I think this will be my last trip of the season to view falls in the Finger Lakes area. I literally started out in Seneca country when I visited Letchworth Park and ended up back there a week ago. In between Seneca visits I covered Cayuga and Onondaga territory.
These pictures were taken in and around the City of Montour Falls in Schuyler County. I’d only been there once previously to see an orthopedic surgeon, Joseph Mannino, about the arthritis in my knees. For most of his life he was an Ithaca doctor, and now, alas, has retired. But I’m straying from my subject.
She-Qua-Ga Falls, the falls that is located in town, is 156 feet tall, and is an example of a cascade waterfall. The City of Montour Falls and Letchworth Park are roughly 80 miles apart, not surprising when one considers that the Senecas were the most powerful tribe of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The Western New York Waterfall Survey mentions a Seneca warrior who trained his voice by bellowing over the sound of the falls.
Unfortunately, the waterfalls often serve as sirens to the young. If you go from the top of the falls in the photo to the bottom of the photo and the pool of water beneath the falls, you can get an idea of why. Falling off the cliff or jumping off the cliff would be dangerous. The water here is very shallow, as is true for many of the waterfalls in New York. In addition, when a waterfall has a lot of water, a whirlpool tends to form underneath it and swimmers will often find themselves caught up and unable to get out. We have had a number of deaths near the waterfalls in Ithaca and just outside in Buttermilk, Treman, and Taughannock Parks; some are suicides, but some are just caused by falling rock or simply not understanding how to navigate such unusual geological formations and the water that spills over them.
Right outside of Montour Falls is Havana Glen Park, home of Eagle Cliff Falls. The trail follows McClure Creek and is quite easy, except for two tiers of metal stairs that left me unnerved. I took one step at a time and held the railing tightly. A small waterfall spilled over low rocks at the very beginning.
All of the people there were adults, people from their thirties into their seventies, playing under the waterfall and skipping from rock to rock in a way one would not be able to do after a snow melt or a heavy rain. The only potential danger was falling shale, but everyone was ignoring that possibility.
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Remember Irvine Park in Chippewa Falls? There’s a dam (Glen Loch) and a spillway at the top. A popular swimming spot for kids but dangerous. Rosy lost one of her friends there in 4th grade. The boy got caught in one of those whirlpools under the falls and drowned.
I remember that you and I took a walk in the park, but I’m not sure I remember the spillway. It’s too bad that something so beautiful can also be so dangerous.