Kate
F. says: "The land that you see across the river is actually an island, which I
believe is abandoned. There used to be houses and a tannery and saw mill on it,
but the bridge that connected it to the main land was taken down not too long
ago. You can still see where the bridge was, and in fact on any map that you
look at, it shows the bridge."
On 8/12/12 Tom
Medvick wrote "In 1958 0r 59', (14 or 15 yrs old)myself and Mike Dangerfield
went over this dam when water was running a foot or two above it. He with an
innertube and me on an army air mattress. Few bumps and cuts but nothing
serious, other than Mike being trapped for a few revolutions in the curl at
bottom of dam. We floated under the old wooden plank bridge and got out just
before the main highway bridge."
sfcxman writes "I had a map that showed the first bridge washed out in 1963. The
remaining bridge to the island had a fire department connection that ran the
length of the bridge so that water could be pumped over in case of a fire since
most all vehicles were too heavy to cross."
On
03/23/12 Jack S. writes "Mud Gate. This is what the tunnel in the bottom
of the dam was called when I asked years ago. Many of the dams on the Beaver
River have these. They were built first then a coffer dam was built to guide the
River through while the rest of the dam was being built. After the dam was
finished the gate was blocked with timbers that held the water back until it
reached the desired level."
Frederick
C: "Growing up in Felts Mills in the mid 30's was a lot of fun. In the summer
we would cross over the river and go berrying on what was then Pine Camp and
often took the road into Black River. The bridge was probably removed when the
new entrance to Camp Drum was constructed. The mill was still producing paper
and would take the rolls of paper to the rr siding up on the hill."On 4/30/13 John R.
writes "I lived in Felts Mills in the 70's and can remember "exploring" the
river and dams..Near the Firehouse there was a bar I think called the 'chez
perez'. Also, our next door neighbor had a pet bear that I think was a retired
circus bear. Does anyone else rember that?"on 3/11/2017 Jerry E.
writes "I lived in one of the duplexes on the island from ~ 1955 to 1964. Used
to play and fish from the bridges; and in the mill semi circular enclaves aside
the river. Would often cross old bridge to enter the Army base. Climbed all over
those bridges."
Donald D. writes: "I grew up in Felts Mills. The smaller dam on the right
is where the Felts Mills Creek dumps into the Black River. The creek is a
far cry from what it was back in the 60's and early 70's. The old dam
which is the main topic in photo was a spot where we would jump off and fish
from. Note: The water supply for the town came from the right, above the
Route 3 bridge looking east on Route 3. There are some of the pipeline and well
boxes left. The main dam, well boxes for the springs are located up stream from
the bridge about @ 1/4 mile."
On 9/30/2021 SFCXman writes "The arches are no more. The arches in the above picture had trees growing on top of them finally eroded away and fell into the river."
Vinton writes "These
are the old gears which raised and lowered the "headgates" (intake opening
gates) for the old power turbines. It took a lot of effort to crank them even
when they were in ordinary use!"
© Copyright 2004-
OABONNY. All Rights Reserved. Site first online on July
28, 2004 
