nature & waterways

High school principal wins fishing derby with 35-pounder

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 18 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – Foster Miller holds the grand prize winning Chinook salmon – a 34-pound, 13-ounce fish – that netted the $4,000 top prize in the Orleans County Fishing Derby. Miller’s son Tyler, 11, finished third in the lake trout division with a 14-pound, 6-ounce fish.

CARLTON – Foster Miller looks forward to fishing season every summer. The 40-year-old Holley resident is often out in a boat with his son Tyler or Foster’s father Ron.

The family watches for fishing derbies and will join, hopeful of hooking a big prize. The Millers struck twice in the Orleans County Fishing Derby. Foster won the grand prize, $4,000, for catching the biggest fish among the 690 anglers who joined in the derby.

Foster caught a 34-pound, 13-ounce Chinook salmon in Lake Ontario near Hamlin Beach State Park. His father, Ron, of Ontario, Wayne County was in the boat with Foster. Ron started taking Foster fishing when he was a little kid. Foster landed his first salmon when he was 5.

He has passed down a love of fishing to his son Tyler, 11. Tyler caught the third biggest lake trout in the fishing derby, a 14-pound, 6-ounce fish that was also hooked just off Hamlin Beach. Tyler’s third place finish won him $200.

His father also won another $200, given to the Orleans County resident who catches the biggest fish during the derby.

Mr. Miller works as a principal in Mount Morris for the Genesee Valley Educational Partnership.

The derby runs for about two weeks, and is sponsored by the Albion Rotary Club. Besides the $4,000 grand prize, the Rotary Club gives out $500 for first place, $300 for second, $200 for third, $100 for fourth and $50 for fifth place in four divisions: Chinook, rainbow trout, brown trout and lake trout. That adds up to $8,800 in total prize money.

Hunter Westcott, 10, of Hamlin won the lake trout division and $500 for catching this 18-pound, 4-ounce fish. He was all smiles holding the fish during an awards ceremony today at the Carlton Fire Company Recreation Hall.

The club expects to make about $4,500 in profit from the derby, which is used for various community projects.

The following won first prize in the different divisions: Jim Mazur, with a Chinook at 32 pounds, 13 ounces; Charles Davis with a brown trout at 15 pounds, 9 ounces; Gary Dubach with a rainbow trout/steelhead at 13 pounds, 13 ounces; and Hunter Westcott with a lake trout at 18 pounds, 4 ounces.

Derby officials and the 100 people who attended a awards ceremony at the Carlton Fire Company Recreation Hall observed a moment of silence for Judy Christopher, who was active in helping to run the derby for many years.

Christopher died on Aug. 3 after battling cancer for more than two decades. She was co-owner of Four C’s Marina and an active member of the Albion Rotary Club, which has been running the annual derby for about 30 years.

“She was an elegant woman who did a lot for the fishing industry and for this community,” said Ashley Ward, the derby chairman.

Ashley Ward, back left, gets ready to read the winning number during a raffle at today’s awards ceremony for the Orleans County Fishing Derby. Brad Shelp, lower right, helped pass out the prizes. About 100 fishermen attended the awards celebration in Carlton.

Great weather keeps Oak Orchard Harbor busy

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 17 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

POINT BREEZE – I stopped by Point Breeze today for a story about the ham radio operators participating in an international lighthouse event. I wrote a story about their event earlier. (Click here to see the story.)

While at the lighthouse, I was surprised to see so many boats coming and going at the Oak Orchard Harbor. The radio operators agreed it was a busy day at the Point.

The sunshine helped, and I bet some of the boaters were trying to catch a big fish for the annual Orleans County Fishing Derby, which ends on Sunday. Foster Miller of Holley is the current leader with a Chinook salmon that weighs 34 pounds, 13 ounces.

