Fire occurred over a three day period in October, 1871, killing 300 and destroying over three square miles of the city. 100,000 were left homeless.
Holly was the man behind extended the underground raceway, which is now the Lockport Cave. However, this was not his life goal. He dreamed of building a 700 foot skyscraper on Goat Island, the piece of land in between the American Falls and Horseshoe Falls at Niagara Falls. The building would have been 19 floors high and would have provided sweeping views of the waterfall and surrounding area.
The idea was way ahead of its time and was shot down by the Porter Family, owners of the island at the time. Of course, it is now Goat Island State Park.
Lockport, New York
The city of 22,000 was established as a village in 1829 and incorporated as a city in 1865. At the height of the Erie Canal, Lockport rivaled Buffalo as the main centre in this part of the state. The city is just a short drive east of Niagara Falls – an even shorter drive for those Canadians shopping at the Military Road outlet mall…
