New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Onondaga Lake

How The American Revolution Divided & Weakened The Six Nations

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British General Burgoyne addressing Native Americans to secure an alliance during the Revolutionary War. Hand-colored woodcut of a 19th-century illustrationAs tensions leading to the American Revolution developed, Native nations were divided in their loyalties to England, the American rebels, and their own alliances. Initially, Haudenosaunee Nations viewed the conflict as a civil war between colonists and chose to remain neutral.

Over time, it became clear to Haudenosaunee leaders that the winners of the revolution would ultimately be the parties they negotiated their futures with. Loyalties and allyship among the Nations diverged, weakening the overall power of the Iroquois Confederacy. [Read more…] about How The American Revolution Divided & Weakened The Six Nations

The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People

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Erie Canal and Indigenous HistoryNew York’s canal building boom and the urban explosion that it triggered dramatically accelerated the dispossession and disruption of traditional life ways of the region’s Native American inhabitants that had been initiated by the introduction of European trade, diseases, colonial wars, the American Revolution, and encroaching settlement by non-natives. [Read more…] about The Erie Canal’s Impacts on Indigenous People

Drilling For Salt: Salt Springs & New York’s Salt Industry Origins

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Carncross Salt Pond, a rare inland salt marsh, protected by The Nature Conservancy, located in Wayne County, NY (NY Natural Heritage Program)As the presence of salt in New York was first made manifest through saline mineral springs it is proper to begin this discussion with the history of their discovery and utilization. The most important of these are in Onondaga County at Syracuse.

About the middle of the seventeenth century several of the Jesuit missionaries during their journeys among the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), in what is now the State of New York, heard local salt springs and related these experiences in the Relations of the Jesuit fathers. [Read more…] about Drilling For Salt: Salt Springs & New York’s Salt Industry Origins

Scottish Daredevil Donald Campbell & The World Water Speed Record

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Donald Campbell sits in his hydroplane Bluebird K7, 1967Donald Campbell (1921–1967), a flamboyant and superstitious Scot, already held three-world records piloting a speedboat. Nonetheless, in 1957, he visited the 32-mile-long Lake George to determine if the waterway, located in the Adirondack Mountains, would be a suitable for his next attempt at racing immortality.

In late February 1957, Campbell, on his way from the United Kingdom to the Miami national boat show, stopped at the “Queen of American Lakes.” [Read more…] about Scottish Daredevil Donald Campbell & The World Water Speed Record

EPA Researchers Develop Forecasting for Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms

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a harmful cyanobacterial bloom (HAB) in a lake provided by EPAFreshwater cyanobacteria are found in all lakes and reservoirs, are naturally occurring, and are important to water ecosystems; however, excessive growth of some cyanobacteria can result in harmful cyanobacterial blooms (HCBs, also called cyanobacterial harmful algal blooms or HABs).

These blooms can cause unsightly scums that smell like rotting eggs or septic. Toxins from HCBs can negatively impact people, animals, and the environment. [Read more…] about EPA Researchers Develop Forecasting for Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms

Enhanced Recreational Opportunities on Onondaga Lake

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Onondaga Lake jetty, 2023 (DEC Photo)Recently, work was completed on two reconstructed jetties at the north end of Onondaga Lake in Onondaga County, NY. A new Americans with Disabilities Act-compliant jetty is located at the Willow Bay area of the County’s Onondaga Lake Park. [Read more…] about Enhanced Recreational Opportunities on Onondaga Lake

The Canal Era in the Finger Lakes

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1858 Canal Map of New York StateAs the population of interior New York increased, developers pushed for a faster method of transportation between the area and developed population centers like the city of New York.

The Erie Canal, completed in 1825, revolutionized inland travel and ushered in a broader era of canal construction across the state, connecting the state capital of Albany on the Hudson River to Western New York and the Great Lakes. [Read more…] about The Canal Era in the Finger Lakes

Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

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Lamoka Site diorama at the New York State MuseumAccording to archeological records, groups of nomadic Paleo-Indians traveled through the Finger Lakes region approximately 8,000 to 9,000 years ago. Small bands of these hunters and gatherers followed large game during the last stages of the Ice Age when the glaciers that formed the area’s notable lakes were receding.

Somewhat more recent early archaic archeological sites scattered across Western New York reflect a culture that was highly mobile and left little in terms of an archeological record. [Read more…] about Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

Geologic Formation of the Finger Lakes

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A late fall snowstorm frosted the hills of the Finger Lakes region of central New York in early December 2004Approximately 600 million years ago, during the Neoproterozoic Era, the Earth’s supercontinent began to break apart, and an ocean formed between land masses that roughly correlate to Europe and North America today. For the next 100 million years, this ocean continued to widen until the continents changed course and began to move back towards each other.

The eventual collision of these land masses formed a tall mountain range now known as North America’s Appalachians. [Read more…] about Geologic Formation of the Finger Lakes

National Park Service Declares Finger Lakes Eligble For National Heritage Designation

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National Park Service NPSOn Tuesday, July 18th, the National Park Service delivered the Finger Lakes National Heritage Area Feasibility Study to Congress. The feasibility study determined that the study area in the Finger Lakes region of New York state meets the criteria to be eligible for inclusion as part of the National Heritage Area System. [Read more…] about National Park Service Declares Finger Lakes Eligble For National Heritage Designation

Epic Failures At New Onondaga Lake Boat Launch Lead To Charges

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Submerged vehicle at the DEC boat launch on Onondaga LakeAccording to a press release issued by DEC, on the evening of August 9th, a man backed his Jeep and boat trailer, with boat attached, into Onondaga Lake — missing the newly erected DEC boat launch by 50 feet and becoming stuck in mud along the shoreline. [Read more…] about Epic Failures At New Onondaga Lake Boat Launch Lead To Charges

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