By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 April 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
WATERPORT – The owner of the power plant at the Waterport Dam has added chain link fences, warning lights, sirens, flotation rings and signage.
I stopped by the dam on Saturday evening after hearing about the changes. People can still fish by the dam. There is one spot where people can wade in the water but they must wear personal flotation devices and must stay within a designated, cabled-off area.
Brookfield Power Company has posted some of its property with restricted access.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 20 April 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
WATERPORT – Damien Darrell of Lockport was out fishing Saturday evening from the bridge on Route 279 in Waterport.
Fishermen are often casting lines from the bridge. The 700-foot-long bridge is the longest county-owned span in Orleans. It is expected to close next month so repairs can be made. The bridge could be closed for about five months so contractors can complete nearly $2 million in upgrades.
The bridge stretches across Lake Alice. Many of the concrete box beams that support the bridge are badly deteriorated and will need to be replaced. The bridge will get a new surface with concrete, rubber membrane and blacktop.
The federal government is paying 80 percent of the project with the state paying 15 percent the county covering the remaining 5 percent.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 April 2014 at 12:00 am
Historic waterway starts 190th season on May 1
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – The Erie Canal is mostly empty now, but soon it will be filled and will be operational for its 190th season.
The State Canal Corp. is planning a May 1 opening for the canal (depending on the weather). The top photo was taken last evening in the bottom of the canal in Albion, east of the Main Street lift bridge looking towards a privately owned bridge. Gaines Basin Road is about another ½ mile to the east.
The gates on the canal along Albion-Eagle Harbor Road are reflected in the shallow canal in this photo taken from the privately owned bridge, which I have heard referred to as Bowman’s Bridge. The bridge leads to a couple houses and the former Albion water treatment plant.
Here is a picture of a puddle in a field by the towpath.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 April 2014 at 12:00 am
106K Chinook, 21K steelhead delivered by DEC
Photos by Tom Rivers – Department of Environmental Conservation officials deliver Steelhead from the Altmar Hatchery this afternoon at the Oak Orchard River. The fish will spend the next month in pens by Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina.
The Steelhead are six months old and about 3 or 4 inches long. They will nearly double in size in the next month in the pens.
POINT BREEZE – Charter boat captains and other Point Breeze stakeholders welcomed more than 100,000 fish today that will be nurtured in pens for the next month or so.
The tiny Chinook salmon and steelhead will be released about twice their current size. That will increase their chances of surviving in Lake Ontario and its tributaries. The fish, while they grow in the pens, also will imprint on the river.
When they are mature and ready to spawn, they are more likely to return to the Oak Orchard to lay their eggs.
Mike Waterhouse, the Orleans County sportsfishing promotion coordinator, helps with the fish stocking in one of the pens.
The Point Breeze community started the pen-rearing project in 1998. Bob Songin, charter boat captain with Reel Excitement, has been leader of the project each year.
Volunteers are up at 5 a.m. each morning to feed the fish, which are fed five times a day.
Songin said the project has resulted in more mature fish that return to the Oak Orchard and also in Lake Ontario near Point Breeze.
“We have double the survival rate, which means we have more fish to catch,” he said.
Bob Songin, in red, leads the pen-rearing project. About 20 volunteers assist with the effort each year.
The Department of Environmental Conservation brought truckloads of fish from the Altmar Hatchery. The agency stocked 106,000 Chinook in the pens, and 14,000 Steelhead or Rainbow Trout for the pens. The DEC also stocked 7,000 Steelhead in the Oak Orchard River by the Twin Bridges near Narby’s.
Volunteers are welcome to sign up at Ernst’s Lake Breeze Marina for a chance to feed the fish. The DEC provides the food for the fish.
The pens will keep the fish safe from predators while the Steelhead and Chinook grow in the next month.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 11 April 2014 at 12:00 am
MEDINA – David Miller sent me the top photo of the Medina Waterfalls. It was unearthed at the Medina Historical Society, where the group has scanned in old community photos from glass plate negatives.
The photo isn’t dated but Miller suspects it’s from the early 1900s.
I took this photo of the waterfalls last Sunday, when there was still a lot of snow on the ground.
This photo is displayed inside Medina City Hall as part of the Medina Sandstone Hall of Fame. The photo is kind of small here. It is blown up on the wall inside City Hall. The larger sandstone building in back is a mill. The falls are next to it at left.
