224 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



At Belfort there is a fall of 50 feet, utilized to generate electricity, 

 which is transmitted to adjacent towns. 



Otter creek. This stream rises in Herkimer county and flows 

 westerly into Black river, a few miles north of the village of 

 Greig. Its catchment area is 63 square miles. 



Independence creek. Independence creek also rises in Herki- 

 mer county and flows westerly into Black river three miles south 

 of Bushe's Landing. The catchment area above the mouth of the 

 stream is 99 square miles. 



Deer river. This stream rises in the extreme western part of 

 Lewis county and flows northeasterly into Black river five miles 

 above Carthage. The catchment area of the stream is 102 square 

 miles. 



Early water power and manufacturing projects on Black river. 

 Precise knowledge of the region drained by Black river is almost 

 entirely confined to the present century. So little was known 

 of its geography that in a statistical work, Winterlbothanr's View 

 of the American United States, published in 1796, it is stated 

 that Black river is said to rise " in the high country near the 

 sources of Canada creek, which falls into the Mohawk river and 

 takes its course northwest and then northeast until it discharges 

 into the Cataraqui or Iroquois river not far from Swegauchee; 

 it is said to be navigable for batteaux up to the lower falls, 60 

 miles." That is to say, Winterbotham understood Black river 

 to be navigable either to Carthage or possibly Lyon Falls, the 

 misapprehension probably having grown out of the accounts given 

 by hunters and trappers of the long, nearly level stretch of about 

 40 miles between Carthage and Lyon Falls. The Black river is 

 not represented on any of the early French or English maps of 

 the region. 1 



Surveys of Watertown township were made in 17!)C> by 

 Benjamin Wright, who was later engineer on the Erie canal. His 

 report may be considered the beginning of something like accurate 



^ee preface to a History of Jefferson county, by Franklin B. Hough, 

 Watertown, 1854. 



