Delphos Canal Museum - Day 33

  Today was a day off, but it sure wasn't a day of rest. We awoke to 1/8 to 1/4 inch of ice on everything. It took about an hour and a half to get the cars free of ice. Doors were frozen, parts of the hitching process were frozen. Part of the plan was to move the trailer today, but we sure weren't getting on the road when we wanted to.

We were just getting ready to leave when the latch on the trailer door decided it would be a good time to misbehave. We replaced a spring inside it about 4 days ago. The spring came off again (but didn't break), and then it wouldn't catch on the door edge. The latch has been problematic, but had been working OK. Today that all ended. Our host, Dave, tried a couple of things and then suggested a more permanent solution. He said he would do that for me while I went to the museum!

They were opening the Delphos Canal Museum pretty much specially for me, so I didn't want to pass that up. Even though it was more efficient to do that on the way to the new trailer home, Cindy and I went to the museum. They had a lot of very nice displays, but I'll concentrate on more canal stuff, since I've been sharing that.

They have the remains of an actual canal boat that was used on the Miami-Erie Canal. It had eventually sunk after it was "locked" in a section of canal that had water but was cut off from other sections. Let me explain this picture. The gray walkway is build over the remains of the old boat so that people can get close enough to the wall displays to read them. The old timbers below the walkway are from The Marguerite, the canal boat. It was 14 feet wide and I think 40 feet long. (I'll fix this if I'm wrong)

As far as the museum knows, this is the only actual boat from this canal that still exists. All others are reproductions.

This is a view from the other direction. A mural was painted at the front of the boat so it looks as if you are approaching a lock. (Except for the carolers.)

Various artifacts were found with or near the boat

Here is The Marguerite when it was in use. I think this is extra cool, because my grandmother's middle name was Marguerite.

This is a model of Lock 24 (not to scale). This is the one I showed you a picture of yesterday. You can see the actual lock on the left and the spillway on the right where excess water flowed over the gate at the end, providing power for the mill.

I learned several new things, but this is perhaps the most interesting. I had never even heard of a Bump Bridge. There were bridges that were humped in the middle, drawbridges, even lift bridges, but a bump bridge could be operated without any extra person to tend it. The boat just nosed its way through and the bridge turned. After the boat had passed the bridge returned to its normal position.

I also learned that in addition to frieght and hybrid freight-passenger boats, there were luxury passenger boats that stopped at inns for the passengers to sleep. And there were express packets where the passengers slept on board and completed the cross-state journey in just 80 hours!

So after the museum and getting something to eat, when we got back to the trailer, Dave had fixed the latch. It works great now! But it was much later than we wanted. We immediately set out for our next location, and arrived there after dark... all set up now.

I am grateful that the latch broke somewhere that there was a person with the knowledge and tools to fix it. The ice wasn't much fun, but I think it was part of the plan. I did not get several things done today that I should have, but I'm too tired to start them now. Tomorrow will be a cold hiking day, but hopefully no ice and less wind.

See Foggy Rainy Canal