Imagine the Mohawk River flowing with more force than Niagara Falls. Around 22,000 years ago, that’s exactly how it was. During the last ice age, the Laurentide Glacier began to melt, forming a large lake atop the glacier. As the glacier receded north, it opened access to the Mohawk River, which for thousands of years had been buried beneath the two-mile thick block of ice. Suddenly, all that lake water had somewhere to go.
The deluge of water that was released was so great that it carved an entirely new riverbed. It was so great in fact, that geologists gave the river a new name; the Iromohawk. Water rushed down the valley, carving away the cliffs of Clifton Park, the gorge at Cohoes, and the channel at Rexford. The river also curved back onto itself, creating the bend around Schenectady that the Mohawk follows today. [Read more…] about A Brief History of the Mohawk River
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Basil Seggos and Cohoes Mayor William Keeler have announced the start of a State soil and water sampling initiative to help determine if contaminants are present in communities around the Norlite facility in the city of Cohoes.
The historic Matton Shipyard is a rare surviving example of an early 20th century ship building and repair facility. From 1916 to 1983, Matton workers built more than 340 tug boats, police boats, WWII submarine chasers, and other vessels.