What's Betsy got in her hand?

Ogdensburg or Bust (Photo of a small stone library in the town of Morristown

Not a really long ride today but a hard one! The full distance we rode against a strong steady wind. We followed the St Lawrence on routes 131 (magnificent) and 37.
The Saint Lawrence! As we ride I learn a little geography and history but more so discover how shallow my own knowledge is and how many pockets of ignorance of both disciplines I have. The Saint Lawrence is now a "sea way" but was once a river. It is now navigable to the great lakes. But when did all of this happen? I've now learned it was in the 40s and 50s. Work began right after World War 2 I am told so I guess that puts it during the Truman/Eisenhower years. But it must have been planned by Roosevelt or even before. Dredging and locks changed the landscape forever. Whole villages were inundated and disappeared. Looking at charts of the river it presents a complicated warren of islands, some Canadian, mostly on the US side the lines being drawn during the War of 1812. This makes for a very porus border between our countries and the monitoring of traffic across international bridges would only catcha very small bit of the potential illicit traffic.
Stopped in the delightful village of Waddington today. Waddington is a truncated version of its former self, part of it having been swallowed up when the sea way was formed. But the village still boasts a post-office, library, IGA, hardware store, beachfront, and a wonderful pastry shop where we stopped for scrumptious treats and lively conversation. There we met Noah, nine year old boy inventor. A newspaper clipping on the wall recognized Noah for his invention of an herbicide applicator. He wants to be a farmer or inventor when he grows up, ambitions evidenced in the clipping from the local paper and the John Deere cap on Noah's head. Noah asked us if we get bored riding. Betsy said no, there's always something unexpected cropping up and to prove her point pulled out our camera and showed him the claw she found on the side of the road just outside the village. Inquisitive Noah thought that was very cool.
It's interesting to note how undeveloped and largely uninhabited the U.S. side of the St. Lawrence is and gazing across the the water to see so many cities and signs of industry on the Canadian side. I guess it's true what they say about 90% of the Canadians living within 20 miles of the U.S. border. On our side, we seek the warmer climes of our own country and head south and west. Evidence of decay of what must have been beautiful cities in their prime: Malone, Massena, Ogdensburg.
Lexical questions of the day. Where does the expression "belly up" come from?