Lock 66

This is the last of three closely spaced composite locks (beginning with Lock 63) that lift the Canal in its approach to the Paw Paw Tunnel.  Plans were to build four locks for the tunnel approach, but construction costs and diminishing Canal budgets necessitated creative engineering. Instead of building four eight-foot locks, contractors decided to build three ten-foot locks that helped to make up the difference in elevation. Unfortunately, contractual language for locks being built farther up the line required the numerical progression of the locks remain, so Lock 65 had to simply be dropped from the plans. Lock 65 is often labeled “the missing lock,” but it was really never built in the first place!