Monday, January 8, 1973 after a snow storm that most impacted the higher elevation areas south of Adirondacks. LANDSTAT 1. And yes, as you can see, the old LANDSTAT imagetry is geoReferenced. Neat!
I was curious what this area looked like, especially what is now the closed MOSA Landfill back in 1956 before the dump was constructed in the old gravel pit along the Lasher Creek. Also check out Spraker's Hill Road before the NY 162 Bypass and bridge over Flat Creek was constructed.
Fly ash from burning coal is almost everywhere in the Mohawk River and a hotspot between Amsterdam and Schenectady may indicate that the river is cutting into spoils dumped long ago. I recently wrote about microplastics in the River, and that work resulted in a parallel study on the discovery of fly ash in the same samples caught in a manta trawl pulled through the water. This recent finding is concerning because fly ash contains a number of heavy metals and toxins. When we started this investigation, we weren’t looking for fly ash; we were looking for microplastics but stumbled upon this interesting issue related to burning coal from long ago.
Coal fly ash is produced from the combustion of coal in power plants. Fly ash and coal ash are the less dense waste byproducts of coal-burning furnaces, but together they make up the bulk of the Coal Combustion Residuals (CCR). Both have a basic chemistry dominated by (Si Al O?Fe) with or without additional elements (e.g., Zn, Ti) - and also a number of heavy metals, especially arsenic.
The Mohawk Valley is an interesting mixture of urban development, old mill towns and farming. Starting at Albany, you are looking west past the Pine Bush and Schenectady to the farm lands that line the valley, trimmed with the hills of Central Leatherstocking region to the south and Adirondacks to the north.
One of the things that always fascinates me is the hydrology of the Erie Canal — the dozens of reservoirs that keep the Erie Canal flowing regardless of weather condition all summer long.
The hydrology of the entire Western Adirondacks and much of Central NY has over time been redirected in part to flow into the Erie Canal to ensure adequate water supply even in the driest weather.
The Black River is dammed up, almost at it’s start, with the North and Middle Branches being dumped into the the 3-mile long North Lake, and it’s South Branch being dammed up in the 2-mile South Lake. Water is slowly drained out during dry times to keep the Black River flowing. Kayuta Lake Reservoir provides additional storage. Additionally, Wolf Lake and Woodhull Lake were dammed up and raised several feet to add supply to Little Woodhull Creek which also flows into the Black River at Forestport Reservoir.
At Forestport Reservoir, the Black River Canal Feeder brings water from the Black River to the former Black River Canal via Boonville. From there, the former Black River Canal brings water to the Lansing Kill. The Lansing Kill brings the water to the Mohawk River and Delta Reservoir and ultimately the Erie Canal in Rome (the highest portion of the entire canal).
The canal system also taps other rivers, including the West Branch of the Canada Creek via the Hinckley Reservoir which is fed by other reservoirs including Honnedaga Lake which feeds the Honnedaga Brook to the West Branch. This is less interesting then the other system, as Honnedaga Lake is in the Mohawk Valley Watershed (versus the Black River which is in the Black River Watershed). West Canada Creek feeds into the Mohawk River at Herkimer.
To the south in Madison County is Lake Moraine, which feeds the old Chenango Canal and ultimately the Oriskany Creek and the Erie Canal via Oriskany. This is a much smaller reservoir then ones in the Adirondacks, but is unique in being one of the few ones south of the Mohawk River.
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