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IMAGES From Nostalgiaville
NEW YORK- LITTLE FALLS, NY- 8/19/04

NOTE: A Click of your Mouse on most of the pictures will enlarge them for better viewing

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LITTLE FALLS, NEW YORK

 

"Falling" into step with a camera in the City of  LITTLE FALLS

HISTORY 101... OF LITTLE FALLS

NATURE CREATES A PATH
During the Ice Age a sheet of ice one mile thick covered New York State.  As the ice advanced to Long Island, it scraped a high path across the old divide.  When the glacial ice melted, water flooded Central New York to the west of this natural dam.  Eventually the lake rose high enough to tumble over the rock in a mighty waterfall that created the river valley we see today.  All of the waters of the Great Lakes coursed through this chasm on their way to the Atlantic Ocean, further carving out the Mohawk Valley.  The immense potholes on Moss island and the rock-filled rapids that remain are dramatic reminders of this powerful event.
BENTON'S LANDING
Nathaniel Benton (1792 - 1869) came to Little Falls as a War of 1812 veteran and opened a law office here in 1819.  His young, but flourishing practice enabled him to marry Sarah Briton and to build for her the fine Greek Revival home which now houses the W C A.  Mr. Benton was chosen to be the first Little Falls Village president in 1827, was appointed to a three year term as a Herkimer County judge, and was the second president of the newly incorporated Herkimer County Bank whose original building is now owned by the Little Falls Historical Society.
 

Between 1833 and 1868, Judge Benton's extensive career included public service as a New York State senator, a district attorney, a canal auditor, a twelve year term as New York State Secretary of State, and as an author who wrote a still respected history of Herkimer County.  Benton Hall Academy, erected in 1895 and named in his honor, stands as a memorial to this Little Falls native who consistently gave warm and vigorous support to public education.
MEN BUILD CANALS
Early river travelers had to walk around the "Little Falls" rapids, for the Mohawk River drops forty feet here in less than a mile.  In 1795 one of the first canals in North America was built to carry boats around this obstacle.  The Western Inland Lock Navigation Company canal was such an improvement that the village of Little Falls quickly developed along its route.

This early canal was replaced by the Erie Canal on the south side of the river, completed from Utica to Little Falls in 1821.  By 1825, canal boats carried people and freight all the way from Albany to Buffalo on "the eighth wonder of the world."  Part of the wall of Lock 38 of the original Erie Canal can still be seen about one foot below the surface of the water.

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THE LITTLE FALLS AQUEDUCT
The pile of rocks in front of you is all that is left of a massive 214 foot long aqueduct that once carried water and canal boats across the Mohawk River connecting the original Erie Canal to a boat basin on the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company canal (northeast of Canal Place today).  Little Falls had developed on the north side of the river along that earlier canal, and local merchants lobbied heavily for a water connection to their businesses.
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CANAL BUILDING
The rapids near the town of Little Falls impeded navigation to the interior of New York State and beyond.  In 1793, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company began construction of the Little Falls Canal.  Only a mile long, five locks compensated for a 40 foot change in elevation.  When Governor DeWitt Clinton visited the town on a fact-finding tour in 1810, the canal company was experiencing serous maintenance problems.  A few years later, most produce was being moved via the local roads.

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 The State bought the canal in 1821.  Part of it was filled in while the eastern half became a feeder for the new Erie Canal.  Most of the remains of the Little Falls Canal, as well as Clinton's Ditch and the 1840's enlargement, were obliterated by the building of the Barge Canal in 1918.  The waterway was reoriented and made straighter, wider and deeper to accommodate the much larger barges.
NEW YORK'S FIRST THRUWAY
Years before the Erie Canal, the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company built the first true canal for navigation in New York State.  Their 4,752 foot long canal left the Mohawk River just west of here.  This is the site of the Guard Lock that helped to control the amount of water that flowed from the river into the canal.  Originally built of wood, the guard lock was rebuilt in stone in 1803.

The Western Inland Lock Company Canal dropped over forty four feet in less than a mile though five locks measuring 74 by 12 feet.  The eastern end of the canal channel had to be blasted through more than 2,000 feet of solid bedrock before it rejoined the river.

When the Erie Canal was completed across the state in 1825, boat traffic shifted to the new waterway on the south side of the Mohawk River.  This canal was used to supply water to the Erie's lager locks.  It later became a mill race, powering machines in factories along the northern shore of the river.  In 1883 the last remains of the old canal were turned over to the city of Little Falls as a historic preserve.
WESTERN INLAND LOCK NAVIGATION COMPANY
The Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was incorporated in 1792 with Revolutionary War General Philip Schuyler named as its first president.  Under his leadership, work on a system of locks to bypass the perilous forty foot drop in the Mohawk River at Little Falls was begun the following year, using designs and principles previously suggested by engineer Elkarah Watson.  The first boats passed through the Little Falls segment of the canal on November 17, 1795.
This guard lock, as part of the original system controlled the volume of water entering the canal from the river and prevented flooding during high water.  The original timber construction was replaced with stones circa 1800.

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LITTLE FALLS... AN INDUSTRIAL CENTER
Over the centuries workers in Little Falls have created woolen and cotton knit sweaters, underwear, yarn, felt slippers, shoes, leather, ladies dresses, plows, axes, dairy machinery, milk trucks, oil burners, food processing equipment, incubators, barrels, bookcases, butter color, cheese, cornstarch, car interiors, newsprint, hamburger wrappers, paper boxes, parachutes, printed circuit boards, and much, much more.  Many of the early factories were located on the waterfront.

During the Civil War, workers at the Mohawk Mill worked around the clock to weave blue woolen cloth used for Union Army uniforms.  It is said that most of the children in town then wore similar blue suits, all made of fabric from this mill.  Mohawk Mill built 1836 is still standing in Canal Place.  The picture was taken in 1875.
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LITTLE FALLS DIAMONDS
Canal and railroad travelers passing through Little Falls in the 1850's were often met by local children selling "Little Falls diamonds".  These natural quartz crystals are silicon dioxide, similar to window glass but much harder.  They are found in small pockets of Little Falls dolomite, stone laid down as sediment almost 500 million years ago when this area was  under a vast inland sea.

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 The best crystals are clear with six sided prisms capped at each end by a six sided pyramid.  They also can be found in small clusters with additional crystal faces, and in a variety of shades.  You can dig for these "diamonds" at several public mines nearby.

 

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