Chapter 11- The River
Ridge Mills to Pinti Field
Discovery: A Race To Revere
June 19, 2001 79 degrees, Sunny
We took awhile to finish our morning coffee at Black River Bagels. Although this coffee-and shop is right next to the main intersection in Ridge Mills, by the time we left Denny's car at Pinti Field and drove back to launch the canoe, it was 9:30.
That's Olney's Greenhouse on the riverbank above the stonework.
This area of the Mohawk Valley was opened for settlement
soon after the Revolutionary War. To fulfill the needs of these early farmers,
the waters of the Mohawk, three miles north of Fort Stanwix, were harnessed
to run a grist mill and saw mill, and later a fulling and woolen mill.
All that remains of these Ridge Mills is some stonework at the water's
edge.
After launching the canoe under the east side of
Ridge Mills Bridge, we made a few casts to the old stonework on the other
side of the river. Downstream a great blue heron stood in the water under
a big willow. When the heron flew away, Denny cast to that spot . . . and
caught a 14-inch brown trout. It was a real fighter. We had to beach the
canoe to land the fish, and Denny had to "work" it for 5 minutes before
it could swim away. Lucky fish. Saved from a great blue heron, and caught
by a catch, revive and release fisherman.
Although the section of the river between Ridge
Mills and the Chestnut Street Bridge runs behind a shopping center and
features some exceptional holes and runs, not many people fish it, except
of course, near the bridges. A fishing buddy took a 3-pound brown from
this stretch.
At 10:15 we stopped within sight of the Chestnut
Street Bridge to stretch our legs and fish a pool next to a big sycamore.
When the pool failed to produce, we sat in the shade sipping cold drinks,
watching minnows and crayfish in shallow water. Trout food.
We
passed under the Chestnut Street Bridge at 10:50. Last time I canoed here
there was almost always a steady stream of traffic across this bridge.
But, since Griffiss Air Force Base was de-activated and converted to Technology
and Business Park, traffic has declined considerably.
I wasn't looking forward to exploring the river
below this bridge. It runs through a populated area and is usually littered
with trash. This time we discovered a mixed bag: shopping cart, stroller,
barrel and trash can cover . . . AND . . . a hen, six ducklings and a great
blue heron. We saw that heron a number of times, so apparently the fish
didn't mind the trash.
A male merganser was waiting for us at the Floyd Avenue Bridge. His white body and green head bobbed along ahead of us and then dove out of sight, coming up further downstream. Five minutes later we passed under power lines and entered a "mini wilderness." The riverbanks were lined with sumac, willow, maple . . . and wildflowers. The left bank was high, the right low; the river wide, deep and slow. Despite the proximity of city streets, the only sounds were rushing water, songbirds and crows,
At 11:15 we passed through a rapids, rounded a bend and approached the upper end of Belle Island. This island was created when a channel or millrace was cut to provide water for Revere Copper and Brass. Revere was once the largest manufacturing facility of its kind in the world. Today only a portion of the plant is in operation.
Several ducklings swam ahead of the canoe and headed into the race. We followed. The channel passed through a steel culvert. There was plenty of room to paddle the canoe through the culvert, but it was crisscrossed with spider webs, so we took it slow and easy, using paddles to clear the way.
The channel was a duck nursery. We saw several families of mallards and wood ducks. As we approached a concrete bridge, Denny pointed out the plant building where he worked many years ago. It was vacant. A man came out of the other building. With a rather incredulous look on his face, he yelled for us to get out of there. When Denny told him he had worked for Revere, he was more amicable. He told us the river water was still used for cooling in the main plant.
Although the race returned to the river, there was a dam at the lower end, so we reversed direction. With one last look at the once world-renown factory---that was so instrumental in dubbing Rome the "Copper City"---we paddled back through the culvert to the river. The ducklings stayed behind. We were back on the river at 11:35 and beaching the canoe at Pinti Field five minutes later.
A man was fishing from the rocks near where we landed the canoe. While we unloaded our gear, he made three casts and caught three fish: two trout and a small bass. Three kayakers passed by as we loaded the canoe on the Jeep. It was good to see we weren't alone in discovering the joys of the Mohawk River in Rome.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk
Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Rome, select New York, press GO!
Select Rome, N.Y.
