USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 1 > Part 18
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1
Falls on East Canada Creek.
These interesting falls are in the towns of Manheim and Op- penheim, seven miles easterly from the Little Falls, on the Mo- hawk, and one mile northerly of the river road, leading from Albany to Utica. Six may be dignified with the name of cat- aracts. The creek's bed and banks are composed of limestone, disposed in horizontal layers. The falls, with the intermediate rapids, occupy about three quarters of a mile. The stream, from their head to their feet, gradually narrows, its current . gaining velocity at every step. The banks are at first low,. but at last seventy or eighty feet high. Towards the foot of the falls they are either precipitous or perpendicular. They are now bare, and then studded with trees. These falls can only be seen to advantage when the stream is low, as there is no passing along them without frequent interruptions. In floods the water shoots down them with great velocity. They possess no unusual grandeur. The descent, in three quarters of a mile, is estimated at one hundred and eighty feet.
Little Falls.
These falls are on the Mohawk, in the county of Herkimer, seventy-one miles west northwest of Albany. The water de.
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scends forty-two feet in three quarters of a mile. These falls, properly speaking, consist of two long rapids, separated by a stretch of deep water. Each occupies about a quarter of a mile. The splendid acqueduct of the feeder to the Erie canal, at this place, crosses the stretch, disparting the rapids. The upper falls, or rapids, are the most considerable. The bed of the river, which is granite and gneiss, is bristled with fixed rocks, which at times rise above the water. The lower rapids are also bristled with the same kinds of rocks. The river, just above these rapids, divides and forms a small island, but the parts unite below in a deep basin.
The scenery is bold and romantic. Fall Hills; whose nucle- -- us consists mostly of granite and gneiss, seems in ancient days to have been united, and to have elevated the waters far above where they now run. The hill, on either side, rises from three hundred and sixty to four hundred feet. The defile is two miles long, and at a medium, one hundred rods broad. Through this defile, it is highly conjecturable, a portion of the waters of Lake Ontario, before the reduction of the lake's cir- cumference and surface, flowed. A mound, of the height of seven- ty feet, constructed across the upper end of the defile, would now raise the waters more than on a level with the Rome summit, and divert them into Wood creek and Oneida lake. That Fall Hill · has been cut down to its base by running waters, is incontesti- bly demonstrated, by the very many cavities, basins and scars found in and on the rocks, that pave the bottom and form the sides of the defile. These are to be seen throughout its extent, and to an elevation of sixty feet. Below the gulf bridge, on the north side of the road, at a short distance, there is an insu- lated rock, that has one of the most remarkable water-worn cavities, or funnels we ever saw. The top of the funnel is be- tween thirty and forty feet higher than the low water mark of the river. The rock containing this tunnel, is about sixteen feet high. The tunnel descends perpendicularly from the top of the rock to below the exposed part of its base, and has the diameter of a barrel. Near the base of the rock, it has been burst of broken, so that the sky may be seen, as from the throat
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uf a chimney. The burst or rupture was occasioned, it is like- ly, in consequence of water congealing, which had collected in it, and the subsequent explosion of the ice. Other cases might be cited, but they would swell this article too much. The river, at the foot of the falls, expands into a basin, and then contracts, and afterwards spreads. At the narrowest place, where the water is about one hundred feet deep, fixed rocks in the stream rise above the surface during low water. There are two islands in the defile. The upper is in the lower rapids, between the branches. The other is below, and begins at the basin. The river is now on one side, and the canal on the other. . Its bed is about fourteen feet above the river's present bed. On making the canal along this forsaken bed, many rocks were removed, which had water-worn cavities. Indeed the rocks along the . sides of the island, have abundance of these cavities.
After the reduction of Lake Ontario, and the subsequent . reduction of the lake that overspread the Oneida and Senaca vale, there must have been a lake that spread back to Rome. This lake decreased, as the barrier at Little Falls gave way to the waters, till it became desiccated.
Trenton Falls.
These renowned Falls are on West Canada creek, between twenty-two and twenty-four miles above its confluence with the Mohawk. The West Canada creek is a powerful stream, and constitutes almost one half of the river at the coalescence. They commence a little above the high bridge on the Black river road, and terminate at Conrad's mills, occupying an extent of rather over two miles. They are six in number.
