Chapter 11- The River
Lock 10 to Lock 9 - Cranesville to Rotterdam Junction
Discovery: Legends, Monuments
and Monsters
August 20, 2002, 70 degrees, Cloudy
This was a first. When we drove into the Canal Park
at Lock 9 to leave our takeout vehicle, Chief Lock Operator, Doug Bianchi
greeted us. When I told him we would be landing at the upper end of the
lock later in the day, he told us he would unlock the gate so we could
drive up to get the canoe. Although most of the lock operators we encountered
were nice people, none of them had been this helpful. I thanked Doug profusely.
We crossed over the river and drove west on Route 5S to Lock 10.
It was starting to sprinkle when Bridget
and I carried the canoe to the launch site below Lock 10. It was one of
the best hand launches on the river. Despite the grey sky, this 6-mile
discovery trip was off to a good start.
We launched the canoe at 9:15, paddled up to the
bottom of the lock dam and drifted back downstream. Just below the cove
where we launched the canoe, we saw a red stripe along the riverbank just
above the waterline. Closer examination revealed thousands of tiny, red
willow roots. I had seen red willow roots along streams before, but never
so well "organized."
At 9:45 a cruiser, with a pair of bicycles
strapped to the deck, slowed to a snail's pace when they saw the canoe.
Good sailors.
This stretch of the Mohawk River runs between
hills: steep-sided ridges to the north, moderate slopes to the south. Eons
ago a couple of the south-side tributaries had exposed rock faces that
are now major stone quarries. A couple of the north-side tributaries run
through ravines called "hollows." The Evas Kill runs through Cranes Hollow
and downriver Chaughtanoonda Creek runs through the legendary Wolf Hollow.
The drizzle had stopped by 10 o'clock, but there
was a mist on the river. Trees, brush, vines and grasses lined the riverbank,
so with the exception of segments of the railroad and highway that run
along the north shore, almost everything was hazy green under grey sky.
Much like a jungle river during the rainy season.
Most
of the bottomland in this area is on the south side of the river. That's
where we discovered large patches of common reed and purple loosestrife.
At the mouth of one tributary loosestrife grew on one side, the tasseled
reed on the other. Mystery?
At 10:30 two yachts passed us. We turned into the
waves and crossed to the north side of the river. Patches of blue sky poked
through the clouds.
the Sandsea Kill at Pattersonville.
Bridget wasn't fishing, but she positioned the canoe
so I could cast a crankbait to stream outlets, coves, logs and rocks. Except
for a dead walleye floating on the river and a small chub that swam too
close to sharp hooks, I didn't see a fish until an 11-inch smallmouth took
pity on me on the north side of Swart Island. I thanked the scrappy little
bass and returned it to its submerged log. 
At 11 o'clock we beached the canoe under giant cottonwoods
on the south side of the river so we could stretch our legs and photograph
the white cross on the rock ledge above Route 5, a half-mile west of Hoffman.
Like the cross on Little Nose, I don't know what it signifies, although
I can guess it marks the location of a fatal accident.
Just west of Hoffman, Chaughtanoonda Creek
enters the river. It was up this creek at the upper end of Wolf Hollow
where, in August 1669, the Mohawks ambushed an Algonquain war party that
had attacked one of their villages and made off with prisoners. (See
Battle of Wolf Hollow)
Across from Hoffman is the
community of Pattersonville. A ferry was established
here
in 1790 by Harmanus Vedder, and was called Vedder's Ferry until John Hoffman
bought it in 1835. An 1866 map does not name the village on the
south side of the river, but shows the Erie Canal and a number of roads
leading to this location, plus several buildings, including the Bradshaw
Hotel . . . and property owned by a Patterson. No doubt the village
was later named after this individual.
We paddled across the river, into the mouth of the
Sandsea Kill at Pattersonville, and then walked upstream to the remnants
of an Old Erie Canal aqueduct and a railroad bridge. Both of these relics---monuments
to the past---are on private property, and there is a house nearby. We
explored the area from the creekbed, noting the differences in stone structures
built so many years ago. .
We returned to the river at noon. Rounding a slight
bend, we startled---and were startled by---a merganser and three ducklings.
They ran and flapped across the water to safety; we continued downriver,
hearts beating a little faster.
At 12:25 a railroad bridge spanning the river came
into view. As luck would have it, we heard a train coming and had enough
time to get cameras out of our packs and photograph the crossing.
to drive to the upper end of Lock 9 to pick up the canoe.
Downstream from the bridge on the south
side of the river are some impressive homes near the water. Around the
next bend, opposite the mouth of the Verf Kill. we saw the highway bridge
that crosses the river at Lock 9. As we approached the lock, a string of
bubbles rose to the surface of the river. When I questioned their source.
Bridget responded, "Probably the Lock Nine Monster."
We beached the canoe at the upper end of the
lock at 1 o'clock. True to his word, Doug Bianchi, opened the gate so we
could drive in to load the canoe on the Jeep.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Cranesville, select New York, press GO!
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