Chapter 12 - Tributaries
West Canada Creek Part Four - Newport to Middleville
What's Not to Like
August 22, 2003. 70 degrees, cloudy
The run from Newport to Middleville is my favorite.
It starts downstream from the oldest bridge in the valley, passes by big
islands, under two old railroad bridges, through a remote section that
features high banks, slip banks and acres of hidden wildflowers. Wildlife
is abundant and there are fish lurking from one end to the other. The only
drawbacks are stretches of rocky water that require getting out of the
canoe during low water periods or running short rapids when the river is
up. 
The stone arch bridge on the left has crossed the river at Newport since 1853.
Although I enjoy fishing this stretch, sometimes
I like to canoe through, making an occasional cast, but mostly enjoying
the sights and sounds along the river. Such was the case when Bridget
and I made this run in August. We launched below the power station
in Newport at 10:45 a.m. Bridget has made this run with me a couple of
times so I spared her the history lesson on Newport's 1853 Stone Arch Bridge.
I did remind her that the first island below the
village was once the location of the Town of Newport baseball field. A
suspension pedestrian-bridge crossed the river to the island for many years.
Bridget recalled that the pavilion was still standing.
Today Brown Island is covered with second-growth
trees and a few monarchs, and is home to a variety of wildlife including
whitetail deer. In fact each year at least one fawn is born and nurtured
on the island. As if to illustrate the point, a doe and two fawns cavorted
in a bay at the lower end of the island. The doe quickly disappeared into
the woods, but the fawns splashed in the river until we were almost upon
them. (Honest. I don't make this stuff up.)
A shower swept down the river at 11 o'clock. Fortunately,
we had rain jackets at the ready thus avoiding a half-hour soaking.
As we approached the rock and cobble bar at the mouth of White Creek, a
great blue heron took flight and a family of mergansers slid into the river
and drifted downstream.
swings away from the road in a 2-mile loop through wild country.
Just below White Creek the river passes under an
abandoned railroad bridge and veers well away from the road in a 2-mile
loop that ends at the mouth of Old City Brook
before passing under another abandoned railroad bridge. This is the most
remote stretch of river on the lower West Canada. On the right are high
banks and slip banks, on the left, wooded bottomland where spring wildflowers
grow in profusion.
The
river was high, so we floated the loop in silence, enjoying the sights
and sounds of wild country. Except for a few songbirds, we didn't see any
wildlife until we crossed under the railroad bridge and disturbed a family
of mergansers. As we passed the Fisherman's Parking Area and floated towards
the Fishing Rocks, a large flock of Canada geese voiced their displeasure
and floated downstream.
The Fishing Rocks---one near the mouth of a small
tributary on the left side of the river, and the other further downstream
on the right side of the river, are part of a unique geological formation.
They are, in fact, outcrops of Adirondack "granite" that pushed up through
the dolostone bedrock in this area when the Adirondack (Mountains) Dome
started to rise 100 million years ago.
Trains haven't crossed this 112-year old bridge since 1979.
We zipped through the chute at Fishing Rock One and
glided by Fishing Rock Two, arriving at the Middleville riverside park
around noon. This park, located along Fishing Rock Road, is a recent and
welcome development. For years the riverbank was so overgrown with brush
the only place to land a canoe was at the upper end of a huge rock pile.
High, fast water and slippery rocks made this a dangerous place. Today,
there are a number of places to land, but the eddy just downstream from
a large bush worked well for us.
Fish in Them Thar' Waters
August 26, 2003, 65 degrees, Sunny
A few days later I returned to this same stretch
of river with Denny Gillen. We were after fish, so we left earlier and
planned to stay longer. When we launched at 9:30 a.m. water was boiling
out of the power plant. This turbulence provides an abundance of
cold, well-oxygenated water, and the downstream "pond" provides plenty
of room for fish. We fished the pond for about 15 minutes. Denny
caught three small bass on a Rapala and I caught a 10 1/2-inch brown on
a Phoebe. (A week later Mark Eychner caught an 18.5-inch brown here.)
We stopped at Shed Brook to stretch our legs and
to check out the deer tracks and trails leading to nearby meadows. Sediment
had created a bar at the mouth of the brook and a downstream rocky rapids.
The river was up, so there would be no need to walk the canoe through the
rapids. Turned out the rapids were so rough we had to drop to our knees
to stabilize the canoe.
When we passed under the railroad bridge, I told
Denny that the downstream run was one of the deepest in the river and holds
some big fish. It's difficult to take trout from the run, but when
these fish move upstream to feed in the riffles, fishermen in-the-know
do well with flies and nymphs.
The water was too high and fast to fish the loop,
so we just enjoyed the scenery and the feel of the canoe as it bobbed and
weaved along the bottom of the high banks. We passed under the second railroad
bridge at 11:20. Just downstream a small tree was lodged in the river bottom,
its branches creating a "stickup" in a run of flatwater. I dropped
my gold spoon next to the stickup and caught a 15-inch brown trout.
It was noon when we stopped at Fishing Rock One.
Over the years I've caught both trout and bass from this granite outcrop.
We didn't raise a fish, so we returned to the canoe. Fishing Rock Two is
an impressive chunk of stone that was once a popular shoreline fishing
spot---hence Fishing Rock Road---but now it's posted and can only be fished
from the river. I had never caught a fish from the pool in front of the
rock, but it looked so fishy, we ran a spoon and plug through it . . .
and each caught a smallmouth bass. Go figure.
Before we landed the canoe at 12:30, I pointed out
the remnants of a stone dam that once crossed the creek, providing water
to run mills in Middleville. Most of the mills closed down in the early
1900s, but from 1814 to 1973 there was a tannery in the village. Today
Middleville boasts a couple of "diamond" mines, campgrounds, restaurants,
an ice cream shop, a gas station, a sport shop and West Canada Creek.
Photos on this page were taken in October. Original photos were destroyed by a Digital Devil.
Follow the path of this discovery trip by clicking on Mohawk Valley Maps: by Maptech.
Type Newport, select New York, press GO!
