NYFalls.com Talk

On a bike ride with a friend we discovered a dam. We've both lived in the area for at least 25 years and never heard of it. I asked permission of the property owners to scramble down the bank and take some pictures and they agreed. It's on McLachlan's pond, near Cranesville (Amsterdam NY).

After doing a bit of research, I found that two brothers ran a sawmill at this location in the 1860's. I didn't find any further industry mentioned here, so I think the dam is about 150 years old. It's constructed of cut stone with no concrete between them. From end to end the stonework is close to 200 feet long.

Nice find, I'll add this to the waterfall database.

The builders did a good job, as there was no water leaking through the dam at all. I saw some stones arranged in what looked like a tail race but I couldn't be sure.

I saw a tree with a limb overhanging the creek downstream from the dam. The limb was almost horizontal as it grew out of the creek bank. Since the bank was congested with underbrush I thought it afforded a spot for a clear picture of the dam.

The limb was about 15 feet above the creek, and covered in spots with moss. On top of that my cycling shoes had slick soles with no 'tread' at all. Balancing with an overhead branch I was able to scoot out about 10 feet on the limb.

I raised the camera to snap the picture. And the camera shut down when the batteries went dead.

So I waited a bit turned the camera back on, and the batteries held up long enough for me to get this picture. I managed to get back to the bank without dropping myself into the creek.

Nice, the old stonework is awesome, they sure put a lot of effort into that.

Very interesting to see these old structures, especially in such good shape. I would say this counts as a nice waterfall find (I think I'm going to move the topic to there).
I wonder if this was built over a smaller falls (judging from the irregular bounces of water about half-way down).

Great find! Last summer I found a similar, though not as nice, old stone damn just over the boarder in Pennsylvania. It is on State Game Lands there and I can see where it once had created a pond. It's amazing what people could accomplish before TV and Internet LOL!