Page 59 - Old Abandoned Buildings of Northern New York

Taken on 06/23/11
Old mill buildings and ruins, as well as chimney along the Penn-Yan to Dresden railroad trail, Yates County.

Charlie Barney writes "I hope I haven't already said this in this forum. The more photos I take along the waterways of western, central, and northern N.Y., I am beginning to realize that for a number of decades, the 'mills' were the real economic engines of New York State. Add up the abandoned mill and mill-related buildings still standing, the partial ruins, and the number of mills of which all traces have disappeared, and you are talking of what once was a LOT of capital!
I have lost an on-line article about the mills' moments in the sun and subsequent decline. I won't try to repeat all that the author said, nor can I remember all of it. One point he made that you can see today (if you look closely when you drive through a village that has obviously has seen better days), there were probably multiple mills in its history. When a mill closed, the townfolk, the merchants, and of course, the village never fully recovered. The trickle-down effect.
A great source of info of this kind can be found in the popular series of "Image of America" books - the ones with the tan-colored covers that usually have an old picture on them (and plenty inside). Just about every small city and most villages already have one in print or one is being worked on. They are usually written by local historians and the string of events I mentioned above, recur again and again. The author Richard Russo writes novels (e.g. Mohawk) that are based in these places. He has chosen New York State for his settings. Although fiction, he is very historically accurate when it comes to what the end of that era meant for the fate of those big buildings and towns they supported. He garnered a Pulitzer prize along the way."

Taken on 06/23/11
Some nearby machinery, I assume related to the mill buildings.
See photos on Page 55 for some photos of two mills along the same river/trail.

On 9/12/11 Scannerman writes in reference to the top photo above;
"That's not just SOME machinery, that is THE machine: a waterwheel--the very heart that ran that factory and the early industrial revolution! I double-checked with Bob Lewis, who is the chief poobah at Lewis & Clinch in Watertown--one of the few companies left in the world that works on water wheels--to make sure. To be exact, he corrected me, it is a Francis-style horizontal double water turbine. It's an unusual one in that normally double ones have one clockwise and one counterclockwise wheel to even out the horizontal thrust on the shaft (and yes--the wheels are attached to the same shaft; the flow direction = the direction that the water goes through each wheel before "exhausting" through the wheel's center.)
My diagram [click the diagram below this message] shows one of the two set-ups that this turbine probably was (top two pix), which also show that the part of the turbine in the left third of the photo was originally in a housing which was out in the pool of SOURCE WATER. The housing has a big valve (blue arrows in center pic), over top of each set of turbine blades--when the valves were opened, the turbine began to spin. After hitting the blades, the water went OUT through the center of the wheels (red arrows), and through the tailrace to continue merrily downstream (more at https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_turbine).
The speed of the source water isn't a big deal (except to ensure a steady supply of water), but the difference in HEIGHT between the source water and the tailrace generates the power. That's why water power needs to have dams to serve as as "artificial waterfalls".
Another cool bit of trivia: The end of the "draft tube" (or a simple tunnel), that carries the water away from the turbine must always be under water to create a huge SIPHON that actually sucks water through the turbine, multiplying the effect of gravity alone!"

Taken on 06/23/11
Photos of the chimney, still fairly intact. Note the pigeons living inside it. As I walked up to it one of them fly and fluttered nearly straight up the chimney.

Date 7/25/2011. Photo by Charles B.
Erie Railroad Depot, Village of Cohocton, Steuben County.

Date 7/25/2011. Photo by Charles B.
More pics from the depot. It and the tracks are now owned by the Livonia, Avon & Lakeville Railroad. Another site mentions that there are a few sealed railroad cars out behind it.

Taken on 10/05/11
Little broken-down and abandoned camp along the Seneca River in the Town of Lysander that leads to Onondaga Lake, on Klein Island (or Klines Island) across from Wegman's Dog Park in the Onondaga Lake Park System, Liverpool, Onondaga County. There is said to be some other old cottages on the island also a Post Standard page (link removed, no longer working) mentions that it is also the home of home of "eagles, swans, otters and other wildlife."

On 10/13/11 Don Argus jr writes "This camp was built by my grandfather, Walter Argus, in the 1920s. He enjoyed it until 1937, when he lost his job and had to sell it."
Don sent us this picture of the camp when it was only a few years old, very sad to see it's present condition;

On 8/18/11 Jim Fletcher "It may not be as bad as it looks it seem to me that it is mostly the porch that is collapsing. the rest of the building may be sound."

On 11/22/20 Debbie Iozzia "Background of Klines Island. I just came across this page the other day and it made me stop. That's Senfs camp on our island. That's been abandoned for years. I actually own one of the cottages you can see from John Glenn Blvd. If you look at the camps from the bridge or in the park you will see the first camp white with the big window upstairs is my brother Mike B.
he bought the camp from our aunt and uncle Frank and Shirley Root they bought the camp in 1964. My family was there so much that my dad Don B. bought the 2 camps next door. We demolished the first one very dilapidated, and fixed up the second. We bought that one in 1967 I think. My dad passed away in 1997 mow its mine. My dad bought it from a man Bud Lefever. Mine is the one in the middle with siding and all windows around the porch. The next one down my cousin owns Lynda Wilkinson. Next 2 are owned by my friend Bill Brisette. I don't actually know what the gentlemen around the corner is doing. Well heres a little background story about the island."