Mohawk Valley
6 towns · 12 locks · 6 docks & marinas · 13 launches & ramps · 79 places
Through the Mohawk Valley, the canal is the river — the modern Barge Canal canalized the Mohawk itself behind movable dams, so you cruise the water that carried Dutch traders, Revolutionary armies, and a century of packet boats. It is the longest and most historic stretch of the whole corridor.
The valley’s showpiece is Little Falls, where the river cuts a rock gorge and Lock E-17 makes one of the highest single lifts on the canal. Upstream and down lie the old mill and factory towns — Amsterdam, Canajoharie and Fort Plain, St. Johnsville, and the Herkimer–Ilion–Frankfort cluster — before the valley opens toward Utica and Whitesboro. Near the eastern end sits the great Schoharie Crossing, where you can walk among the aqueduct arches.
Plan fuel and dockage carefully through here — see fuel docks and marinas with transient slips — and read the valley’s story across our history features.
