Cayuga Creek

Cayuga Creek is a small stream in western New York, USA. The creek enters Buffalo Creek in the northwest corner of the Town of West Seneca just upstream from the New York State Thruway crossing. At that point, Buffalo Creek becomes the Buffalo River and flows into Lake Erie from Buffalo, New York.

The creek is named after the Cayuga tribe, one of the constituent members of the Iroquois.

Cities and settlements

The watershed of Cayuga Creek includes, the Towns of Alden, Cheektowaga, Elma, Lancaster, and Marilla in Erie County and the Towns of Bennington and Sheldon in Wyoming County. A sewage treatment facility in the Town of Cheektowaga discharges in to Cayuga Creek upstream of Borden Road. Downstream from Borden Road the creek runs along the Indian Road landfill.

Village centers along Cayuga Creek include:

• Lancaster, New York
• Depew, New York

Parks & History

Cayuga Creeks runs through the Lancaster Country Club and Como Lake Park in the Town of Lancaster. The Lancaster Country Club diverts some creek water for golf course irrigation.[1] In Como Lake Park, the creek is dammed upstream of Lake Avenue. Farther down stream the creek is an important feature in Stiglemeyer Park in the Town of Cheektowaga.

The first vessel built by Europeans to sail the upper Great Lakes, a forty-five ton barque named Le Griffon, was constructed at the mouth of Cayuga Creek in 1679 by René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, a French explorer, and Father Louis Hennepin, a Franciscan missionary priest, and "two score" followers.

After Cayuga Creek flooded the Village of Lancaster in the early 1940s[2], protective dikes were constructed.

See also

• List of New York rivers

External links

• Cayuga Creek Restoration Project
• [3] Cayuga Creek Canoe Trail
• Como Lake Park, Erie County Parks and Recreation
• Lancaster Country Club