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IMAGES From Nostalgiaville
NEW YORK- MASSENA, NEW YORK- 8/17/05

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

MASSENA, NEW YORK

 

THE ST LAWRENCE SEAWAY

 

GLACIAL REMNANTS
This is a great spot to look for glacial remnants.  The large rock below is made of granite.  It was carried here thousands of years ago by the last glacier that once covered Canada and a large part of the United States.

The St Lawrence River is a product of the Wisconsin glaciation.  About 10,000 years ago, the land lifted as the ice melted, making it appear as it did, before the Seaway construction.  This also established the drainage to the northeast by way of the St Lawrence river.

As the ice sheet was pushed to the south, it collected rocks, logs, sand, gravel, and other materials.  When the ice stopped moving and the glacier melted, all of these materials remained.

ST LAWRENCE'S INTERNATIONAL RAPIDS
The water that fuels the St Lawrence-FDR project begins as rain falling on a 300,000-square-mile swath of the United States and Canada.  The runoff forms hundreds of rivers and streams that merge in the Great Lakes - the world's largest source of fresh water - to follow a common path eastward to the sea. 

On the last leg of the journey, the water drains into the St Lawrence River, stretching 615 miles from the outlet of Lake Ontario to the Gulf of St Lawrence.  The St Lawrence is North America's longest west-to-east river.

THE TREATY OF GHENT
December 24, 1814.  Negotiations sent to neutral Ghent, Belgium, restored territory to either side and a treaty was unanimously approved by the U S Senate on February 16, 1815 to end the War of 1812.

A new era arrived with the digging of the Massena, or Alcoa, power canal between the St Lawrence and Grasse Rivers.  The work was started in 1898 and finished in 1903.  The Pittsburgh Reduction Company, forerunner of the Aluminum Company of America, arrived in 1902 and became a major factor in the area's steady growth.  In the 1950's, the Power Authority came to Massena.  Its low-cost electricity soon brought the Reynolds Metals Company and General Motors to the area and fueled an expansion by Alcoa.

40th ANNIVERSARY
In honor of those whose labor built the St Lawrence Seaway System and Power Projects.  Through their efforts an engineering marvel was created that opened the American and Canadian heartland's to the world and welcomed deep draft commercial shipping to the St Lawrence River and Great Lakes.  Dedicated June 27, 1999.  40th Anniversary of the St Lawrence Seaway System.

 

The Robert Moses State Park Nature Center

 

A walk along the Lower Loop Trail reveals many tidbits of information you have always craved... and some you haven't.

LOWER LOOP
The Lower Loop is 1.6 miles long.  Many cross-country ski trails weave through this main trail system.  It is also crossed by a route that continues down to Hawkin's Point Overlook, which is 2.75 miles away.  Small rolling hills and flat terrain lead you through a variety of habitats and along the St Lawrence River.  Enjoy your walk and remember.

DO YOU SEE A STAG?
The small trees around you are called staghorn sumac.  Their name comes from the way the top branches look in the winter when they have no leaves; they look like a stag's antlers.  Young branches in the spring feel soft and furry, like the velvet on a stag's new antlers.

WHITETAIL DEER
A male deer is called a stag or a buck and has antlers.  a female is called a doe, and a baby is called a fawn.  If you ever see a fawn curled up in the grass, leave it there and walk on.  Its mother has hidden it until she can return to feed it.

STAGHORN SUMAC WITH FRUIT
The fruit of staghorn sumac provides food for many wild animals.  Its ripe berries can be made into a cold tea, which some call "pink lemonade."  Poison sumac looks quite different, with small white berries and smooth bark.

LOOK AT THOSE MUSCLES!
Look at the small tree.  Feel its bark.  Its common name is musclewood because the trunk feels and looks deeply rippled and sinewy.  Imagine a body builder's strong legs, with bulging muscles.  Do you see a resemblance?

Another name for the musclewood tree is blue beech.  It produces a very hard, slow-burning wood.  Its seeds are also eaten by many kinds of wildlife

RUFFED GROUSE
The ruffed grouse is a ground-dwelling bird that prefers young forests.  In the spring you can often hear male ruffed grouse beating their wings in the air, creating a drumming sound to attract females.  The female makes soft, henlike clucks.  In the winter grouse grow bristles on their toes which act like snowshoes.

WOODPECKERS AT WORK
The holes in the tree in front of you were made by a pileated woodpecker, North America's largest woodpecker.  This bird was looking for carpenter ants, its favorite snack, and other insects under the bark of the tree.  Watch for evidence of other animal "work" as you walk this trail.

PILEATED WOODPECKER
The pileated woodpecker, a crow-sized bird, is about 28 inches long.  This bird has white neck stripes and a prominent red crest.

DOWNY WOODPECKER
This black, white, and red bird enjoys the company of other species, including chickadees, nuthatches, titmice, and wrens.

YELLOW-BELLIED SAPSUCKER
The yellowish, black, and red-crowned bird is a yellow-bellied sapsucker.  The quietest of the woodpeckers, it makes numerous small holes in a tree instead of just one or two large holes, when searching for insects.

Look for large oval or rectangular holes in the trees around you.  Fresh shavings at the base of trees are a clue that these birds have been searching for their meals here.  Listen for pileated woodpeckers.  They have loud, deep calls, which sound like cuk-cuk-cuk.

A few large mammals (especially cattle) browse on the growth of the hawthorn, and various birds feed on its fruit.  The small, applelike fruit of the hawthorn tree is usually red or orange in color.  Hawthorn wood is very hard and used to make tool handles, canes, and rulers.

