Jules HoeptingCohoes, a six-story waterfall.
Between 70-90 feet tall, Cohoes Falls is New York’s second tallest waterfall. The tallest are the American and Bridal Falls of Niagara Falls, both between 90-120 feet in height.
By no means is Cohoes — or Niagara for the matter — one of the world’s tallest waterfalls, but the Mohawk River waterfall is a magnificent sight to behold.
I have to emphasis this. Pictures fall short in providing the falls justice.
When I saw pictures come up on Google Maps, the 90-foot drop looked like a tiny trinkle free falling for a few feet. An adorable creek, but nothing to write home about.
When I saw it, I immediately took a picture and sent it to my mother.
At Falls View Park, you can walk across a hydropower canal, head down a long, steep staircase, and get close to the riverbanks and to the rush of the hydropower plant. For inferable reasons, the staircase is closed off during certain times of the year.
Cohoes, New York.
A 10-mile, 15 minute drive from Albany.
A city that owes its success to two crazes in U.S. history: dams (over 90,000 currently in the U.S.) and canals (over 4,000 miles by the end of the 19th century, many of them now abandoned).
People dammed up the Mohawk River for flood control and to use its power for textile, ironwork, and other industries. They dug both the Erie and Champlain Canal through the city. They sold and shipped products on the canals. Cohoes was known as “Juncta” because it was the original junction of the Erie and Champlain Canals, and was well-known for its textile production.
In the early 1900’s, both the Erie and Champlain Canals were rerouted. Champlain became a canalized version of the Hudson River. Erie took a different route, resulting in the Flight of Five Locks in Waterford, a U.S. record-holder for highest canal lift in shortest distance at 169 feet in a little over two miles.
Unlike other places, ditching the man-made navigation ditch has not ditched the city. The river and the falls, which had been harnessed for their power before canals, are still there. Today, 90% of Cohoes Falls is used for hydroelectricity, the remaining 10% set aside for “a mandatory minimum aesthetic flow.” Niagara, for comparison, draws 50-75% of water for hydroelectricity, depending on the time of year; More flow is drawn during tourist season. Again, the idea of an aesthetic flow.
The overall aesthetic of the city itself creates a neat atmosphere. A place high up on a riverbank, suitable for an evening stroll. If you’re in the Albany area, I’d recommend stopping by.
