[Leica] IMG: Croton Dam views

[lrzeitlin at gmail.com (Lawrence Zeitlin)]

*I'm hardly as avid a biker as Nathan but during the summer months I ride
the hills and small roads of my neighborhood for a modicum of exercise.
Generally I carry a small P&S camera in my saddle bag in case I run across
an interesting sight. As I was putting the bike away for the winter I found
that I had not downloaded many of the pictures taken over the last two
years. The battery was dead flat but I could still pull the images off the
chip.*

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*If you are in or near New York you don't have to travel to China or Egypt
to see man made wonders of the world. The New Croton Dam, part of the New
York water supply system, stretches across the Croton River about 22 miles
(35 km) north of New York City. This dam is the third largest cut stone
structure in the world, exceeded only by the Great Wall of China and the
Great Pyramid of Giza. A gravity aqueduct carries the water 40 miles from
Croton to the reservoir lake in Central Park.  It's downhill all the way.
You can still walk the Aqueduct Trail stretching from the dam to the city.
Or bike it or ski it depending on the weather.*


*Italian stone cutters were hired enmasse to build the dam. Many brought
their families with them or married local girls and remained in the area
after the work was completed. Quite a few were closet sculptors and
painters. The village of Croton-on-Hudson acquired a reputation as a free
thinking art center. It was also a hotbed of pre-WWI radicalism. Many of our
native born socialists and Communists, including Max Eastman, Daily Worker
editor Robert Minor, and John Reed, author of "Ten Days that Shook the
World," lived in Croton. Today, however, it tends to vote Republican.*


*I usually bike to the dam on very nice days or just after a torrential
rainfall. In beautiful weather the park at the base of the dam is a pleasant
place to relax. Just after a heavy rainfall, the overflow from the spillway
makes Niagara Falls look anemic (an exaggeration - but not by much). The
Croton River below the dam is one of the best trout streams in a state known
for good fishing.*

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*This is an exhausted me with my bike. The picture was taken a while back. I
have a beard now.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/1_+Tired+biker_+Larry+Z.jpg.html*

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*The dam on a nice fall day.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/2+_Croton+Dam+in+Fall.jpg.html*

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*The Croton Gorge. The dam overflow runs to the Hudson River.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/3_+Croton+Gorge.jpg.html*

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*Croton Park. A favorite picnic spot to the sound of rushing water.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/4_+Croton+dam+park+2.JPG.html*

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*Motorcycles too.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/5_+Croton+dam+park+5.JPG.html*

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*The dam is much larger than it looks from the front. The spillway stretches
over a mile and impounds the Croton reservoir.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/6_+Croton+Dam+spillway.jpg.html*

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*Spring rains send a torrent of water over the dam, flooding the gorge.*

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http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/7_+Croton+dam+spring+flood.JPG.html
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*The overflow is spectacular. Almost century ago these waters were ducted to
turbines within the dam to generate electricity for the community. There is
talk of refurbishing them for green power.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/8_+Croton+Dam+overflow.JPG.html*

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*A view from the bridge over the gorge.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/9_+Croton+dam+view.JPG.html*

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*The waters downstream of the dam provide some of the best trout fishing in
a state know for good trout streams.*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/10_+Croton+dam+fishing+2.JPG.html*

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*Got one!*

*http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/11_+Croton+dam+fishing+1.JPG.html*

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