A Lyndonville estate opens to the public

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 16 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Robin Hill Nature Preserve features sandstone home, 250 varieties of trees

Photo by Tom Rivers

Photo by Tom Rivers – Doug Pratt has returned to the nature preserve and sandstone home built by his grandparents from 1948 to 1952 on Platten Road in Lyndonville. Pratt has created a foundation for the nature preserve.

Photo by Tom Rivers

LYNDONVILLE – When he was a kid, Jerome Pawlak remembers William Smith leading Boy Scouts through a 45-acre nature preserve in Lyndonville.

Smith would stop and take photographs along the way. He was particularly enamored with mushrooms. But he also loved birds, swans, trees and Medina sandstone.

Smith, owner of a canning factory in Lyndonville, built a nature preserve with 450 varieties of trees at his property on Platten Road. In 1948, he and his wife Mary began work on a Medina sandstone home, doing much of the work themselves with some help from family and employees at the canning factory. It took several years to build the house. It remains a cherished site in the community.

But until recently, few people set foot on the grounds. That is changing now that the Smiths’ grandson, Doug Pratt, has returned to the community. He continues to spend time in Virginia, but Pratt wants to live full-time in the house where he spent his childhood.

“I love it,” Pratt said. “I feel we have something special here and we need to share it.”

Photo courtesy of Doug Pratt – William Smith, right, was beloved in Lyndonville for his enthusiasm in showing off a 45-acre nature preserve. This photo shows him giving one of the tours. William and his wife Mary kept swans. Many Lyndonville youths from two generations ago grew up feeding the swans.

On Thursday, Pratt opened the property to the Orleans County Chamber of Commerce for a “Mix and Mingle.” Pawlak, owner of the Save-A-Lot stores in Albion and Holley, was eager to have a chance to see the property.

He remembers the Smiths as very gracious hosts, eager to show the property to people who often showed up unannounced at the door.

“They were wonderful people,” Pawlak recalled. “They were very hospitable people.”

Pawlak hadn’t been inside the house in about 40 years until Thursday. It is largely unchanged, he said.

Pawlak was a Boy Scout growing up in Lyndonville and the Smiths welcomed Scouts to use their pond for fishing derbies. Scouts helped clear walking trails. Many Lyndonville residents have fond memories of feeding the swans at Smith’s Pond.

Pratt, a 1974 graduate of Lyndonville, lived in the Midwest for six years and then the past 20 years in northern Virginia. He is planning to move back full-time to Lyndonville. In his travels he said he has never encountered a place like his grandparents’ home. William and Mary Smith created the site after their daughter Lucille died from Scarlet Fever at age 19. They named it Robin Hill.

Photo by Tom Rivers – William and Mary Smith created a nature preserve on their property with 250 varieties of trees that still survive at the site. William Smith planted a variety of trees to attract birds to the property.

Pratt worked with family to establish the Robin Hill Foundation with an educational mission. He is reaching out to colleges, offering the site for research and observation. Many of the trees and plants are rare and exotic, and they attract numerous varieties of birds.

“I’m looking for ideas,” Pratt said about uses for the property. “I want to develop more educational things here. Granddad created something unique here.”

The site has already been used for weddings. Pratt said the property may need a visitor center to help explain all the natural resources.

While Pratt spoke from his office on Thursday evening, two humming birds were a couple feet away, outside at a bird feeder. Pratt marveled at the natural wonders that are so accessible at the site.

He has worked in the hobbying industry, writing books and creating kits about model rockets and other hobbies. He was an editor for the Model Retailer magazine. Lately, he has been in demand as a narrator for audio books. He will soon narrate a lengthy book on the War of 1812 – “The Forgotten Conflict.”

Robin Hill is a perfect work area for Pratt. The building with thick stone walls and the nature preserve provide a quiet work space for audio recording. And Pratt said if he needs to feel inspired, he only has to look out the window or take a short walk through the woods.

