Living here in Ulster County, we are blessed with many beautiful sites. Among them is the Ashokan Reservoir.
A Bit of History...
In the early 20th century, New York City turned to the Catskills for water after discovering a group calling itself the Ramapo Water Company had bought up the rights to many water sources further south in Rockland, Orange and Ulster counties. The Catskills were more desirable as state-owned Forest Preserve land in the region could not, under the state constitution, be sold to any other party.
Residents of the area to be flooded did not take kindly to the idea, and fought eminent domain proceedings bitterly. They were aided by local lawyers familiar with the checkered history of Catskill land claims.
It saddens me that generations of people were kicked off their property...9 villages were destroyed
It is said that 3/4 of the land needed for the project was obtained by condemnation proceedings.
It was said the local opponents of the reservoir cast doubt on its soundness, saying it could never hold enough water (it would be the largest reservoir in the world at the time), but when it was filled from 1912 to 1914, they were silenced. About 1,000 residents along with roads, homes, shops, farms, churches, and mills were either moved or abandoned, but most of them were torn down. Several of these communities were re-established in nearby locations.
12.45 miles (20 km) of a local railroad line (the Ulster and Delaware Railroad) was moved and cemeteries were relocated.
The dam was constructed destroying most of the trees and buildings in the area. Fighting would often break out in the labor camps, so a police force, (later became the New York City Department of Environmental Protection (NYCDEP) Police, was formed to keep peace in the camps. The dam was constructed with Rosendale cement, which at the time was the world's strongest cement. When the dam was completed, giant steam whistles blew for one hour, signaling to people in the valley to evacuate immediately.
Some relocated communities survive along the reservoir's banks, such as West Shokan, Olivebridge, Ashokan and Shokan. Most, however, such as Brown's Station, are remembered in historical markers.
It is New York City's deepest reservoir, being over 190 feet (58.5 m) deep at its deepest. At full capacity, the reservoir can hold 122.9 billion gallons of water, has a 255-square-mile.
The reservoir has 2 basins with one (the upper basin) being 7 inches higher than the other (lower basin). Water does not flow freely
After 9-11, the city and state decided to permanently close the spillway road to vehicular traffic as a security precaution. This has added a great deal more traveling time and distance for those on the south side of the reservoir to reach locations to the north.
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