The condition of the canal lock distresses me. The entire canal is in very bad shape. It needs to be dredged and the invasive weeds dealt with. The walls need to be repaired as well as the lock itself. AND they need to allow more water to flow through the canal. It’s getting very stagnant! Next thing you know the snapping turtles will refuse to live there.

The canal is a historic site; this lock should be considered historic and probably is. How is it that it is being allowed to crumble like this? When the Dexter family owned the paper mills in Windsor Locks they drained the canal ever year, cleaned it out, made repairs, then filled it up again. Since they sold it to Alhstrom (I believe that is spelled correctly) nothing has been done. A group called Friends of the Canal has been negotiating with Alstrom to let the Friends take care of draining and repairing. Alstrom is hung up on ‘liability’. True, when the Dexter family ran the canal, there were boats up and down the canal on a seasonal schedule, and I believe Connecticut Light and Power controlled the lock at the Windsor Locks end. Now the boats up stream go down to Long Island Sound on wheels.