Sacandaga History

It is said that the name Sacandaga comes from an Indian word meaning, “Land of the Waving Grass.”  The Sacandaga River flowed quietly for centuries in the ancient valley it had carved out of its niche in the Adirondacks.  Up from the northwoods country, nurtured by the mountain streams and spring runoffs, it came down through Northville and made its way along the rich farming country of the Sacandaga Valley, passing such picturesque communities as Denton’s Corners, Osborn Bridge, Fish House, Batchellerville, West Day and Day Center until it narrowed into the gap at Conklingville and shortly after joined the mighty Hudson.

The Hudson River itself was an ancient artery of transportation.  From colonial times, the many falls north of its juncture with the Mohawk River were used to power mills and factories.  However, when heavy rains in the upper Hudson watershed coincided with spring snowmelt, the river and its tributaries often left their banks.  The resulting floods dramatically affected both people and livestock, disrupted transportation and destroyed or damaged homes and factories.

On the other hand, stream flows throughout the Hudson watershed normally declined during the summer.  In fact, there was a time when too great a decline meant that riverside mills and factories dependent upon the stream for power had to suspend operations and lay off workers.  Low stream flows also hampered transportation.  And if drought further reduced low seasonal flows to the point that the Hudson could no longer cleanse itself adequately, it posed a health hazard to riverside communities. 

As a result, it was recognized more than 100 years ago that a system of reservoirs in the Hudson watershed would help to intercept and store enough of the excess spring flows to prevent flooding and release enough of that stored water over the summer to maintain reasonable stream flow rates as natural flows declined.  High flow mitigation and low flow augmentation were seen as two interdependent, equally important, halves of an annual cycle.  And thus an old Indian’s prophetic dream came true.

Sir William Johnson was the first white man to enter the Sacandaga Valley, brought there by Indian friends in the 1790’s to fish and hunt.  Shortly thereafter, an old Indian man had a dream of more white men coming.  They did arrive, but in another part of the valley at a place later called Croweville, then Huntsville, then Town of Day or Day Centre.  That same dream also told the old man that one day, all people would leave the valley.  Strangely enough, over a hundred years later, a dam was built, and that dream was fulfilled.  It was March 27^th, 1930 when the gates of the Conklingville Dam were closed, the culmination of a series of projects that was to change the peaceful Sacandaga Valley forever.  Within a year, over 283 billion gallons of water replaced the farms, meadows and wood lots,and the above-mentioned communities disappeared…covered with water.

Today,Great Sacandaga Lake covers almost the exact area of Lake George – 29 miles long with a maximum width of 5 miles and a surface area of about 42 square miles.  It has an average depth of 40 feet but is about 90 feet deep in the narrow channel approaching the dam at Conklingville.  It has its recreational value, too, as a playground for summer visitors and owners of cottages and houses along its shore.  Its wide expanse is excellent for fishing, swimming, water skiing and, of course, boating.  Sacandaga is the “Other Lake”—beautiful, accessible, and non-commercialized.

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