The West Canada creek, in its way from the summit of the highlands of Black river, to its lower valley, lying between the latter and Hassenclever mountain, crosses a ridge of limestone four or five miles in breadth, stretching through the country from the Mohawk to the St. Lawrence. Its course over this ridge, by its tortuous bed, is six or seven miles, two and a half of which are above the falls. The waters of the creek soon
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after they have reached the limestone, move with accelerated strides over the naked rocks, to the head of the upper fall, where they are precipitated eighteen or twenty feet down an abrupt ledge into a spacious basin. The whole descent, to the head of this fall, in the last two miles, is computed at sixty feet. Here a deep and winding ravine begins, which extends down the stream more than two miles. Its average depth is estimated at one hundred feet, and its average breadth at the top at two hundred. In some places the depth and width are more, and in others less .- The sides and bottom consist of limestone, disposed in horizontal layers, varying in thickness from some inches to a foot and upwards. The layers are often thin and slaty, and abound with organic remains. The sides of the ravine are shelving, perpendicular and overhanging. In many places large masses of rocks project over the stream and threaten to tumble down into it .- '] he sides of the ravine are partly bare and part- ly covered with trees, such as hemlocks, cedars, &c. Some of these that have taken root in, the fissures of the rocks are now pendant over the abyss, where they form the most fanciful ap- pearances imaginable. The country along, and neighbouring the ravine, descends to the south, and is mostly covered with woods which exclude every appearance till you arrive upon the very verge. There are four falls in the ravine, and one at its head, and one at its foot, making in all, six. That above the high bridge on Black river road, may be called the Upper Fall, and that at the end of the ravine, Conrad's Fall. . The first in the ravine is a mile below the high bridge, and is denominated the Cascades. The second, which is a little lower down, is call- ed the Mill Dam Fall. The third, by way of eminence, are called the fligh Falls, they are forty rods below the preced- ing. The fourth is nearly seventy rods below the high falls, and is called Sherman's Fall. All these falls are formed by solid reefs of rocks which cross the bed of the stream.
The water at the Upper Fall descends eighteen or twenty feet perpendicularly. The width of the creek does not vary '' much from eighty yards. Below there is a capacious basin, out of which the stream issues, in a diminished bed, into the ra-
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vine. The entrance is between lofty barriers of rocks. This fall, when viewed from the bridge, has a fine appearance. It also appears to good advantage from the high ground west of the creek, and the flat at the basin.
At the Cascades the water falls eighteen feet. The Cascades consist of two pitches with intervening rapids. The bed of the stream is contracted, and the sides serrated. The banks of the ravine rise with abruptness almost directly in the rear .- The basin below has considerable depth, and is greatly agitated in floods.
The Mill Dam Fall, which is the second within the ravine, has an arbupt descent of fourteen feet. The stream is about sixty yards broad at the break.
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The High Falls are forty rods below the latter. The whole descent is one hundred and nine feet. The High Falls consist of three distinct falls, with intervening slopes and some small pitches. The first has a perpendicular descent of forty-eight feet ; its line is somewhat irregular ; in floods and rises the wa- ter covers the whole break, and descends in one sheet, but at other times mostly in two grooves, at the west side of the fall. The stream at this place is about fifty yards wide. The second has a descent of about eleven feet. The third has a descent of thirty seven feet. The three, including the slopes and pitches, have a descent of one hundred and nine feet. The stream nar- rows at the second and third. In freshets and floods the entire bed, at the High Falls, is covered with water of a milk white colour. The spray, which at such times ascends in pillars to- wards the sky, when acted upon by the rays of the sun, exhibits the rainbow in all its brilliant colours.
The fourth fall is Sherman's Fall. It is distant nearly se- venty rods from the High Falls. The descent is thirty-three feet when the stream is low, and thirty-seven when high. In droughts the water pitches down at the west side.
The last fall is at Conrad's mills, at the very foot of the ra- vine. It is irregular, and does not deserve to be noticed any further than its being connected with the others. Its descent is six feet.
