Wyoming County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York, located in the state’s western area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 42,155. The county seat is Warsaw. The name is from a modified Delaware Indian word meaning “broad bottom lands”. Wyoming County was formed from Genesee County in 1841.
Wyoming County is in the western part of New York State, east of Buffalo and slightly west of due south of Rochester. The county is in the Holland Purchase Region.
The county is largely rural, dotted with small towns. Even the county seat, Warsaw is quite small. The land surface is generally broken and hilly, and the soil fertile. Much of the area is wooded, used for timber. Some that are predominantly maple are tapped each spring for the production of maple syrup. Agriculture is mostly small family dairy farms, or hobby farms for people who work in Buffalo or Batavia. Apple orchards were once a major agricultural endeavor, but only a few are left. The area is well known for outdoor sports, being an excellent area for fishing, hunting, and snowmobiling.
An active geologic fault runs down the Dale valley through Linden, to the east of Batavia and out into Lake Ontario. Movement of the fault is an occasional source of minor earthquakes, which, at most, have toppled a couple chimneys. The Dale Valley has been developed as a source of salt by way of brine wells, for the chemical industry. A pipeline moves the brine to Niagara Falls.
Letchworth State Park, on the Genesee River forms part of the southeastern boundary of the county. A deep gorge with three major waterfalls characterize this scenic and historic area, created when the last Ice age glacier diverted the river and forced it to cut a new valley. It is the home area of Mary Jemison, the White Woman of the Genesee, who was captured as a young person by the Seneca tribe and became an important figure in negotiations between the tribe and the land companies.
Good afternoon! Sunny and 57 degrees at Letchworth State Park in Castile. There is a southwest breeze at 7 mph. Very pleasant weather for mid November.
Driving to Letchworth this morning I was reminded how vast Western NY really is. Some pretty big hills too and a lot of farms too. Lots of big alluvial valleys for growing corn and feeding cows. Livingston and Wyoming Counties smell like you would expect them to in mid November. Fermented silage and cow shit. I probably should have spent more time at Rattlesnake WMA but I didn’t want to back track to Ossian State Forest or camp at such a blustery high elevation.
Every time I drive through a small town and open countryside, I have to think those people are so blessed. Somehow they have the skills and connections to make life work in the hard, difficult country of Rural America. So much beauty and open country. I hope I captured some of it on the dash cam and can upload it later, if only for the sake of my memories.
Albany sucks but it’s what I do to pay the bills so I can travel and explore. Sometime I want to get out of the big city, but for now that’s reserved for the road trip.
I saw the sign coming into Letchworth for camping open, but it ain’t open this time of year. Unfortunately there aren’t a lot of nearby state forests for camping, so I need to leave by 2 pm so I have an hour to head southwest to my next camping location. That’s fine, I think I want to spend tomorrow at Zoar Valley and on Wednesday head to Chautauqua County. Campground camping with a hot shower and electric wouldn’t be a bad thing though mid week.
I had to visit the Upper Falls so I could see the Portageville bridge one last time before it’s demolished. A modern arch bridge will replace it. The models of the new bridge suggest it will be much more scenic then the existing bridge. I also visited the other falls and some of the other vistas.
