Portageville

St Helena, ghost town of the Genesee, 1797-1954

St. Helena Water Gauge

Mr. C. Scott De Golyer has been very helpful in giving us the following information about the recording gauge installed at St. Helena to check the water stage of the river. This station was established by George M. Brett and Charles E. Allen on August 14, 1908. It consisted of a standard Geological Survey chain gauge attached to the lower chord of the first left-hand panel of the middle span of the highway bridge. It was converted to a recording gauge station by W. G. Hoyt and C. S. De Golyer on August 24, 1911. The first recording gauge was […]

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St Helena, ghost town of the Genesee, 1797-1954

River Travelers along the Genesee River

During the more quiet season of the Genesee River, it was a source of pleasure, not only to local people, but to the Rochester Canoe Club, as well. From the Castilian of May 31, 1897, we take this item: “The Rochester Canoe Club, on its annual cruise down the Genesee River, made up of the following members: H.M. Stewart, Cort Avery, Al T. Brown, Wm. Patterson, Lee Rishwood, Col. C. H. Moody, Frank L. Dodgson, L. P. Newton, H. Cliff Shaw, Dr. F. R. Smith, P. P. Dickenson, Frank P. Crouch, H. B. Squire, Jas. K. Hand, Chas. B. Wolters,

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St Helena, ghost town of the Genesee, 1797-1954

Valley Obstacles

About 1885 another obstacle presented itself to the people of St. Helena. The state began talking about a storage dam in the Genesee River to furnish a reserve supply of water for the Erie Canal west of Rochester. To the valley farmers this seemed a major catastrophe and many were greatly opposed to it. However, a site for the dam was controversial. If built about a mile and a quarter above the mill dam at Mt. Morris, the natural river bank would form the walls of the reservoir, but the farm lands would be flooded and St. Helena would be

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St Helena, ghost town of the Genesee, 1797-1954

St. Helena’s Patriotic Life

St. Helena’s young men responded quickly when their country called for volunteers during the Civil War, 1861-65. Among them were: Charles Buckley, Eugene Buckley, Milton Burnap, Emerson Crowley, George Crowley, Franklin Eddy, George Green, James Green, Fitch Merithew, Hiram Merithew, Philander Merithew, Chauncey Orsburn, Albert Piper, George Piper, Henry Piper, John Piper, Myron Powell, Hugh Skillin, Sherman Streeter, George Westbrook and Emmett Wood. Many of those boys drilled on fields near Portage High Bridge. There were such large numbers of volunteers that the hastily built barracks could not house all of them. It is said that old buildings, used for

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