Chapter 12 - Tributuaries
Oriskany Creek Part 3 - Clark Mills to Kirkland
Doesn't Get Any Better Than This
October 26, 2000, 60 degrees, 70 predicted, Sunny
Blue sky, bright sun, and nary a breeze rippling through the leaves still clinging to streamside trees. A beautiful Fall day, perhaps the last of the year. It would also be the best trout fishing of my life.
After leaving Denny's car near the bridge in Kirkland, we drove down to Clark Mills and parked near the old mill building. Years ago this multi-story brick structure was one of several buildings located beside the village bridge.
We waded into the runs above the bridge at exactly
10 a.m. and each caught a couple of small brown trout. Stockies. Further
upstream we discovered a number of deep pools. One of the best was created
by an old rock and log pool digger. Good-looking water but we didn't raise
a fish.
This section of Oriskany Creek was lined with maple,
boxelder, ash, and a few big willows. Grapevines draped from trees, a few
leaves and wild grapes still clinging tenaciously. A grey squirrel hurried
through the treetops. A woodpecker pounded a dead elm; sounded like Morse
code on a small drum.
The sun was shining directly down the creek, reflecting off the water,
making it impossible to locate pockets and eddies, until we passed them.
So, we looked for cutbanks, stickups, log piles and other easily identified
structure. At 11 o'clock I caught a small brown from a deep run next to
a cutbank.
At 11:25 I heard running water off to my left, and
discovered what I thought was a tributary. Closer examination revealed
a concrete spillway and a stone wall. Water poured through a gap in the
wall and cascaded over a small waterfall. I dropped a Phoebe into the pool
below the falls and caught an 11-inch brown trout.
This concrete dam once diverted Oriskany Creek through the canal (raceway) to the mills in the village. Today it collects logs and other debris, and causes flooding along the creek.
While
I was exploring and photographing these old structures, a tree branch grabbed
my cap and threw it into the canal. The mud was too deep for me to walk
in the canal, so I retrieved the cap by hooking it with a lure and reeling
it in. Nice catch.
Denny caught an 8-inch brown from the pool below
the dam. I've learned since that this dam collects logs and other debris
during the spring runoff, and contributes to flooding along Oriskany Creek.
Upstream from the dam there are more willows and
some big wild cherry trees. There are also more rocks and gravel along
the stream bank and more sand in the creek.
At noon I hooked a good brown that jumped high and
fought hard. It measured 15 inches. Fifteen minutes later I caught a 14-incher.
I followed that up with an 18 1/2-inch brown, the biggest trout I had ever
taken from Oriskany Creek.
At 1 o'clock Denny caught a 14-inch brown from a
run next to a cutbank. While releasing it, he told me he saw a bigger fish.
When I dropped a gold spoon next to the bank, a brown took it and raced
downstream. I followed, and after a brief battle, eased a 17-inch fish
to shore.
We climbed out of the creek in Kirkland at 1:30. I shook my head in disbelief. In just a couple of hours I had caught several trout ranging in size from 11 to 18 1/2 inches. It was without a doubt the best stream-trout fishing of my life.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Clark Mills , select New York, press GO!
Oriskany Creek Part 4 - Kirkland upstream to Norton Ave.
Classic But Not Easy
July 10, 2001, 60 degrees, Sunny, Clouds moving in
With convenient parking and easy access at both ends, and undeveloped
land between, this 1.5-mile section is very popular with fishermen. It
should also be very popular with hikers, birders and other lovers of wild
places.
After leaving Denny’s car in the “cottonwoods” parking
area near the Norton Ave Bridge, we returned to the DEC Fishermen’s Parking
Area on the south side of the Kirkland Bridge. What a difference a couple
of weeks can make, especially during the summer. We tried to explore this
section on June 29, but the creek was too high to wade or fish. Today it
was down and crystal clear.
It was 8:15 a.m. when we waded upstream between
wooded banks. The traffic noise from Route 5 soon faded to the sound of
running water and the chorus of robins, gold finch, blackbirds, woodpeckers,
and of course, the ever-present crows.
