The New York State Canal Corporation, a subsidiary of the New York Thruway Authority, manages the Erie, Oswego, Champlain, and Cayuga-Seneca canals, a system of 524 miles that operates from early May to early November as water and weather conditions allow. Its locks accommodate vessels up to 300 feet long and 43.5 feet wide, while bridge clearances and channel depths vary. Verona Beach Lighthouse serves as a daytime landmark and nighttime navigational aid at the gateway to the Barge Canal, and in winter it helps ice fishermen keep their bearings on Oneida Lake and guides snowmobiles during night travel and severe weather. The original Erie Canal was enlarged twice for heavier traffic, and between 1905 and 1918 the canals were enlarged again to accommodate larger barges, abandoning much of the original man-made channel and instead using the Mohawk, Oswego, Seneca, and Clyde rivers and Oneida Lake, where a uniform channel was dredged. Because Oneida Lake was and remains known for rapidly changing weather, three identical lights were raised to guide craft across its waters to and from the canal. Construction of the Verona Beach light began in 1916 under Lupfer and Remick of Buffalo, New York, with W. J. Durkow as engineer; prefabricated exterior sections were made in Buffalo, shipped to the site, and assembled on a large square foundation that provided entry and fuel storage. The light was completed and lit in 1917, stood 84 1/2 feet tall and 3 1/2 feet above water level, and has been lit constantly since then. It was first powered by a gas cylinder producing white lights of 1500 candle power, and electricity replaced gas power in 1927. The light still flashes its signal lakeward once every three seconds, day and night. The Town of Verona, which is dissected by the Erie Canal and contains the lighthouse in its northwest corner, has long supported preservation of the light and development of the area by supplying labor and materials. The town's first settler, George A. Smith, arrived in 1791 and settled where Oneida Creek empties into Oneida Lake, a few miles south of the present-day lighthouse shoreline.