Susquehanna River

New York’s Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

June 23, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Approximately 35,000 orphaned oil and gas wells are estimated to exist in New York State, many drilled and abandoned before the existence of modern environmental regulations.

The latest DEC Does What? podcast, produced by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), spotlights the work of their Division of Mineral Resources, which address the threats that unplugged oil and gas wells have on the environment and public safety across New York State. [Read more…] about New York’s Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells

Northeastern Crayfish: Tiny Predators, Big Impact

May 29, 2026 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Crayfish fill my childhood memories. I spent summers playing in streams, flipping over rocks, and, if I was lucky, catching glimpses of these mysterious little creatures. Most crayfish are nocturnal and dart backwards to escape danger.

An early summer morning last year at Crystal Lake State Park, near Barton, Vermont, brought me back to these moments when I saw a crayfish along the shore in the gently lapping waves. As I knelt for a closer look, I realized I knew so little about crayfish in my backyard. [Read more…] about Northeastern Crayfish: Tiny Predators, Big Impact

Ethnic Cleansing & Wartime Refugees in the Hudson Valley, 1754-1763

May 27, 2026 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

During the French and Indian War (1754-1763), many Mahican and Munsee-speaking people in the Hudson Valley felt themselves pressured to relocate to new areas both inside and outside of the Valley as the result of an ethnic cleansing project conducted by Sir William Johnson.

This created a refugee crisis that led to a varied of responses from both colonial officials and the Mohawks and other members of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Six Nations. [Read more…] about Ethnic Cleansing & Wartime Refugees in the Hudson Valley, 1754-1763

The Cherry Valley & Great Western Turnpike: A Short History

June 20, 2025 by Richard Williams 2 Comments

In the early 1700s the Mohawk Turnpike and the Seneca Turnpike were improved from the rougher Indigenous trails whose routes they utilized into regular, if rough, wagon roads. But it wasn’t until the 1790s that New York State’s turnpike era took off.

This was good news to migrants and local travelers alike, as deep ruts along the former “Indian trails” made transportation impractical and slow. It took days just to go a few miles and the limited number of ferries, bridges and fords often caused wagons to go miles out of their way to get around a lake, river, or creek. [Read more…] about The Cherry Valley & Great Western Turnpike: A Short History

The Chenango Canal: An Unrealized Dream

June 9, 2025 by Richard Williams Leave a Comment

The success of the Erie Cavnal which opened 200 years ago in 1825 caused folks around New York to petition the State to build a canal to their town. At that time roads were typically very rough – early turnpikes were mainly oriented east-west across New York, few went north or south.

Eventually, 16 lateral canals were built off the Erie Canal by the state totaling more than 750 miles and extending to various parts of New York. [Read more…] about The Chenango Canal: An Unrealized Dream

A History of Early Bridges Over Catskill Creek

April 14, 2025 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

During Theodore Burr and Jonathan Baldwin’s trek in 1792-1793 from western New England to Oxford NY, they arrived via a ferry on the west bank of the Hudson River at a place called Catskill (or Kaatskill).

While Burr and Baldwin may have disembarked at a place not too far from the junction of the mighty Hudson River and the Kaatskill Creek, a 46-mile southward flowing tributary of the Hudson, with its scattering of buildings, it is possible the ferry continued to carry them upstream to a settlement then called Madison, which today is the hamlet of Leeds. [Read more…] about A History of Early Bridges Over Catskill Creek

Watching Wildlife: Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society Sanctuary

October 8, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

The Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society Sanctuary overlooking Oneonta in southern Otsego County is the site of the Franklin Mountain Hawkwatch, one of New York State’s premier fall hawk watch locations.

It is particularly noted for late-season flights of red-tailed hawks and golden eagles, as Franklin Mountain offers a panoramic view of the Susquehanna River Valley and the surrounding hills. [Read more…] about Watching Wildlife: Delaware-Otsego Audubon Society Sanctuary

Oneida County’s Coxe Patent: Some History

March 28, 2024 by Richard Williams Leave a Comment

To really understand the Oneida County‘s 1770 Coxe Patent, we should start with Heath Patent, granted some 140 years earlier by King Charles I. The 1629 document gave Sir Robert Heath (1575-1649) the patent for the Province of Carolana (Carolina) “to enlarge the Christian religion as our empire and increasing the Trade and Commerce of our Kingdom.” [Read more…] about Oneida County’s Coxe Patent: Some History

“Locusts of the East”: The Yankee Invasion of New York

March 9, 2024 by Guest Contributor 3 Comments

New York by 1820 was becoming a “colony from New England” to use the phrase of President Timothy Dwight of Yale. The “Puritan Pope,” as he was some times called, estimated that 60 to 67 percent of the people of New York had originated in the “land of steady habits.”

The few thousand Puritans who had established a new Zion around Boston in the 1630s were a remarkably energetic, prolific, and self-assertive people. The thin soils on the hilly lands, the harsh winters, and the stern theology of John Calvin created a distinct community spirit and shaped a unique character. [Read more…] about “Locusts of the East”: The Yankee Invasion of New York

Rescue Crews Recover Bodies Upstate, Including Crane Mountain Climber

February 6, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Backcountry rescue crews had a busy week last week when they responded to reports of people missing in Otsego and St. Lawrence County and a medical emergency in Warren County, NY. The bodies of three people were recovered, including an ice climber who suffered a heart attack at Crane Mountain in the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Rescue Crews Recover Bodies Upstate, Including Crane Mountain Climber

Forest Rangers Recover Two Bodies in Separate Incidents Upstate

January 3, 2024 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers, typically respond to lost or injured hikers and hunters, but just before Christmas they found themselves responding to the retrieval of two bodies from the backcountry in Upstate New York. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Recover Two Bodies in Separate Incidents Upstate

An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

November 6, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

The following letter, “A Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal To Carbondale,” appeared in the Register of Pennsylvania on August 14, 1830 and was written in the city of New York on August 2, 1830. This letter was discovered and transcribed by George A. Thompson, a volunteer scholar at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, and slightly edited and annotated by John Warren.