BE CAREFUL AROUND THIS TREE
You can see how the forest is changing around you Hawthorn trees, or thornapples, line the trail along with black raspberries.  The little spines on the hawthorn tree are very sharp, so proceed with caution.  As you walk along this trail, watch as both the ground below and the view above change.  There will be less open sky over your head and less grass below your feet.

As you walk along this trail, look at all the layers of plants and trees that make up the forest, from the small plants near the ground, to the tallest trees.  Imagine all of the animals that make the canopy of this forest their home.

A "BED & BREAKFAST" FOR WILDLIFE
This area is like a resort for wild animals.  Here, wildlife can find fresh water to drink, fruits and other plants to eat, as well as a safe place in which to raise their young.  On the edges of the trail, you can sometimes see where deer have made beds for the night.  Look for rounded, flattened areas in the tall grass.

The inventor of velcro may have had this plant in mind.  Common burdock is a bushy plant with thistlelike burrs or flower heads that attach to animals and people passing by.  This is the plant's way of spreading its seeds.  Burdock flowers, roots and leaves are all edible. WILD GRAPES
Wild grapes can be seen growing on trees and bushes here.  The plant has tendrils that attach to other plants.  Its young leaves and fruits are edible by wildlife and by humans.  Turkeys especially love gapes.  They will also feed on tree seeds, acorns, nuts, and insects.

AMERICAN BASSWOOD
The basswood tree has heart-shaped, fine-toothed leaves.  When flowering, the basswood is full of bees, which is why it's also called the "Bee-tree."  It produces a strongly flavored honey.  Native Americans used its tough, fibrous inner bark to make ropes.

Woodchucks, or groundhogs, are large, common rodents.  Look for openings to their dens along the tree lines.  Woodchucks dig tunnels in the ground and hibernate there in the winter.  Woodchucks enjoy sunning and eating grasses.

The pin cherry trees across the trail are also called fire cherry trees because their seedlings are often the first to sprout up after a forest fire.  These trees produce a tiny, sour cherry, which birds love.  The fruit is also used in jellies and cough mixtures.

NATURE AND COMMERCE CROSSING PATHS
Robinson Creek once flowed to the river behind you.  It was diverted to build the shipping canal across the road.  The drainage from the creek on the other side of the road has created the wetland area behind you.

The shipping canal across the road is a major pathway for large tanker and container ships.  The Eisenhower Lock is upstream to your right.
This area is also a busy pathway for animals.  When animals walk through the wet ground here, they leave behind near-perfect tracks.  Can you find any of these animal tracks?

THE TIMES, THEY KEEP A CHANGIN'!
This field is full of history, from the Native Americans who first resided here, to the farmers who once plowed the land to plant crops, to visitors like yourselves who have come to enjoy the state park today.  As the times have changed, so has the landscape.

In the early 1968's, this field was a popular spot for downhill skiing.  If you look closely, you will see evidence of old metal wheels on wooden poles.  These were used to run a "Rope Tow," that gave skiers a ride back up the hill.

Once the old ski tow building was closed, little brown bats adopted it as their home.  They now live in the spaces between the old windows and the plywood during spring, summer, and fall.  If you look along the base of the building, you may find guanno (bat droppings.)  Please do not disturb these bats.  Bats are our friends; a single bat can eat 2,000 insects in one hour!

THE HUNTER AND THE PREY
This location is always full of animal activity.  Many mammals, birds, and insects leave their marks here while looking for food or shelter.  This fallen tree has made a great protective home for honey bees, which in turn have attracted insect-eating creatures.  The large oak tree up ahead attracts squirrels, which attract predators.  What signs of life can you find?

Large weasels named fishers can be seen in this area.  They average 35 inches long, and have coats of dark brown fur, frosted with white tips on their heads and shoulders.  These solitary carnivores do not eat fish, as their name might lead you to believe.  They feed on small mammals, birds, and fruit.  Fishers are one of the few animals that will climb trees to prey on common porcupines!  The Fisher can scale down a tree head-first.
When fishers eat a porcupine, they flip the porcupine over to get at its soft underside, which lacks quills.  The North American porcupine has a small head, large chunky body with a high, arching back, and short legs.  Up to 30,000 quills are interspersed among the dark, course guard hairs of the back and tail.  The quills are actually modified hairs about 3 inches long that have stiff, barbed spines.

TRUE OR FALSE?
Sometimes things are not what they seem.  This is especially true when it comes to nature and our environment.  We must look closely at plants and animals to be sure that they are what we think they are!

When not in bloom or showing fruits, false Solomon's seal is hard to distinguish from Solomon's seal.  False Solomon's seal has its flowers and berries clustered near the top of its stem rather than along its length as is the case with Solomon's seal, which resembles lily of the valley.  Both Solomon's seal are members of the lily family.
Bush-type honeysuckle is a native wildflower that many people do not recognize.  Most people think of the climbing, sweet-smelling trumpet honeysuckle.  The bush-type has pointed, toothed leaves.  The yellow flowers are funnel-formed and sometimes have red tinges.  The plant grows one to four feet tall and flowers from May through August.  As you continue along the trail, look for this plant off to the side.

People often confuse rabbits and hares.  Hares are larger than rabbits and have longer ears and longer hind legs.  Hares do not make nests.  They are born fully furred with eyes opened and well-developed.  Cottontail rabbits do make nests because their young are born without fur and with their eyes closed.  Rabbit tracks are generally smaller than those of hares.  Look at these photographs and see if you can identify some of their distinguishing trails.

 

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