Classic tributary trout water: deep pools and runs
against eroded streambanks, roots and fallen trees. There were Public Fishing
signs on both sides of the creek, and man tracks in the mud and gravel.
This lower section had been “pounded” the day before. Nevertheless, Denny
took a small trout from a long deep run at the bottom of an eroded bank
of rich, deep soil.
Willows, sycamore and locust grew streamside. Deer
tracks in the mud. A bullfrog “kerchunked.”
I took two small browns from the same pool. Finally! All that
“excitement” tired me out, so at 9:30 I stopped at the lower end of a large
island to rest and munch on a sandwich. Couldn’t identify a tree that grew
near the water, so I stuffed a leaf in my shirt pocket.
Denny enticed a big trout from a pile of logs. Halfway
across the pool it turned tail. Just teasing. More follows, but no hits.
Educated fish.
We passed through a park-like section of large willows,
cottonwoods and sycamores. I caught a small brown from a run opposite a
cobblestone bar. Just upstream from a power line crossing, yellow flowers
decorated an open area on the right side of the creek. Further investigation
revealed a gravel road and piles of uprooted trees well back from the water.
Streamside, small trees had been cut off near the base. Apparently all
this work was designed to keep logs and other debris from piling up and
damning the creek during high water periods; a major cause of flooding
on Oriskany Creek. .
We played tag with a young bittern and caught a
few more small browns, two from a deep pool with logs on both sides. When
we passed a drainage outlet and a section of concrete riprap at 10:45,
road noises drifted down the creek.
Twenty minutes later a great blue heron lifted off
a shallow run and flew past a yellow house and manicured lawn. Soon after,
the Norton Ave Bridge popped into view. We wrapped up this discovery
trip at 11:15, exactly three hours from start to finish.
Incidentally, Denny returned to the lower section
recently, fished a couple hours and caught some foot-long trout. What a
difference a couple of years can make.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk
Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Kirkland , select New York, press GO!
Oriskany Creek Part 5 - Norton Ave upstream to Clinton Road
Lots of History Here
August 16, 2001, 70 degrees, Cloudy
It’s less than a mile between the Norton Ave and Clinton Road bridges,
but this may be the most historically significant stretch of water on Oriskany
Creek. It was at the upper end of this section that the first gristmill
was constructed in this area. But even more important, a dramatic
and lifesaving event took place here. In the spring of 1789 canoes loaded
with food were pulled and polled up the creek from the Mohawk River to
save the lives of starving settlers. (See Ties
That Bind.)
Denny and I waded into the creek at 8:10 a.m.
Of course this was summer water---too shallow for canoes full of food---but
just right for casting lures to pools and runs for trout. I took a small
brown from a run just above the bridge. A few minutes later Denny
hooked a 9-inch brown in the slick waters between a long run and a magnificent
pool. A kingfisher complained and yo-yoed upstream. It was his beat.
At 8:35 we discovered a new home and yard on our
left, opposite a huge pool at a bend in the creek. The water was too deep
to wade, so we walked along a giant cobblestone and gravel bar on the inside
of the bend.
Willow, maple, poplar, locust, sumac and cottonwood
grew streamside. Open areas featured wild sunflower, morning glory and
Joe Pye weed. A bright red cardinal flitted among the trees, adding to
the color.
For the next hour or so we caught several fish from the runs and pools
that bordered backyards in Clinton. One husky fish swam away with my gold
lure.
Around 10 o’clock we discovered a square concrete
“tub” in the middle of the creek. Just upstream a chunk of backyard had
recently fallen into the creek. A lady was hanging clothes behind the house.
Within sight of the Clinton Road Bridge we caught
a couple more fish from a “concrete slab” pool and run. When we passed
the bridge at 10:15, I noted the abundance of cut stone near the site of
the old gristmill. Was this where the food-laden canoes were unloaded?
Lots of history here.
We continued upstream, passing through a section
of creek bottom covered with red stone chips, and on to a logjam pool,
where we called it quits at 10:35.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk
Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Clinton , select New York, press GO!
