Chapter 11- The River
Lock 18 to LittleFalls to Herkimer House
Discovery: The Longest Day
July 2, 2001, 45 degrees, Partly Sunny, Windy
We
had a plan. Launch at Lock 18, paddle and fish three miles to the upper
dam at Little Falls, carry and cart the canoes a half-mile to the Ann St.
Restaurant and talk to a reporter from the Evening Times. Then, carry and
cart the canoes another half-mile, launch from the rocks below the lower
dam, fish the falls, runs and power plant pool, and explore Moss Island.
From there paddle and fish three more miles to the landing at Herkimer
Home. It would be a very long day.
We were a sight to behold carrying and carting canoes through Little Falls.
A cold front had moved in the night before, dropping
temperatures from the 80s to the 50s; the river was muddy, and the wind
was just shy of making whitecaps; not conducive to good fishing. No matter,
even fishing fanatics would be impressed with a discovery trip through
one of the most fascinating areas of the Mohawk Valley.
As we had on the run from the Village of Herkimer
to Lock 18 the week before, Ron Gugnacki and John Pitarresi were in one
canoe, Bob McNitt and I the other. I've explored, fished and canoed with
each of them, so I know what interests them most on these discovery trips.
To Ron and John catching fish is primary; everything else is secondary.
Of course, they enjoy the wildlife, wildflowers, trees and even the history
of the area, but most of all they want to catch fish. To Bob fishing is
secondary and everything else is primary. He enjoys exploring, canoeing
and seeing what's around the next bend. I'm not sure that fishing is even
secondary with me. I get excited when a fish takes my lure, but not half
as much as when I discover a waterfall, pothole, old bridge abutment or
the site of an ancient village, or if I see a deer, great blue heron or
giant oak.
When we launched at 8:30 a.m. the wind pushed us
downstream so fast we had to backpaddle to fish the shoreline. We would
have no problem getting to Little Falls by 11 o'clock.
Cottonwoods, willow, silver maple and boxelder bracketed
the river/canal. Two turkey vultures crisscrossed high above the scene,
silhouetted against the partly-cloudy sky. A tranquil scene, until a caravan
of yachts came up the canal. When their crews saw us they slowed to a crawl,
waving and asking if we had caught any big fish. Nice folks.
Despite the cold front and muddy water we managed
to catch a few fish on spinners, plugs and jigs. Ron and John moved slowly
down the river, while Bob and I let the wind push us along, back paddling
occasionally to cast to stream outlets, fallen trees or rock piles. By
9:30 I had caught a smallmouth on a gold spinner and Bob had a couple of
hits on a black jig. Ron had taken four fish, the largest a 17-inch bass,
and John had caught two.
By 10 o'clock we were approaching the Little Falls
Boat Launch; less than a mile before our takeout. Way ahead of schedule,
we stopped to stretch our legs and look around. This public boat launch
at the west end of the village features a concrete launch, a couple of
docks, a pavilion, charcoal grills and some beautiful sycamores.
It was a good thing we stopped. Another caravan
of yachts, less than a mile out of Lock 17, were cruising way over the
speed limit, creating a series of wakes that pushed the canoes several
feet up the boat ramp and dumped a couple gallons of water over the gunnels.
Not nice folks.
Prior to the passing of the "speed" boats we had
credited the muddy water to the rainstorm two days before. Now we knew
the real cause: wakes smashing against the shoreline.
As Rollaway Ridge and Fall Hill came into view on
the right side of the river, Bob asked, "Can you imagine what it was like
when the falls was that high?" That was my cue to go on and on about Glacial
Lake Iroquois and the 400-foot waterfalls that was here 10,000 years ago.
(See What Created the Mohawk Valley)
The speed boat caravan had put us behind schedule
so we didn't reach the landing until 11:30, the time I told Grace Klutschkowski
at the Ann St. Restaurant we would be parking our canoes beside her screened-in
porch.
When I scouted this landing, the river bordered
dry land. When we arrived, dry land was several feet across a mud flat.
Bob's years of canoeing experience came to the rescue. He dropped a paddle
in the mud and walked briskly across it. Then he pulled the canoe across
the flat, so I could walk the length of the canoe and jump to dry land.
When Ron and John came to shore they were covered with mud half way to
their knees.
We were a sight to behold walking the half-mile
down Elizabeth and Mill Streets. While Ron carried one canoe on his shoulders,
Bob and John carted the other canoe and the gear from both canoes on a
canoe dolly. Long ago this was the only way to get boats and canoes around
the mile-long rapids and falls. As I ran ahead to take photos of these
canoe-carrying derelicts, two of them, with their feet and legs coated
with mud, I wondered how such a procession looked 300 years ago.
