Trenton Falls

Trenton Falls is a series of waterfalls along the Trenton Gorge on West Canada Creek in Oneida County, NY. In the past, it used to be a "must see" destination between the East Coast and Niagara Falls. Back then, guests could stay at the Rural Resort (c. 1823) and later, the Trenton Falls Hotel (c. 1851), commonly called Moore's hotel. Local and international visitors included wealthy merchants, farmers, diplomats, statesmen, military men, writers and artists. The area attracted renowned naturalists and geologists whose discoveries in the area have forever influenced American Geology. Decreasing local tourism brought by the railroad's expansion and economic depression eventually lead to the sale of the property. A dam and a hydroelectric powerhouse were constructed in 1899 which delivered electricity to Utica in 1901. Moore's hotel was eventually closed and demolished in 1945.

For many years, the power company encouraged the public to view the falls. A string of lawsuits brought on by people falling into the gorge or diving into the river and receiving injuries led to no trespassing signs being posted on both sides of the gorge.


More recently, Brookfield Power (formerly Brascan Power New York), the current owner of the facility, and the Town of Trenton developed the Trenton Falls Scenic Trail "to offer the public an opportunity to experience local history while enjoying splendors of nature that are rare in beauty and power". But it's open to the public only 4 weekends a year.


So on the first Saturday of October, we made the 15 mile trip to Trenton Falls. Volunteers directed visitors to designated parking spaces, manned stations along the trail, answering questions about the place.


Along the side of the trail are huge steel pipes which carry water from the dam to the powerhouse below Sherman Falls. The concrete bases of the old pipes are still visible like skeletons from the past.




Behind protective railings, we were able to look down the gorge. Sherman Falls, the first of the largest group of waterfalls on West Canada Creek, was named after John Sherman, the first owner of the property. With a nearly vertical drop of 33 feet, water had a tendency to shoot out horizontally when water volume is high, leading the Iroquios Indians to call this place Kuyahoora, or place of "leaping water".



Estimated to be 450 million years old, the rocks here, named the Trenton Limestone, have yielded numerous fossils, most notably some giant trilobites, as well as armored jellyfishes, cephalopods and echinoderms. Limestones from this area have been used in the construction of local buildings, including the Utica State Hospital as well as ten locks of the Black River Canal.



The High Falls is a set of falls making up the largest cataracts on Trenton Falls. The Lower High Falls is a series of small, cascading waterfalls which drop approximately 100 feet, the largest vertical drop in the gorge.






The Upper High Falls descends 40 feet, the second largest drop in the gorge.






The top of the Lower High Falls can be seen below to the right.




The rest of the trail was blocked due to a dangerous potential rock slide. We made a promise to ourselves to come back to see the uppermost Mill Dam Falls.




The Civil War Stone on the way out commemorated the role of Trenton Falls in hastening the end of the war between the states.
On Aug.18, 1863, Secretary of State William H. Seward met with diplomats of the seven nations who agreed to advise their countries not to recognize the confederacy.