Great Sacandaga Lake Continued
This is a view of the
construction of the Conklingville Dam as seen from the general area of
the"overlook". This was a major undertaking for 1929. The lake is 29
miles long and 5 miles wide at some points. All the land had to be
cleared, homes and villages demolished, cemeteries had to be moved and
all the residents had to be relocated. Note the bridge in the upper
right center of the picture. This bridge was dropped to the lake bed
and today is a favorite area to scuba dive because of the structure.
The village of Conklingville is visible in the background.
Here is a good example of
the precision blasting that was done out of solid rock to create the
spillway for the dam. This was definitely a marvel of ingenuity at
the the time it was undertaken.
Here the dam is completed
and is pretty much how it looks today, except that a railing has been
installed on the outside of the walkway. The power generation station
is visible in the background. Note the slick work with the
combination of natural stone and concrete along the edge of the
spillway. The boxes visible at the water level in front of the control
house (foreground) are emergency release valves. Each valve, there
are three, is 8 feet in diameter. The smaller boxes just above the
openings for the release valves are vents to allow the water to flow
at a faster rate.
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