| Canajoharie Creek | |
|---|---|
 Canajoharie Creek by Mill Road southwest of the hamlet of Sprout Brook | |
  Location of the mouth within New York Show map of New York Adirondack Park Canajoharie Creek (the United States) Show map of the United States | |
| Location | |
| Country | United States |
| State | New York |
| Region | Central New York |
| Counties | Otsego,Montgomery |
| Towns | Cherry Valley,Canajoharie |
| Physical characteristics | |
| Source | |
| • location | N ofCherry Valley, New York |
| • coordinates | 42°48′38″N74°44′34″W / 42.81056°N 74.74278°W /42.81056; -74.74278[1] |
| Mouth | Mohawk River |
• location | Canajoharie, New York |
• coordinates | 42°54′32″N74°34′11″W / 42.90889°N 74.56972°W /42.90889; -74.56972[1] |
• elevation | 285 ft (87 m)[1] |
| Basin size | 69.22 sq mi (179.3 km2)[2] |
| Basin features | |
| Tributaries | |
| • left | Takaharawa Brook,Bowmans Creek |
| • right | Van Deusen Brook,Tri County Creek,Brimstone Creek |
| Waterfalls | Judds Falls,Canajoharie Falls |
TheCanajoharie Creek (/ˌkænədʒəˈhɛəri/) is ariver that flows into theMohawk River in the Village ofCanajoharie in the U.S. State ofNew York.[3] The name "Canajoharie" is aMohawk language term meaning "the pot that washes itself", referring to the "Canajoharie Boiling Pot", a 20-foot (6.1 m) wide and 10-foot (3.0 m) deeppothole in the Canajoharie Creek, just south of the village of Canajoharie.Bowmans Creek is one maintributary that enters the creek east of the Hamlet ofSprout Brook.[4] The other main tributary isBrimstone Creek which enters the creek north-northwest of the Village ofAmes.[5]
Canajoharie Creek begins in aforested area north of the village ofCherry Valley along St. Butler Road. It starts traveling northward for a short distance, crossing underU.S. Route 20, then reaches the first waterfall on the creek calledJudds Falls, also known as Tekaharawa Falls.[6][7] The creek continues northward after the falls for a short distance to just before Van Derwerker Road, where it turns to the east and begins to parallel the road, and crosses under Mill Road. After crossing under Mill Road, the creek starts to parallel Mill Road. After a short distance, it crosses under Cherry Valley Road, Otsego Road, and then Vandeusenville Road. Shortly after crossing under Vandeusenville Road it meets theconfluence ofBowmans Creek, just east of the hamlet ofSprout Brook.[4][8]
After the confluence of Bowmans Creek, Canajoharie Creek begins to parallelState Route 163 (Sprout Brook Road) and crosses under Vandeusenville Road for the second time. It continues traveling eastward passing to the south of the hamlet ofBuel. After passing Buel, it crosses under South Buel Road and then crosses under Macphall Road. After crossing under Mcphall Road, the river curves to the north for a short distance, crossing under West Ames Road, then curves back eastward. After the turn back to the east, the creek reaches the confluence ofBrimstone Creek north-northwest of the village ofAmes.[5][4]
Shortly after the confluence, the creek crosses underState Route 10, passing to the north of the village of Ames. It then continues eastward and crosses under Shunk Road and Mapletown Road curving to the north briefly then back to the west by the hamlet ofWaterville. After the brief foray to the west it turns northward crossing Old Tavern Road, then after a short distance, parallels Maple Hill Road for a few hundred feet. It then turns to the northwest and reaches State Route 10 once again, and begins to parallel it. The creek then passes to the east of the hamlet ofMarshville, and under Mc Ewan Road.[9] Shortly after crossing under Mc Ewan Road, it curves to the east and begins to parallel Maple Hill.[10][4]
Roughly halfway along Maple Hill, the creek enters into the Canajoharie Gorge, as it passesWintergreen Flats. Then roughly 1.5 miles (2.4 km) from the mouth, the creek flows over the 45-foot (14 m)Canajoharie Falls.[11] The stream then continues to flow through a narrow deep canyon towards the Mohawk River. Along the way is a deeppothole called "the boiling pot". After this the creek passes through the Village ofCanajoharie and underState Route 5S before converging with theMohawk River.[10][4]
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The first Europeans to settle along the creek were Hendrick Schrembling and Marte Janse Van Alstyne around 1730 in the present village of Canajoharie. In 1750, Schrembling sold his property to his business partner, Van Alstyne. Schrembling remained in the area and ran a tavern, store andgrist mill, but moved away by the end of theAmerican Revolution. In 1772, Colonel Hendrick Frey built a mill and house along the creek.[12][13]