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Besides the falls, there are several raceways or chutes. We shall notice only two of these. The one is below Sherman's Fall, and the other above the Cascades. The first begins near the foot of Sherman's stairway, and is fourteen or fifteen feet wide, in a decreased state of the stream. It is bounded by firm rocks. A strand stretching along the west side affords an agreeable walk. This raceway, in dry times, is about ten rods long. In floods, it reaches almost up to Sherman's Fall, sixty rods .- The water runs through it very rapidly. The second, which is above the Cascades, is twenty rods long, and from ten to fifteen feet wide, in a moderate state of the stream. Its sides are somewhat trough shaped, and considerably jagged. The bed is contorted and highly inclined. The water rushes through it with great velocity.
'The whole depression of the stream, from the top of the Up- per Fall, above the high bridge, to the foot of Conrad's Fall, is three hundred and twelve feet. And if we add the descent above the Upper Fall, which is computed to be sixty feet, and that below Conrad's Fall, in half a-mile, which is estimated at fif- teen feet, we shall find that the entire depression, in less than five miles, is three hundred and eighty-seven feet .*
The falls, raceways and rapids, and in truth, the whole bed within the ravine, exhibit very different, appearances at differ- ent times. These are occasioned by the elevations and depres- sions of the stream. In floods, the whole is one tremendous rapid, with four cataracts and several chutes.
The best time to visit these falls is when the stream is low, because then there is no inconvenience or difficulty in ascend- ing the ravine from the foot of Sherman's stairway, to the head of the upper raceway. Few persons who visit them have reso- lution to ascend the ravine from the bottom of Sherman's stair-
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* In relation to the entire descent, I am under special obligations to" Mr. Stoddard Squires, of the town of Russia, in the county of Herkimer. This gentleman, in the spring of 1825, made admeasurements preparatory to Mr. Geddes, taking the levels, &c. between Ogdensburg and the Erie canal, and soon after communicated the result to me.
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way, to the basin at the upper fall above the high bridge. This, however, is not to be wondered at, because the lofty rocky bar- riers which constitute the sides of the ravine, advance to the water's very edge, in many places, and terminate in frightful projections, which cannot be passed without the most imminent danger. Mr. Sherman has lately obviated some of the difficul- ties, by blasting away portions of the rocks and putting up chaias. Persons now go up to the upper raceway without hazard.
The ravine, with some few exceptions, is still bordered by woods. No roads have hitherto been opened near it but Black river road, which crosses the upper part, and that leading to Mr. Sherman's house. All persons desirous of visiting the falls have therefore to go to his house, from whence they proceed to them through the woods, by some rude paths. One of these leads to the stairway, which descends to the bottom of the ravine. An- other leads up to the high falls. The former is usually prefer- red. On reaching the strand at the foot of the stairway, you proceed up the stream at first upon the strand, and then by a , narrow winding foot path, made by Mr. Sherman, and reach Sherman's Fall. From thence you advance to the High Falls. A part of the way is overhung by large jutting rocks which men- ace you with destruction. The High Falls appear to the best advantage from below, because the eye takes in the whole at once. From the head of the High Falls to the upper end of the raceway, above the Cascades, the way is easy when the stream is low, but from thence upwardly, it is difficult and dangerous.
While you are passing along the narrow and sinuous paths leading by the projections, and by the brinks of headlong pre- cipices, you tremble with reverential awe when you consider that one false step might precipitate you into the resistless tor- rent below, and in an instant consign you to a watery grave .- You see what a feeble creature man is, and are forcibly impress- ed with ideas of the wisdom and power of that Mighty Being, who commanded the earth to emerge from the deep and the waters to flow.
