Erie Extension Canal
Platea, Erie County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Part of the old channel is visible by the present railroad, which replaced the canal. Lockport, now Platea, was founded 1839 at a point where a series of locks, 28 in two miles, lowered boats bound for Erie. Canal open 1844-71.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
The town now called Platea began life in 1839 as Lockport, named for the remarkable staircase of locks—28 of them packed into just two miles—that stepped canal boats down toward Erie and Lake Erie. The Erie Extension Canal carried traffic here from 1844 until 1871, when the railroad that replaced it was laid partly along the old channel. Traces of that abandoned waterway can still be seen beside the tracks.
Why it matters
The dense flight of locks here shows the sheer engineering effort canals demanded to conquer terrain, and the town's very name is a fossil of Pennsylvania's short-lived canal age.
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Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Erie Extension Canal
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