That mill is gone, but there are a lot of stone blocks in the wooded area by the waterfalls and Oak Orchard Creek today. There are even some of the stone walls remaining. I took this photo last Sunday.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 April 2014 at 12:00 am
ORG making video to highlight Medina Waterfalls
Photos by Tom Rivers
This photo was taken on Sunday evening. I was standing in the water at the Oak Orchard Creek, not too far from shore. I was determined to get an unobstructed view of the falls. There are a lot of trees and branches that get in the way on land.
MEDINA – I was back at the Medina Waterfalls on Sunday evening, this time with Michael Gaughn and Kelsie Withey, who are making a video of the site. They are working for the Orleans Renaissance Group to highlight some of the unknown treasures in Medina.
Gaughn knows I like the waterfalls and think it’s an outrage that such a glorious asset is largely underutilized. The falls are right off the canal near the Horan Road bridge.
Mike Gaughn and Kelsie Withey ventured to the Medina Waterfalls on Sunday, making a video about the hidden treasures in the community.
The waterfalls are very difficult to get to by foot. It’s a treacherous journey, meandering past fallen trees, walking through thick brush and sinking in mud. The embankment can be steep at times and you could easily slide down and end up in the Oak Orchard Creek.
The Oak Orchard Creek runs along the canal towpath leading to the Medina Waterfalls.
I’d like to see a ladder off the towpath so people could get down to the falls without it being so difficult and risky. There should also be some hand railings to grab onto by the embankments.
I’d like the officials from the village of Medina, town of Ridgeway and Orleans County to work with the State Canal Corp. to make this site much more accessible to the public.
There could be a pedestrian bridge across the creek, a walking trail, and maybe an elevated platform by the towpath so people could view the falls without descending into the brush.
Here is the view of the top of the waterfalls after the Oak Orchard Creek passes under the Erie Canal.
I walked near the crest of the waterfalls for the first time on Sunday. These waterfalls are loud and fill the air with mist. They could be a big draw if they are more accessible.
I was only a few feet away from the top of the falls.
Gaughn and Withey are working on videos for the Bent’s Opera House and other hidden treasures in the community. Gaughn thinks the Oak Orchard River in this spot resembled many of the streams that are attractions in the Adirondack Mountains.
Withey captures footago of the Oak Orchard Creek and the Medina Waterfalls.
The Waterfalls turned the Oak Orchard Creek into a bubbling, suddsy stream. You can see the spire from St. Mary’s Catholic Church when you’re down in the gorge.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 24 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
ALBION – I’ve been wanting to get a picture of the little waterfalls by Community Action in Albion for many months. This one is hard to get at. But with a fresh dusting of snow on the ground, I decided I needed to make my move today.
At about 5:45 p.m., I descended the Sandy Creek embankment and laid eyes on the creek as it rushes through a culvert under East State Street.
It’s another nice spot in Orleans County. I don’t know the history behind the stone building. It looks like it’s from the mid-1800s. Maybe it was a mill long ago.
Sandy Creek passes under the Erie Canal not far from here and heads north.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 19 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Tom Rivers – This plant, Phragmites australis, grows by the Holley Elementary School. It is an invasive plant that can take over where cattails once grew.
HOLLEY – The photo of a plant by the Holley Elementary School sure looked pretty. We had it on the Orleans Hub on Tuesday.
I wasn’t positive what the plant was. I guessed it was cattails, but I wasn’t certain. Well, it’s not cattails.
Dennis Kirby, manager of the Orleans County Soil and Water Conservation District, did some research and identified the plant as Phragmites australis. This is an invasive plant that is causing a lot of trouble in coastal wetlands.
Locally, it pops up in ditches and wet areas.
“You see it around in a lot of places,” he said.
The plant crowds out cattails and takes over a spot. Cattails provide a good home for muskrats and some waterfowl. But Phragmites australis grows close together and isn’t a good habitat for wildlife, Kirby said.
“This is a very pretty plant, but actually a very invasive one that tends to take over and crowd out where the cattails previously grew,” Kirby said.
Orleans Hub readers have sent in photos of the changing seasons. Rich Miller of Kendall took this photo of the sunrise over Lake Ontario this morning at Cleng Peerson’s Point at the north end of Kendall Road.