Photo by Tom Rivers

Photo by Tom Rivers

Picturesque night in Carlton

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

CARLTON – It was another colorful sunset in Orleans County tonight. I happened to be driving through Carlton and snapped a picture of a barn with the sunset and then took two from the bridge on Route 279. The two boaters were friendly and waved just before they passed under the bridge.

Canal Corp. reports lift bridges in good-working order

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers – An inspection crew from the state Canal Corporation passes under the Hulberton lift bridge this morning and heads east to check the bridge in Holley. The lift bridges, despite being 100 years old, are working well, Canal officials said.

HULBERTON – Parts of the canal system have been battered by floods and the wrath of Mother Nature in recent years. With each storm, the canal has endured, with occasional short-term closures of some sections. This year storms hit the eastern end of the canal and Lockport particularly hard.

“When the storms come through, we’ve been able to turn around and reopen quickly,” said John Joyce, director of special projects for the Canal Corp. “It shows that the canal is in good shape and we have a dedicated crew.”

Joyce and a team of inspectors passed through the canal in Orleans County the past two days, stopping to inspect seven lift bridges in the county and assess the embankments and other infrastructure. They travelled by boat on the Tug Syracuse.

“We don’t find major problems because they are being maintained on a daily basis,” he said today in Hulberton after inspectors completed an assessment of the lift bridge.

Joyce and the inspectors had high praise for the mechanical and electrical systems on the century old lift bridges. One of them in Knowlesville has a weight restriction and is limited to one-lane. The bridges are owned by the state Department of Transportation, but the Canal Corp. operates them and handles a lot of the electrical work and maintenance.

The canal is like a “living museum,” and remains an important source of pride and economic development for the canal communities, Joyce said.

He believes the communities with lift bridges are particularly fortunate to have the iconic structures. There are only 16 of them. They’re between Lockport and Fairport. Orleans has the most of any county.

“For 100-year-old technology they are working great,” Joyce said.

State law requires an annual inspection of the canal each year. For many years the assessment was made by car. But the past three years under Gov. Andrew Cuomo, the Canal Corp. has traveled the entire 363 miles by boat.

The canal has been in the news for much of the past year, depictied as a drain to the Thruway Authority and a reason to raise tolls.

The Thruway Authority proposed 45 percent toll hikes, but backed off the toll increase. The Canal Corp. however cut 5 percent of its workforce this year.

The canal has been under the Thruway Authority’s budget since 1992. Joyce said the Thruway Authority has proven a good steward of the canal system.

“We have a good working relationship with the Thruway Authority and we want that to continue,” he said.

The Tug Syracuse heads to Holley after an inspection in Hulberton.

Bee is busy at work

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 15 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Orleans Hub editor has a giant sunflower by his front porch and took notice of some bees at work this afternoon. Hub editor snapped a quick photo up close despite being allergic to bee stings, and then quickly fled the scene.

Orleans lift bridges will be inspected

Posted 13 August 2013 at 12:00 am

State is doing annual mandated check of canal system

Photo courtesy of Canal Corporation – The Tug Syracuse is docked in Buffalo’s Erie Canal Harbor this morning awaiting the start of the annual Canal Inspection Tour. Canal official will be in Orleans County later this week.

Press release, NYS Canal Corporation

The annual inspection of the New York State canal system began today in Buffalo when the Tug Syracuse departed from the Erie Canal Harbor to assess the historic waterway, the New York State Canal Corporation announced.

Canal Corporation officials will inspect the seven lift bridges in Orleans County on Wednesday and Thursday, starting with Medina’s bridge at 12:45 p.m. Wednesday and then working east to check more lift bridges in the county. The maintenance inspections in Orleans are scheduled to end in Holley at 10:50 a.m. Thursday, when crews will depart to Brockport.

The legally mandated inspection will take place over the next two months in two- and three-day segments. It is one of the most critical tools the Canal Corporation has to make a comprehensive and in-depth assessment of the overall condition and capital needs of the nearly 200-year-old canal system, which generates $380 million in tourism-based economic activity and provides drinking water for thousands New Yorkers of as well as water resources for agriculture, industry and hydroelectric power generation.

