Old Lock 19 of the Erie Canal, New York Postcard

"Old Lock 19 of the Erie Canal, New York" by Catherine Sherman. Long abandoned, the once busy Lock 19 is now filled with weeds and murky water but has found new life as part of a nature trail and preserve. The old Lock 19 of the Erie Canal was a double chamber lock for raising and lowering boats. It was built in 1842 during the enlargement of the Erie Canal. The far chamber was lengthened in 1885. The lock is in the A.C. Stevens Nature and Historic Preserve in Vischer Ferry, which is a hamlet in the town of Clifton Park in Saratoga County, New York, United States, along the Mohawk River. The Erie Canal in New York is part of the east–west, cross-state route of the New York State Canal System (formerly known as the New York State Barge Canal). It was built to create a navigable water route from New York City and the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, originally stretching for 363 miles (584 km) from the Hudson River in Albany to Lake Erie in Buffalo. Completed in 1825, it was the second-longest canal in the world (after the Grand Canal in China) and greatly enhanced the development and economy of the cities of New York, including Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, and New York City, as well as the United States. In 1918, the Erie Canal was replaced by the larger New York State Barge Canal.