Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2009/12/08
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Somehow my browzer screwed up the URLs on the last post. I'll try again. Larry Z 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. 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 aqueduct 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 wimpy (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. 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 The dam on a nice fall day. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/2+_Croton+Dam+in+Fall.jpg.html The Croton Gorge. The dam overflow runs to the Hudson River. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/3_+Croton+Gorge.jpg.html 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 Motorcycles too. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/5_+Croton+dam+park+5.JPG.html 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 Spring rains send a torrent of water over the dam, flooding the gorge. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/7_+Croton+dam+spring+flood.JPG.html 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 A view from the bridge over the gorge. http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/9_+Croton+dam+view.JPG.html 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 Got one! http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/Larry+Z/11_+Croton+dam+fishing+1.JPG.html