Mr. Croswell – I perceive by the paper, that a packet boat commences this day, to run regularly for the remainder of the season, on the Delaware and Hudson canal. Among the pleasant and healthy tours that are now sought after, I would strongly recommend a trip on that canal. [Read more…] about An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

The Bridging of Early America: Bridge Builders and Forgotten Timber Spans

October 24, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Theodore Burr (1771-1822) was the most prominent of America’s three early nineteenth century timber bridge-building pioneers, the others being Timothy Palmer (1751-1821) and Lewis Wernwag (1769-1843). All three built long-span timber bridges in the Northeast.

A transplant from Connecticut, Theodore Burr moved to Oxford, Chenango County, New York in 1792-1793. In less than thirty years, he erected timber bridges over major rivers – the Hudson, Schoharie, Mohawk, Delaware, Potomac, and Susquehanna – in New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, District of Columbia, and Maryland. [Read more…] about The Bridging of Early America: Bridge Builders and Forgotten Timber Spans

Early Inhabitants of the Finger Lakes Region

August 14, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

According 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

Chautauqua Fish Hatchery & NY’s Muskellunge Fishery

April 28, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Chautauqua Fish Hatchery is located on Prendergast Point, midway on the west side of Chautauqua Lake, off State Route 394 near Mayville, in the town of Chautauqua, Chautauqua County, NY. It’s the only hatchery in the New York State that raises pure strain muskellunge – the largest freshwater sportfish in New York. Each spring, hatchery staff collect and fertilize about 1.5-2 million eggs from wild muskellunge, usually from Chautauqua Lake. Fertilized eggs are then hatched and reared at the hatchery. [Read more…] about Chautauqua Fish Hatchery & NY’s Muskellunge Fishery

Freedom in New York: Chenango County, the Underground RR & US Colored Troops

April 4, 2023 by Harry Bradshaw Matthews 13 Comments

During Black History Month 2023, I received an email from Jill Mirabito, a longtime resident of Norwich, Chenango County, NY, and Associate Vice President for University Advancement at SUNY Oneonta. The note pertained to the Chenango County Historical Society having honored Benjamin J. Tillett, an African American resident of Norwich during and after the Civil War. He had been a slave in Northeast North Carolina before arriving in Norwich.

In November 1863, Tillett enlisted in the 11th United States Colored Heavy Artillery (also known as the 14th Rhode Island Heavy Artillery). He returned to Norwich after the war and died there in 1902. Before his death, he had a membership with the E.B. Smith Post, GAR, A Knight Templar of Palestine Commandery, and attended religious services frequently at the local AME Zion Church. The admiration that Tillett received from his adopted residence caught my attention. I was intrigued. [Read more…] about Freedom in New York: Chenango County, the Underground RR & US Colored Troops

Burbot: New York’s Misunderstood Cod Cousin

February 25, 2023 by Guest Contributor 2 Comments

In the midst of winter, the ice-covered lakes of the Northeast seem quiet. It may, however, be a bit noisy below the ice. Winter into early spring is the spawning season for burbot, when males produce sounds to attract mates. [Read more…] about Burbot: New York’s Misunderstood Cod Cousin

Bobcat Ranney: The Hermit of Dogtown

October 27, 2022 by Dave Waite Leave a Comment

According to “A Who’s Who of Adirondack Hermits,” in the Fiftieth Anniversary edition of Adirondack Life magazine there were only two in Warren County: artist John Henry Hill at Phantom Island on Lake George and Archie “Bobcat” Ranney of Baker’s Mills.

Hill only lasted six years, from 1870 until 1876: the year he was picked up and sent to an asylum, never to return to the county. Archie, on the other hand, made his mark in Adirondack history and lore by “hermiting” for twenty years in Baker’s Mills, a hamlet in the town of Johnsburg. [Read more…] about Bobcat Ranney: The Hermit of Dogtown

Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

August 11, 2022 by John Conway 2 Comments

On August 11th, 1779, at the height of America’s war for independence, General John Sullivan arrived at Tioga Point on the Susquehanna River at the Pennsylvania-New York border with a large force of men and began construction of what would become known as Fort Sullivan. [Read more…] about Lt. John Jenkins: Guiding The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign

Restoring American Shad in the Susquehanna River

July 9, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Native and colonial Americans fished for shad for sustenance, often smoking the flesh and consuming the roe as a delicacy.

American shad continued to be an important recreational and commercial fishery throughout the 20th Century. However, the shad stock has since dramatically declined due to shoreline development, pollution and over fishing, and as a result all recreational and commercial fisheries for American shad were closed in 2010.

As part of an effort to restore American shad (Alosa sapidissima) in New York, DEC Fisheries staff, in collaboration with the PA Fish and Boat Commission, recently stocked 322,000 American shad fry (young fish) into the Susquehanna River in Endicott, Broome County, NY.

Susquehanna River

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