.
Just a couple thousand feet east of the Clinton Road Bridge are doorways
to the history of New York State and America. Known locally as College
Hill, this is the location of a marker noting the 1768 Fort Stanwix Treaty
“Line of Property between the American Colonies and the Six Nations.” This,
Sir William Johnson negotiated line, is the basis for some “high stakes”
Indian land claims today.
Further up the Hill at Hamilton College is a cemetery
where Reverend Samuel Kirkland and his good friend Oneida Chief Schenando
(also spelled Skenandoah and Shenandoah) are buried side by side. Kirkland
came to live and minister among the Oneidas several years before the Revolutionary
War. He encouraged Schenando, his Oneidas and the Tuscaroras to support
the Continentals during the war. This was a major and historic break with
the Iroquois Federation and the British, and influenced the outcome of
the war.
Kirkland founded the Hamilton-Oneida Academy for
“Indian and white boys” in 1793. He donated the land on College Hill for
that purpose. Soon after his death in 1808, the Academy became Hamilton
College.
Hamilton College is a giant door to history. Local,
state, national and world leaders were among its residents and alumni.
Elihu Root was a Secretary of War, Secretary of State, United States Senator
and Nobel Prize winner. His family created and cared for a wooded garden
and nature trails between the north and south campuses. Today Root Glen
features a ravine that contains 65 species of trees.
Reverend Samuel Kirkland and Oneida Chief Schenando are buried side
by side.
I wonder if Kirkland, Shenenado or Root ever fished Oriskany Creek.
Oriskany Creek Part 6 - Clinton Rd upstream to
Rte 12B Bridge
Classic and Riprap Water.
August 21, 2001, 70 degrees, Sunny
With Denny’s car parked at the Fishermen’s Parking Area near the Route
12B Bridge, we returned to the village and parked near the Clinton Road
Bridge. From there we walked an overgrown trail on the left side
of the creek up to the logjam where we had wrapped up our previous trip.
It was 9 a.m. when we waded into the creek. This
was another section of classic pools and runs along cut gravel banks, over
rocks and downed trees, and around riprapped bends. Great blue heron tracks
and a vocal kingfisher said it loud and clear, “there are fish in them
thar waters.”
Upstream from a bend that was heavily riprapped
with chunks of quarry stone, we met a young lady exercising a golden and
a black lab. The dogs were having a grand time running in the creek.
Oriskany Creek between the Clinton Road Bridge and Route 12 B is classic and riprap trout water.
We waded through a section of clay creek
bottom, high cutbank on the left, trees, grapevine and grass on the right.
The creek was too deep to wade, so we walked the bank, discovering an apartment
complex near the mouth of White Creek. (White Creek flows through Franklin
Springs.) Across from these relatively new buildings, a sand and gravel
bar was covered with deer tracks.
We got the picture about 10 a.m. The trout were
playing a game with us. No matter what we cast to them---gold spoons and
spinners or plugs---no hits, no misses, just follows.
At 10:30 I stood on a huge
gravel bar at a bend in the creek and cast a Phoebe into the upper end
of a big pool. As soon as the lure hit the water, a trout ate it.
I brought the 10-inch brown into shallow water and set my rod down to get
a camera. The line broke and the fish swam away with the lure.
Upstream was a long stretch of shallow water, then
a heavily riprapped bend on the right. Above that on the same side of the
creek was a high cutbank that exposed 15 feet of topsoil atop three feet
of gravel. A gravel bar was covered with red stone chips. This entire
stretch featured some beautiful rocky runs, but all we got were follows.
At 11:10 we discovered a stone wall on the left
that crowded into the stream. Further upstream were wooden pilings and
another stone wall that had created a giant pool, and looked like it had
once crossed the creek. Railroad Bridge abutment, Chenango Canal aqueduct,
or dam? Denny hooked and lost a trout in that pool.