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Along the bottom and lower parts of the ravine, numerous organic remains are found enveloped in the rocks. The stone containing them is limestone. It is in general slaty and brittle, and is easily divisible. The remains lie flat in or between the laminæ, their contours and component parts usually being little distorted from their original shape and dimensions. Sometimes, however, there is defect, occasioned in the transition from the animal to the stony or fossil state. In most instances, however, all the parts are so completely defined, that not only the order, but the genera and species may be recognized. These remains are easily separated from the layers in which they are enclosed. Their exteriors are commonly glossy, often very smooth, and ordinarily of a darkish or blackish colour, being considerably darker than the rocks enclosing them. All these remains are transformed into stone, and constitute integral parts of the rocks which envelop them. From a careful examination of certain of these remains, and their positions, we are led to believe that their prototypes lived and died on the spot, and that the rocks in which they are entombed, are of posterior formation. Cen- tury after century must have rolled away on the interminable ocean of time during the re-production, growth and destruction of these animals ; and century after century must also have rol- led away before the unconsolidated materials in which they were imbedded, or by. which they were inhumed, could have been transformed into stone. Their prodigious numbers, and their being found in layer upon layer, announce the very slow man- ner in which these rocks were formed, and that a great length of time must have elapsed.
These rocks are secondary. Many rocks belonging to this class have been formed by the recrements of animals and the precipitation of earthy matters. Such appears to have been the course which nature adopted here. The presence of fossil re- mains bere, as well as elsewhere, apparently demonstrates this mechanical and tedious process of formation.
At the times these animals lived, it is likely that the prime- val ocean stood much higher than the present, and overspread · nearly the whole sarface of the earth. Then the greater part
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of the two hemispheres were liquid plains. Then only the high table lands and mountains rose above the waters. The coun- . try around the head of the ravine is upwards of eleven hundred feet above the surface of the present ocean. To preserve . ani- mal relics entire, or nearly so, which is the condition of these, their originals, or prototypes must die in the places where they lived, and be preserved in the places where they died, and these places must be in deep water, where there is tranquillity or something approximating thereto, and equableness of tempera- ture. Here, after death they become blended with the uncon- solidated materials in which they were imbedded, or with other animal relics which had died b-fore them, or both, and by and by they become inhumed, and secured from the destroying hand of time. It is in this way that turtles, aligators, fish, &c. have been preserved in the newer secondary rocks, shale, &c. They died in deep water, where there was stillness, or a state border- ing on it, and uniformity of temperature, and in a short time they became enveloped in mud or in other terrene matter, which subsequently passed into stone, shale, &c.
On the confines of the present ocean, in certain situations, we see miniature specimeus of these grand operations in pro- gress. Oysters, clams, and many kinds of shell fish are to be seen in collections of water which have considerable repose and no great depth. The bottomis of these collections are often muddy-we see the testaceous animals alive and dead. The lat- ter become blended with the mud, and afterwards covered by it. The covering secures them from the ravages of time. One generation perishes after another-the successive generations are buried one after another ; and were there sufficient depth of water and duration of time before the dereliction, rocks would be formed which would contain many of these relics.
Great Falls on the Iludson.
These falls are in the town of Corinth, in the county of Sara- toga, twenty miles north of Ballston Spa. The perpendicu- lar descent is thirty feet. The rapids above, which extend
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about a mile have a similar descent, making in all sixty feet. Que hundred and twenty yards above the perpendicular fall, there is a remarkable sluice of twelve yards in length, and four 'in breadth, in a decreased state of the stream. The water shoots through it with great velocity. In freshets, the waters mouut above it.
Glen's Falls:
4.
These falls are three miles above the village of Sandy Hill, in the county of Washington. They are caused by a ridge of limestone that crosses the bed of the river. ' The abrupt descent is thirty-two feet, and the width of the stream about nine hun- dred. The rapids above are from fifteen to twenty feet. These falls in floods are covered, but in drouths the water makes its way down them in several grooves. There is a fine view of these falls and of the river below, from the bridge cross- ing the Hudson.
Baker's Falls. -
These falls are also on the Hudson, but lower down, at Sandy Hill. They have no abrupt declivity, but consist of rapids ex- tending about nine hundred feet, with a descent of sixty. In ordinary times, the waters of the river make their way down in winding crevices worn in the rocks. In floods the bed is cov- ered, and the water rushes down with majestic grandeur .- These falls may be seen to advantage from either side of the river. Some prefer a rock on the east side which projects into the stream. The rock, which underlays the river, is transition slate.