As we passed between the old buildings on Mill St,
a fellow loading a pickup stopped to stare.
John quipped, "We're itinerant canoe salesmen. What
do you think?"
Without hesitation the fellow answered, "I think
you're guys are whacky."
When we arrived at the Ann St. Restaurant at ten
minutes to twelve, I went inside to unlock the outside door to the porch
so we didn't track mud through the restaurant. When Grace saw me she said,
"Forget about breakfast." I don't argue with any woman who is over six
feet tall, so we ordered lunch. We enjoyed such sandwich fare as chicken
gyros, Mediterranean turkey (my favorite) and a BLT.
BLT? Some people have no imagination when it comes
to eating?
All dressed up and late for breakfast.
After lunch, Mat Rapacz from the Evening Times sat down to talk to us about our outing and the exploration of the Mohawk River. He walked with us down to the river and across the bridge to Benton Landing on the Barge Canal. Neither Bob, Ron nor John had ever been to this area of Little Falls. They were especially impressed with the stone buildings that dated back to the 1800s. Mat noted that the one nearest the bridge was a mill that produced wool uniforms during the Civil War.
We launched the canoes from the rocks below the lower dam and falls.
I asked everyone to look up at the ridges on each
side of the valley and imagine a natural dam and waterfalls that high.
I wanted to give them some idea of the torrent of water that created the
potholes on Moss Island.
We retrieved the canoes and continued our trek down
Mill Street. Mat came along to photograph our launch from the rocks below
the lower falls. This rock outcrop and the rocks in mid stream are remnants
of the granite-gneiss core of the ancient dam and falls. When someone noted
the potholes in this Adirondack rock, I said "You ain't seen nothing yet."
We fished the falls, river channel and along the
edge of the power dam pool for over an hour. The only fish caught was a
rockbass that took Bob's jig below the canal overflow dam.
Next stop Moss Island.
Downstream from the power plant is a section of
Moss Island where dozens of open-sided, 20-30 foot high potholes
face the river. This aptly named, Cathedral Point can be accessed from
trails that start at Lock 17 on the other side of the island, but it's
far more impressive when viewed from the river. We beached the canoes at
the bottom of one of these eroded potholes and climbed to the top of the
ridge, viewing potholes of every size and shape imaginable.
I asked, "Can you imagine the torrent that created
the whirlpools of rock and sand that cut holes this deep in solid rock."
As expected, even the most ardent fishermen were impressed. (For more information
see Little Falls.)
We pushed off from the beach at Cathedral Point
at around 3 o'clock and continued downriver. At the lower end of the island,
we paddled by the entrance to the highest lift lock of the Barge Canal
System. At one time Lock 17's single lift of 40.5 feet was the highest
in the world.
We beached the canoes at the bottom of the
eroded potholes on Moss Island and
climbed to the top of Cathederal Point.
At 3:30 Bob caught a smallmouth bass below the
stone slab wall of an old bridge abutment. A few minutes later as we approached
a culvert outlet, Bob mentioned that he always wanted to get into a school
of white bass. Seconds later a fish took his jig. Guess what? It was a
white bass. Unfortunately, it was all alone.
While
we were discussing similar incidents in the past, Bob said, "Look behind
you." Coming down the middle of the canal was a big barge being pushed
by a tug. The front of the barge looked like a wall of rusted steel and
it was coming right at us. We paddled toward shore and the barge slowed
and angled to the opposite side of the channel. Not even close. The crew
returned our wave as the barge and tug went by, hardly leaving a ripple
on the water.
Our takeout was the landing at the Herkimer Home
State Historical Site. Although it was closed on Monday, I got permission
to park our vehicles in the visitor parking lot early that morning and
drive them down to pick up the canoes at the landing later that afternoon.
We had permission to takeout at the Herkimer Home Landing.
It was 4:15 when Ron and I walked up the road to
the Herkimer Home. I noted that General Nicholas Herkimer built this home
in 1764 and died after being wounded in the Battle of Oriskany in 1777.
In addition to the stately brick home there is a monument, cemetery
and an interpretive center on the grounds.
We had everything loaded and were headed home by
5:30. This was without a doubt one of the longest discovery trips thus
far. Yet, it seemed like one of the shortest.
For more information at the Herkimer Home State Historical park see:
http://www.littlefallsny.com/HerkimerHome/Page1.htm
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk
Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Jacksonburg, select New York, press
GO!
Click on margin arrows to follow the path of
the Mohawk River from Lock 18 through Little Falls to Herkimer Home.