“For nearly two centuries, the canal system has remained vital to the prosperity of the Empire State, both commercially and recreationally,” said New York State Thruway Authority and Canal Corporation Chairman Howard P. Milstein. “This inspection is an important opportunity to gauge the overall condition of the canals first-hand, but also to recognize the excellence of our staff for their maintenance of this national treasure. It is this commitment that has allowed this modern marvel to continue to flourish over the years.”

The inspection team grades individual components at locks and lift bridge locations statewide and will then give awards for top performance later this year.

The inspection tour is a tradition that dates from October 26, 1825, when Gov. DeWitt Clinton departed from Buffalo aboard the Seneca Chief to mark the opening of the Erie Canal after eight years of construction.

The effect of the canal was both immediate and dramatic, and settlers poured west. Trade exploded with freight rates from Buffalo to New York at $10 per ton by canal, compared with $100 per ton by road. Within nine years, canal tolls more than recouped the entire cost of construction and New York City was the busiest port in America.

“We are excited to embark on the 2013 Canal Inspection, a time-honored tradition that is central to our maintenance, rehabilitation, and strategic planning efforts,” said Canal Corporation Director Brian U. Stratton. “With the canals playing such an important role in the livelihood of the communities that line its shores, it is essential that we ensure the facilities and equipment of the Canal Corporation are in good working order and acknowledge our dedicated staff for their tireless efforts year-round.”

Stairway above the canal

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 13 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photo by Tom Rivers

ALBION – Here is another photo from last night’s sunset photographic excursion by the Erie Canal in Albion.

Orleans Hub posted several photos of the canal last night. This one shows the staircase for the lift bridge. I’ve been told the bridge used to be an upright position back when it was built a century ago. The bridge was lowered for the occasional horse and buggy.

A hundred years ago there were a lot of boats passing through Albion. Now there are a lot of cars, but only an occasional boater so the bridge stays down most of the time.

Sunset and serenity on the canal

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 12 August 2013 at 12:00 am

Photos by Tom Rivers

ALBION – It was another colorful and calming sunset tonight in Orleans County, especially along the Erie Canal. I stopped by the canal and grabbed a few photos of the Main Street lift bridge.

There are only 16 lift bridges on the canal with seven in Orleans County, including two in Albion. All of those lift bridges are between Lockport and Fairport. They are unique to the western end of the Erie Canal. I think they are an underutilized novelty that would draw people here.

(Perhaps the Canal Corporation could activate the lift bridges at the top of the hour on certain days so tourists would be guaranteed a chance to see the bridges “in action.”)

I wandered just west of the lift bridge this evening and took a photo of a boat – “No Regrets, Albion NY” – tied up on the south side of the canal. The barn on the north side of the canal includes a mural painted by Arthur Barnes.

34-pound fish now atop the leaderboard

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 7 August 2013 at 12:00 am

A Holley resident is now leading the Orleans County Fishing Derby. Foster Miller caught a 34-pound, 13-ounce Chinook salmon. That fish knocked a 31-pound, 11-ounce Chinook off the top of the leaderboard.

The derby runs until Aug. 18 and includes $8,800 in prizes, including $4,000 to the angler who catches the biggest fish.

The other top fish in four categories include: Chinook, 31 pounds and 11 ounces by Julie Schaeffer of Sligo, Pa.; Rainbow trout, 13 pounds and 10 ounces by Dean Kapoika of Greenburg, Pa; and Brown trout, 15 pounds and 8 ounces by George Barkdorl of McConnelisburg, Pa. There are no names yet on the leaderboard for lake trout.

The Albion Rotary Club sponsors the derby. Anglers compete for the biggest fish caught at Lake Ontario and its tributaries from the Niagara River to the Genesee River.