The falls at Fort Miller, Saratoga and Stillwater, are too inconsiderable to claim particular attention. Before the con- · struction of the Champlain canal rafts descended them.
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High Falls on Batten Kill.
These falls are in the towns of Easton and Greenwich, in the county of Washington. The descent is abrupt, and about sixty feet. The quantity of water, in floods, renders them an object of curiosity.
Falls on Poesten Kill.
There are several falls on this stream in the last three miles of its course. The depression is about three hundred feet. Among these falls, those called Mount Ida, near Troy, have the greatest descent. In floods, these, with the intervening ra- pids, possess no unusual share of interest.
Hoosack Falls.
These falls are on Hoosack river, in the northeast corner of Rensellaer county. The water has a descent of about forty feet in twelve rods. They are distant from Troy, in a north- easterly direction, twenty-two miles.
'The falls at Walden, on Walkill river, in Orange county, are between forty and fifty feet. They are ten or eleven miles west of Newbarg.
Honk falls, on the Rundout, in the county of Ulster, have a perpendicular descent of thirty feet. The quantity of water is not considerable.
Adgate's Falls.
These are in the town of Chester, Essex county, on Sable river, some miles above where it enters Lake Champlain. The water descends about eighty feet. Directly below the stream contracts and flows through a deep ravine, bounded by mural rocks. The ravine is seventy feet wide where the road crosses it, and ninety deep exclusive of the water of the river. Along its banks the lands are level. The ravine is unique, the land being level on both sides,
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Falls on Black River.
There are several falls on this river. The first are the High Falls, at Turin, in the county of Lewis. Here the water pitch- es down a limestone steep, sixty-three feet. A stretch of boat- able water commences at the foot of these falls, and reaches to the head of the Long Falls, at Wilna. The High falls, in beau- ty and grandeur, surpass all the others on this river.
The second are called the Long Falls, but inaptly. These, with the reaches of slack water which intervene, occupy an extent of twelve or fourteen miles.
The first of these begin below Wilna bridge, and extend down the stream half a mile, and have a descent of sixty feet- they end in slack water.
. The second are about four miles lower down, and are two miles in length. The descent, in this distance, is computed at one hundred feet.
The third are four or five miles below the preceding, and are inconsiderable.
The fourth are at Champion, in the county of Jefferson, and have an abrupt descent of twelve feet. The river just below narrows to seventy feet, and flows a short way through a kind of canal. The bank on the right is mural-the limestone is piled up in layers which have inimitable regularity.
The fifth are at Watertown, in the same county-they have a descent of fourteen feet. The stream below the cataract is con- fined between high rocky banks-above it glides swiftly over a limestone bottom.
Canady's cave is on the north side of the river, distant only a few rods.
The sixth are at Brownville, in the same county, near the mouth of the river-the descent is twenty-four feet, and abrupt.
All the foregoing falls are occasioned by reefs of limestone which cross the bed of the river.
In Denmark, Lewis county, there is a cascade on Deer creek, whose perpendicular descent is one hundred and seventy
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feet. It is a short distance above where the stream falls into Black river. The banks below the cascade, for four or five hundred yards, are mural, and tower to the height of two hun- dred feet. In floods the cascade has a romantic appearance.
There are several other cascades on this creek, with falls of from teu to fifty feet. The rock is limestone.
The falls of Theresa, on Indian river, are about fifteen miles from the head of Black lake-the perpendicular descent is sixty feet. The rapids above have an extent of two miles.
The falls at Rossie, near where Indian river spreads into Black lake, have less descent. The river is boatable between these falls.
There are six cataracts on Oswegatchie river-the lowermost is in the town of De Kalb, in St. Lawrence county, between the matural canal and the Oxbow. It is twenty miles from these falls to the mouth of the river.
The next is at the Oxhow, in the town of Antwerp.
Grass river has its falls-in the town of Canton, are the High falls, four miles above the natural canal.
The second are eight miles higher.
The rest are above the latter.
The falls on Racket river, at Lewisville, twenty-four miles above its mouth, have a descent of fifteen feet. Small boats ascend the stream to these falls-above these there are several other falls.
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