The Black River Canal (from Cycling Along The Canals of New York State.)
Touring the Black River Canal will take you through great scenery and on into the Saint Lawrence River Valley in the Western Adirondacks. It is a great on-road bike ride which you can do as a loop from the Erie Canal (follow the directions to Boonville and the “The Flight of Locks”) or a multi-day extended bike trip into the St. Lawrence River Valley.
At Rome, the very important Black River Canal extended north into the Adirondacks. This canal was a critical water feeder to the Erie, bringing water from reservoirs and rivers in Adirondacks to the Erie’s “summit” level (426 feet above sea level) at Rome. The Black River Canal was another “mountain climbing” canal. Its summit level was 1119 feet above sea level near Boonville. Seventy locks were required to climb from Rome to Boonville and another thirty-nine locks descended from the summit at Boonville to Carthage. It took from 1836 to 1849 to complete the construction of this canal.
Following the Black River Canal on-road is fairly simple. The Black River Canal extended north from the Erie Canal in Rome. It began in the vicinity of Fort Stanwix. Today, in the city of Rome, the canal route lies beneath Black River Boulevard, NY 46, which you should follow for about two and one-half miles to the city line. Black River Boulevard can be a busy street and if traffic concerns you, use one of the quieter, paralleling side streets to the west. Many cyclists prefer riding George Street until it connects with NY 46 near the outskirts of Rome. Once outside of Rome, NY 46 and the other on-road routes you’ll follow are good, safe bicycling roadways. NY 46 is directly adjacent to the canal between Rome and the summit-level at Boonville, a distance of twenty-five miles. Along the way, a stretch of off-road cycling is possible along the old towpath. Then, north of Boonville, NY 12 traces the canal from Boonville through Lyons Falls to Lowville, and NY 26 from Lowville to Carthage, another 50 miles, for a total of nearly 75 miles. Arriving at Carthage, the Saint Lawrence River Valley beckons.
