Gallery 401  - "50 Miles Along the Mohawk Mural"
 

About the Mural
Four Sections from the Upper to Lower Mohawk River

Herkimer, NY - Herkimer POW/MIA Bridge
 Herkimer County, composed of nineteen towns, extends from the Adirondacks to the Mohawk Valley. The vast forests to the north provide wood products and the recreational opportunities of the Adirondack Park while the southern valleys are favorable for agriculture and dairying. Various products are manufactured in factories along the Mohawk River and its larger tributaries. Tourism increases yearly due to the Erie Canal, New York State Thruway, and the Adirondacks.
The Mohawks, members of the Iroquois Confederacy, inhabited the area that was to become Herkimer County prior to 1720. The Palatines settled on the Burnettsfield Patent granted by Governor William Burnett in 1723. While thriving on the fertile valley soil and utilizing the available waterpower for mills, the Palatines fought to protect their homes during the French and Indian War and the Revolution. When westward expansion provided access to land more suitable for growing wheat, Herkimer County farmers realized that dairying would be a more profitable use of their land. The lack of a mass market for milk led to the production of cheese. By the 1850s Little Falls was the location of a world famous cheese market. Later the railroads gave access to the downstate market for milk and the cheese industry began to decline.
The Erie Canal caused the development of large valley villages and provided a means to transport goods east and west. The oldest Herkimer County industry, Remington Arms, still plays a major role in the county's economy. During the last 200 years, many products were produced in Herkimer County including rifles, typewriters, farm equipment, furniture, textiles, shoes, data recorders, bicycles, nutcrackers, paper, and dairying equipment. Immigrants from Ireland and later from eastern and southern Europe arrived to work in local industries and agriculture, providing a diversity of culture.

Little Falls - The South Side
Little Falls is home to approximately 5,900 friendly and helpful people, with a wide and diverse background. In addition, the community is accented by a variety of stores and shops, restaurants, industry, churches and organizations, schools and excellent hospital, along with a fine public library, area museums, historic sites and an arts center.
The contemporary Erie Canal is a significant feature of the City. This grand waterway, once the conduit for major commercial traffic, has become a clean, attractive destination for boating and other recreational activities. The Historic Erie Canal and Mohawk River system, along with the Western Inland Navigational Lock Canal, played an important orle in the development of Western New York and the Great Lakes region, in the 18th and 19th centuries. A precursor to the historic Erie Canal, The Western Inland Canal, built in 1792 was in operation for less than 25 years. Although economically unsuccessful, the Western Inland Canal served to demonstrate the importance and possibilities of water transportation In the state. The 1825 Erie Canal, known as Clinton's Ditch and completed in 1825, was the "Interne" of its era; opening new vistas and changing the lives of those who adventured upon its waters.
Little Falls owes its very basis for existence to the falls or rapids. The Falls was described in contrast by the Iroquois, to the great falls at Cohoes, 75 miles to the East. Cohoes Falls is at the point where the Mohawk River enters the Hudson River.
The earliest settlers of the area who appeared in the first decades of the 18th century, were involved in river trade and the commerce associated with the portage or carry, around the rapids. Little Falls was the site of several frontier industries during the 18th century, including a saw mill, grist mills and a foundry at the mouth of Furnace Creek. A cheese exchange was established and in the years 1853 - 1875, Little falls was cheese market to the Nation.
Throughout the 18th century, the area saw much growth and development, but the settlement was not incorporated into a village until 1811. In 1895, the community received its charter as the City of Little Falls. Before that, the Village also had been informally known as Rockton or Rock City. ( www.littlefallsny.com)

Palatine, NY - The Noses
Located in the Town of Palatine, a distinct geological feature looms up along the sides of the Mohawk River. Little Noses (400 feet tall) on the south side and on the north side stands Big Nose (600 feet high). These small mountains are the icons of the Mohawk Valley, called the Gateway to the West on the Old Mohawk Turnpike.
Presently, the Mohawk River, the Erie Canal, the New York State Thruway, the Railroad and State Route 5 and 5-S are all squeezed through the gateway created by the Noses. (www.schenectadyhistory.org/resources/mvgw/contents.html)

Fort Hunter, NY - Schoharie Aqueduct
Located at Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site, Fort Hunter, NY.
The stone structure extending about halfway across Schoharie Creek is what remains of the Schoharie Aqueduct. The Schoharie Aqueduct, built between 1839 and 1841 as part of the Enlarged Erie Canal, was perhaps the single greatest improvement made during the canal's enlargement phase. The 14-arch, 624 foot long aqueduct carried the Enlarge Erie above, and totally apart from, the Schoharie Creek.
The Schoharie Crossing Aqueduct is an excellent example of the great era of canal engineering. It is one of the largest Aqueducts built. It is typical of the large Erie Canal Aqueducts, and it is the only one like it remaining.
The Schoharie Aqueduct is the only Aqueduct that a contractor (Otis Eddy put his name on. The Society of Civil Engineers names it a National Historic Engineering Landmark in 1967.
 

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