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 Photo of the Month

April 2003

Object ID:  1985.035

Photographer:  Jesse Sumner Wooley

Date:  1929

Panoramic view of the electric power plant and the Hudson River regulating dam on the Sacandaga River. 

Until 1930, the Hudson River had a terrible reputation for flooding in the spring, yielding devastation from Glens Falls to Albany, and for drying up to a trickle in the summer, causing river-side factories who relied on the water power to close for periods of time.  Finally, after terrible floods in the 1910's, the Hudson River Regulating District was created in 1922 by act of Legislature.  Its first task was to clear and dam the Sacandaga Valley.  Some 27,000 acres of land was condemned, and residents had until the  middle of 1929 to move.  Remaining buildings were burned, trees felled, and 3,872 graves were relocated.  

The dam, pictured here under construction, was built at Conklingville and was made of earth, rock, and concrete on hardened granite dust.  It was 1100 feet long and 100 feet high.  Finally, in 1930, it was ready and by summer 1930 the Great Sacandaga Lake was full.

The Great Sacandaga Lake is the 8th largest lake in New York State, is 29 feet long and up to 5 miles in width.  It covers an area of 42 square miles, ranges from 40-65 feet deep, and holds over 283 billion gallons of water.

Gift of the Washington County Historical Society

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