Johannes Roof, who arrived in 1778, bought Schrembling's properties and continued to run the inn. Located on the east bank of the creek is the house built by Gose Van Alstyne, son of Marte Janse Van Alstyne. It was built around 1775 and fortified around 1780. It was first calledFort Van Rensselaer and then changed to Fort Washington.[12][13]
There were early roads that followed the creek that led to the villages ofSharon Springs and Cherry Valley. One of the roads led toOtsego Lake and branched off at the village of Ames. The road to Otsego Lake was used byGeneral James Clinton's American army in 1779. The army had camps along the creek in the hamlets of Buel and Sprout Brook. The troops reached Otsego Lake between July 2 and 4th of 1779. Parts of this road are now known as Clinton's Road or Continental Road.[14][13][15]
At times people have had to be rescued from the creek near Wintergreen Park due toflash flooding.[16] In July 2017, 13 people were trapped due to a flash flood, then rescued from the creek near the pools located in the creek off Mill Street by the village of Canajoharie.[17] In April 2019, high water from storms caused a retaining wall to collapse in the village of Canajoharie.[18]
The name "Canajoharie" is said to be aMohawk language term meaning "the pot that washes itself,"[19] referring to the "Canajoharie Boiling Pot," a 20 feet (6.1 m) wide and 10 feet (3.0 m) deeppothole in the Canajoharie Creek, just south of the Village of Canajoharie.[20][21] The pothole was formed, over thousands of years, by the action of water and pebbles in the bedrock.[22]
In the 1700s and before, the Mohawk people, a section ofIroquois Confederacy, were based in theMohawk Valley, which included the area around the creek. Their territory ranged north to theSt. Lawrence River, southernQuebec and easternOntario; south to greaterNew Jersey and into Pennsylvania; eastward to theGreen Mountains ofVermont; and westward to the border with the IroquoianOneida Nation's traditional homeland territory.[23]
Like other gorges and ravines, Canajoharie Gorge was formed byerosion. The giant pothole located in the gorge, known as "the boiling pot", was formed by rocks eroding the surface of thelimestone bed.[14]
Rocks in the river bed include mostlydolomite, of theBeekmantown Group. Some parts arelimestone mixed withshale of theTrenton Group, which was deposited during theTrentonian stage of the middle to lateOrdovician (circa 448-458 Ma). Certain areas are overlain by theUtica Shale, roughly 1,000 feet (300 m) thick in some areas. At Wintergreen Park, the Utica Shale is a black and thinly laminated withbentonite. The occurrence of bentonite shows that volcanic ash once fell in that area or nearby. Between here and the mouth, certain sections contain fossils, includingtrilobites,brachiopods andgraptolites.[24]
TheUnited States Geological Survey (USGS) maintains twostream gauges along Canajoharie Creek. The upper one, in operation since 1993, is located 10 feet (3.0 m) upstream from the bridge on Mc Ewan Road, and 2.3 miles (3.7 km) southwest of the village of Canajoharie.[25] The lower one is located at the creek's mouth.[26]
The upper station had a maximum discharge of 5,850 cubic feet (166 m3) per second and a gauge height of 10.76 feet (3.28 m) on August 28, 2011, asHurricane Irene passed through the area. It had minimum discharge of .23 cubic feet (0.0065 m3) per second and a gauge height of 1.26 feet (0.38 m) on September 10, 2015. The upper station had a maximum water temperature of 99 °F (37 °C) on July 15, 1995.[27]
There was formerly a stream gauge just east of Sprout Brook located where Vandeusenville Road crosses the creek. It was in service from June 14, 1994 to December 19, 1995. This station had a maximum discharge of 154 cubic feet (4.4 m3) per second on June 3, 1995, and a minimum discharge of .49 cubic feet (0.014 m3) per second on September 6, 1994.[28] Another former stream gauge was located southwest of the hamlet of Sprout Brook where Mill Road crosses the creek. It was in service from September 7, 1994 to August 22, 1995. This station had a maximum recorded discharge of 3.53 cubic feet (0.100 m3) per second on September 7, 1994, and a minimum recorded discharge of .70 cubic feet (0.020 m3) per second on August 22, 1995.[29]
The USGS has been sampling water quality in this watershed since 1994.[30] TheDEC rates the Canajoharie Creek's water quality at Class C, suitable for fishing and non-contact human recreation.[31]
In spring 2019, and years in the past, the DEC stocked 1,330 8-to-9-inch-long (20 to 23 cm) and 100 12-to-15-inch-long (30 to 38 cm)brown trout into the creek.[32][33] Other species of fish in the creek arecarp.[34]Suckers can bespeared and taken from the section of the creek from the mouth upstream about 0.5-mile (0.80 km) from January 1 to May 15, each year.[35]: 23