Fifteen minutes later we passed a tributary on the
right; trees opened into fields on the left. We climbed out of the creek
at 11:30, having seen dozens of trout trout, hooking only two, and losing
both of them. Game over.
Denny hooked a trout in the big pool near these stone walls.
Was this the crossing for a railroad bridge, the Chenango Canal
or was it a mill dam?
Clinton Was a Mining Town
Hard to believe Clinton was once a mining town. With its mansions, manicured lawns, fine restaurants, quaint shops, village green and close ties to Hamilton College, it’s difficult to imagine “red-clad” miners walking village streets.
Mining iron rich hematite---Greek word for blood---
started in the Clinton area back in the 1790s and continued into the 1960s.
Clinton iron ore was used to make cannonballs for the war of 1812, and
over the years fed iron furnaces near such Oriskany Creek communities as
Clinton, Manchester (now Kirkland) and Franklin Iron Works (now Franklin
Springs).
Long before early settlers turned Clinton hematite
to iron, it was used by local Indians to make paint. Over the years this
same pigment was used to color bricks, mortar and barns. Long after the
massive hematite deposits around the upper Great Lakes made Clinton Iron
too expensive to mine, "Clinton Hematite Red" became the pigment in a variety
of paints made by the Clinton Metallic Paint Company, including automobile
primer.
Mining ended in 1963. Today slag heaps are hidden
by vegetation, but the “color” is still evident in streams deposits and
rock outcrops.
Oriskany Creek Part 7 - Rte 12 B upstream to Farmers Mills 2nd Bridge
Enough Already!
October 2, 2001, 60 degrees, Cloudy
I had a kidney removed a few days after our last discovery trip, so this one-mile “romp” was a test to see how much punishment the “adjustment” could take.
We parked Denny’s car near the second (looking upstream)
Farmers Mills Bridge, drove north on Dugway Road and east to the Route
12B Bridge. It was 9:45 a.m. when Denny disappeared around a bend and I
eased into the creek.
What a difference a few weeks made. Leaves were
just starting to change. Willows, poplar, boxelder and grapevines were
pale yellow, sumac bright red. Individual leaf color varied from green
to yellow to rust to brown. Clumps of purple aster accentuated the scene.
Songbirds were scarce, but there were plenty of
crows and an occasional kingfisher to keep us company and announce our
progress.
The sun burned slowly through the clouds as we waded
over moss-covered rocks and cobble, and cast to the waters below log dams.
Even pools created by concrete slabs and log piles didn’t give up fish.
Same scenario at a deep run and pool between riprap and an overhanging
willow.
I felt the first twinge at 10:30, but continued
upstream between cottonwoods, maple, small beech and hemlock, plus patches
of Joe Pye weed and white aster. By 11 o’clock my side was starting to
hurt, so I stopped to rest, moving on when the pain subsided. A gold spoon
run through the deep pool below a log dam that cut diagonally across the
stream produced a hit but the trout shook loose.
By 11:15 we saw homes on the left and could hear
cars crossing the bridge. A few minutes after we passed through a section
of log riprap on the right, the first bridge came into view.
In this area Oriskany Creek and Dugway Road cut
through deep deposits of shale, both black and red. It’s less than a half-mile
between bridges, but we discovered more signs of wildlife, interesting
rock formations . . . and fish . . . than on the first part of the
trip.
We both caught fish from the pools and runs in this
area. Most of them were small, but Denny landed a beautiful 10-inch brown.
More like it!
By 11:30 my side was “really starting to hurt”,
so I found a chunk of shale outcrop, sat down and enjoyed the scenery.
A variety of colorful trees grew on the flats near the creek, and cedars
clung to shale cliffs. Deer tracks in mud and gravel were fresh that morning.
Around noon we walked around a low stone falls that
appeared to be made of round, molded rocks. Never saw anything like it
before. On the left was a wall of red shale. Could this be the source of
those red stone chips that collected on the creek bottom and gravel bars
further downstream?
It was 12:15 when we climbed the short trail to
Denny’s car. My notes summed it up in one word, “Enough.”
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Clinton , select New York, press GO!
