618 



NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



At present there are five bridges over Black river between 

 Carthage and Lyon Falls, namely: Castorland, 1; Lowville, 2; 

 (Jlenfield, 1, and Greig, 1. These three new crossings will fa*irly 

 accommodate the traffic of the region. 



According to the Black river canal levels, the crest of the State 

 dam at Carthage is at an elevation of 723.53 feet above tidewater, 

 while the water surface at Lyon Falls, 42.5 miles distant by the 

 meander of the river, is 735.65. At present the slack-water navi- 

 gation from Lyon Falls to Carthage is made by two dams with 

 locks, one at Otter creek with a lift of about 4 feet and one at 

 Bushee's Landing with a lift of about 4.5 feet. From Lyon Falls 

 the Black river canal rises to the Boonville summit, where the 

 elevation of the summit level is 1126.96 feet above tide in a dis- 

 tance of ten miles. From Boonville, Black river canal drops 

 down to Erie canal level at Rome, a distance of 25 miles. 



That portion of Black river valley within the flow line of the 

 proposed reservoir presents a considerable diversity of soil. In 

 the lower portion the soils to the east of the river are, in a large 

 degree, sandy and of very little value for agriculture, while on 

 the west side there are considerable areas of valuable bottom 

 meadows. To the east and southeast of Carthage there are also 

 extensive areas almost entirely covered with rock and of very 

 nominal value. The following notes are cited as showing the value 

 of these lands. All these statements are as per the assessors' 

 books for 1899. 



In the town of Denmark the assessors state that hill farms 

 are valued at $20 per acre, flats at from $60 to $70. These the 

 assessors consider to be nearly full values. 



In the town of Croghan the assessors value the best farms in 

 the flats at $37 per acre, and other lands at from $6 to $25 per 

 acre; the rock and sand areas at from $2 to $5 per acre 



In the town of New Bremen the equalized assessed value per 

 acre for the whole township is $8.25. The assessors state that 

 this is about 60 per cent of value. On this basis the average 

 value of lands in that township becomes $13.75 per acre. 



In Greig township the assessors state that goo<J river flats 

 are assessed at $25 per acre; sandy flats at from $6 to $7 per 

 acre; the best stony land at $12 per acre; poor stony land at 

 $7 per acre, and swamps a I $.50 per acre. 



