Genesee River

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Genesee River (Čunehstí•yu•1[1])
River
Upper Genesee near Belmont
Country	USA
States	New York, Pennsylvania
Counties	NY: Monroe, Livingston, Wyoming, Allegany PA: Potter
Tributaries
- left	Oatka Creek[2], Black Creek[2]
- right	Canaseraga Creek[2], Honeoye Creek[2]
Cities	Rochester, NY, Wellsville, NY, Genesee, PA, Geneseo, NY
Source
- location	Ulysses Township, Potter County, Pennsylvania, USA
- elevation	2,240 ft (683 m)
- coordinates	41°54′12″N 77°43′58″W / 41.90333°N 77.73278°W / 41.90333; -77.73278
Secondary source
- location	Ulysses Township, Potter County, Pennsylvania, USA
- elevation	2,320 ft (707 m)
- coordinates	41°51′20.5″N 77°49′48.4″W / 41.855694°N 77.830111°W / 41.855694; -77.830111
Mouth	Lake Ontario
- location	Charlotte, Rochester, Monroe County, New York, USA
- elevation	256 ft (78 m)
- coordinates	43°15′31″N 77°36′10″W / 43.25861°N 77.60278°W / 43.25861; -77.60278
Length	157 mi (253 km)
Basin	2,500 sq mi (6,475 km2)
Discharge	for Rochester
- average	4,430 cu ft/s (125 m3/s)
Discharge elsewhere (average)
- Portageville, NY	2,720 cu ft/s (77 m3/s)
Map of Genesee River
Wikimedia Commons: Genesee River

The Genesee River is a North American river flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York. Falls along the river are within the gorge of Letchworth State Park and within Rochester, where they provided power to 19th century industry. The 1952 Mount Morris Dam is the largest flood control dam east of the Mississippi River; its capacity was only exceeded during the 1972 Hurricane Agnes.

The river was the original source of power and commerce in the Rochester area. During the early 19th century mills along the river ground more flour than anywhere else in North America, earning Rochester one of its nicknames "Flour City".^{[citation needed]}

The headwaters of the Genesee river include the Eastern Triple Divide (near Gold, Pennsylvania)^[3] which is the triple watershed point located at the intersection of watersheds of the Atlantic Seaboard, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at the respective Pennsylvania headwaters of Pine Creek (West Branch Susquehanna River), the Allegheny River, and the Genesee River.

[edit] Geology

The present river valley has been modified extensively from preglacial river valleys. The original river had two branches. The east branch has a larger preglacial valley. It runs south of Mount Morris. It was completely blocked by extensive terminal moraines just south of Dansville, so most of the upper section was diverted toward the Susquehanna River system. Now only a small creek flows in what is left of this large valley. The west branch, which was smaller, is now the Genesee River above Mount Morris.

The present river is the western branch of the preglacial system. Along its entire course, the rock layers are tilted to the south an average of forty feet per mile, so the river flows across progressively older bedrock as it flows northward. It rises in the highlands of the Allegheny Plateau in conglomerate, sandstone and shale rocks of Mississippian and Pennsylvanian age, passing through and often exposing older rocks as it drops. At Letchworth it exposes shales (some rich in hydrocarbons), siltstones and some limestones of Devonian age. At Rochester it again cuts a canyon with three more waterfalls in limestones and shales of Silurian age. The river is a highly favored area for fossil collectors, as one can find a great variety from a very long time span, within the short course of the river.

[edit] History

The Genesee River Valley westward to Lake Erie and the Niagara River was the homeland of the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy, also known as The Keepers of the Western Door, as they were the westernmost nation. The Senecas were gradually divested of their homelands and now have just three small reservations left.

The falls at present day Rochester were likely the main reason for the city's existence, as they provided water power for mills.^[4] When the Erie Canal was completed in 1825 the mills could ship their products cheaply to New York City, and business boomed. Rochester became known as the Flour City.

The Erie Canal crossed the Genesee River by a stone aqueduct a few hundred feet north of the center of the then Village of Rochester. The original aqueduct was completed in September 1823 and was 802 feet (244 m) long and 17 feet (5.2 m) wide. The aqueduct was rebuilt between 1836 and 1842. This enlarged aqueduct was 848 feet (258 m) long and 45 feet (14 m) wide. The 1842 aqueduct can be seen today as the lower level of the Broad Street (Rochester) bridge across the Genesee River. The Erie Canal was rerouted south of Rochester in 1917 and now flows across the river at grade in Rochester's Genesee Valley Park.

Most of New York west of the Genesee River was part of the Holland Purchase after the American Revolution. From 1801 to 1846 the entire region was sold to individual owners from the Holland Land office in Batavia, New York. Today the region derives its name from the river and is generally referred to as Genesee Country. To the east of the river is the Finger Lakes geographic region.

Following the spectacular success of the Erie Canal, completed in 1825, a group of investors dreamed of connecting the Erie Canal to the Mississippi River System by building a new canal from the Erie, near Rochester, up the Genesee Valley, across to the Allegany River at Olean, thence downward to the Ohio and Mississippi valleys. Construction of the Genesee Valley Canal was begun in 1836, and new sections extended upriver, southward until 1880. During that time the canal was an important commercial route for the valley. The canal was plagued by frequent flood damage and the final leg down the Allegany River was never completed.

The most difficult section to build was the bypass around the gorge and falls at present day Letchworth Park. The canal followed the old Native American portage route, which necessitated many locks. These old locks can still be seen near Nunda. The project was abandoned and the right of way was sold in 1880. The property became the roadbed for the Genesee Valley Canal Railroad, which eventually merged with the Pennsylvania Railroad. Much of the canal and railroad right-of-way is open to the public today as the Genesee Valley Greenway. On Friday, November 13, 1829 (Friday the 13th), Sam Patch, the daredevil, jumped to his death before 8,000 spectators at the Upper Falls of the Genesee in Rochester.

Floods

In 1865, a sudden March thaw flooded Downtown Rochester, the worst flood in the city's history. After a flood in 1913 that was almost as severe, the rock bed of the Genesee River in Downtown Rochester was cut to make the river channel deeper. The "great flood of 1972",^{[citation needed]} spawned from the remnants of Hurricane Agnes, wreaked devastation upon the county with the most concentrated damage occurring at and near the Village of Wellsville.

In 1852 a wooden railroad bridge was built over the Upper Falls at Portageville. It was the largest of all wooden bridges built at the time. The wood from 300 acres (1.2 km²) of trees was required for its timber. In the "summer of 1943", Arch Merrill walked the length of the Genesee River and subsequently authored A River Ramble: Saga of the Genesee Valley.^[5][6]

[edit] References

Note 1: Čunehstí•yu• is from the Seneca tribe name Chin-u-shio (Tuscarora language) meaning a beautiful open valley,^[7] good valley or pleasant valley.

v • d • e Genesee River Tributaries Geography Lake Ontario • Glaciated Allegheny Plateau (Eastern Triple Divide) • Upstate New York (rivers, geography, Southern Tier) • NY/PA border • Pennsylvania (rivers, geography, Northern Tier) • Genesee Valley Greenway (canal) • Letchworth State Park • Mount Morris Dam River communities (north-to-south) NY: Irondequoit • Rochester • Gates • Brighton • Town of Chili • Henrietta • Wheatland • Rush • Caledonia • Avon • York • Geneseo • Geneseo • Leicester • Mount Morris • Castile • Portage • Genesee Falls • Portageville • Hume • Granger • Caneadea • Belfast • Angelica • Amity • Scio • Wellsville • Willing • Whitesville PA: Ulysses