Another Kendall resident, Mike Campbell, took a picture of the ice on Bald Eagle Creek in Kendall. The warmer temperatures today snapped some of the ice in local creeks.
Heather Kuepper of Medina took a picture of a full moon over the weekend from Martin Road in Shelby. Thursday is the first day of spring.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photo by Rich Miller
The bright full moon has the photographers out in force the past two nights. Last evening Rich Miller of Kendall took this photo of the moon rising over Lake Ontario at Cleng Peerson’s Point at the north end of Kendall Road where it meets Lake Ontario. Norwegian immigrants settled in this area of Kendall.
Photo by Tom Rivers
I didn’t want to miss out in the fun. I took a picture of the moon over the lift bridge tower on Main Street in Albion. The bridge and the tower are iconic local landmarks.
Photo by Tom Rivers
I also took a picture of the moon over the frozen Erie Canal in Albion. The state Canal Corporation keeps a dredger, tugboats and other equipment in Albion over the winter with the vessels between the Main Street and Ingersoll Street lift bridges.
Photo by Rich Miller
This photo doesn’t include the moon, but it was a nice sunset at the lake on Sunday.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 11 March 2014 at 12:00 am
File photo by Tom Rivers – A boat passes through the Oak orchard Harbor last summer. Sediment buildup in the channel has made it difficult for larger boats to use the harbor.
U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer announced today that Oak Orchard Harbor will receive a large maintenance dredge this year, valued at $420,000 and funded through the Sandy Supplemental Appropriations bill.
Schumer met with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Buffalo District Director LTC Beaudoin who confirmed the USACE’s plans and estimated the dredge is scheduled to be completed by around June 15. Schumer has long fought for Oak Orchard Harbor to be dredged, especially since Superstorm Sandy caused sediment damage to the harbor, and has specifically pushed for Sandy Supplemental funds to be used for dredging.
Schumer said this new dredge will allow recreational traffic to move more efficiently and support the charter fishing industry in the area, which generates approximately $269,000 in annual income.
“When it comes to dredging our ports, there is no time to waste, which is why I’ve kept the pressure on the Army Corps to accomplish this Oak Orchard dredging, especially since Superstorm Sandy,” Schumer said. “The timeline to finish dredging by mid-June is great news and it means we will soon get Oak Orchard Harbor moving full steam ahead – which will be an enormous boost this summer to the regional economy, family boaters and fishing charters.”
Oak Orchard Harbor is located on the southern shore of Lake Ontario at the mouth of Oak Orchard Creek. It supports 33 fishing charters and is in need of dredging.
Since Superstorm Sandy left sediment damage, the need for a maintenance dredge has increased. Schumer explained that using money from the Sandy Supplemental Fund will help alleviate the problems posed by the current shallowness of the harbor and return Oak Orchard Harbor to a better-functioning depth.
By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 9 March 2014 at 12:00 am
Photos by Tom Rivers
Most of the Medina Waterfalls are suspended in ice. But a narrow spot is still roaring and flowing with water from the Oak Orchard Creek near the Erie Canal.
MEDINA – There’s been a lot talk in the news recently about the frozen Niagara Falls. It’s a spectacle getting world-wide attention and drawing tourists to the natural wonder when we were in our deep freeze recently. (Click here to see a story about the phenomenon.)
I wondered about the most powerful waterfalls in Orleans County. How has it held up in the freeze?
A good portion has been held up in ice. But the fast-moving part is still flowing strong, plummeting over a gorge.
The Medina Waterfalls as it appeared in early November.
I had never seen the Medina Waterfalls until November. I had heard about it and wanted to see it. It has the “wow” effect.
It’s disappointing to me how difficult it is to reach the falls. I stopped by on Saturday morning. It’s somewhat of a perilous journey through a wooded area, climbing over fallen trees. There are steep embankments and one slip could send you into the Oak Orchard Creek.
To get to the waterfalls, you can walk through this path or venture into a wooded area with fallen trees.
The powers-that-be should recognize this is a great untapped resource for tourism, recreation and improving our quality of life. I’d highly recommend a safe walking trail to the waterfalls, a ladder from the towpath, perhaps a pavilion area and some guardrails to improve the safety.
A stone wall is a relic from when powerful mills did business near the waterfalls in the 1800s.
Here is one more photo of the waterfalls, which are located near the Erie Canal, close to Horan Road bridge.
