Sacandaga River

River course

The Sacandaga River's headwaters north of Great Sacandaga Lake begin in the town of Lake Pleasant. From Lake Pleasant, the river follows a short moving course or path known as the Sacandaga Outlet (under New York Route 8) into Lake Pleasant. The Sacandaga River drains Lake Pleasant at a location next to the public beach in the village of Speculator. The river then follows a winding path through some wetlands and various ecosystems through the county. In Speculator, the Sacandaga River Community Park was built by local volunteers and has a number of boardwalks and pathways that follow the course of the river.

Near the town boundary between Wells and Lake Pleasant, the river flows into a series of ponds. The Sacandaga River course takes a steep path flowing over a series of waterfalls including Christine Falls, Austin Falls and Auger Falls.

The East Branch joins the trunk stream in the town of Wells. After flowing through Wells, the river enters Lake Algonquin, a manmade impoundment constructed in the 1920s to stimulate the community's tourism industry. The East Branch goes through Johnsburg in Warren County and flows parallel to, in part, NY Route 8, passing the communities of Oregon in Johnsburg and Griffin in the town of Wells.

The Sacandaga flows out of Lake Algonquin into a hydro-electric plant and follows a course of rapids to Great Sacandaga Lake through the towns of Hope and Benson. In that area, it connects with Groff Creek. Then it enters the Great Sacandaga Lake in the village of Northville, which it flows through the lake to the Conklingville Dam. Subsequently, it enters the town of Hadley, where it ends at the Hudson River. Downstream of Stewart's Dam in Hadley, recreational releases are held by Brookfield Energy, creating a two-mile Class II whitewater run to the Hudson River for local paddlers.

Hydrology

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) maintains a few stream gauges along Sacandaga River. The one station located 4.5 mi upstream from Hope, had a maximum discharge of 32000 cuft per second on March 27, 1913, and a minimum discharge of 16 cuft per second on September 30, 1913.{{cite web | access-date = 10 May 2020}} Another station located 1.4 mi upstream from the mouth in operation since 1907, had a maximum discharge of 35500 cuft per second on March 28, 1913, and a minimum discharge of 4.2 cuft per second on May 4, 1985, March 30–31, and many days in April 1992. Since the construction of Great Sacandaga Lake in 1930, the maximum discharge was 16500 cuft on May 2, 2011.{{cite web | access-date = 10 May 2020}}

Tributaries

Right

Johnson Vly Stream

Shanty Brook

Dunning Creek

West Branch Sacandaga River

Groff Creek

Petes Creek

West Stony Creek

Cloutler Creek

Batcheller Creek

Gordons Creek

Daly Creek

Breen Brook

Left

Kunjamuk River

Fly Creek

Robbs Creek

Macomber Creek

East Branch Sacandaga River

Mill Creek

Coulombe Creek

Doig Creek

East Stony Creek

Beecher Creek

Sand Creek

Glasshouse Creek

Paul Creek

Allentown Creek

Bell Brook

Mink Brook

Man Shanty Brook

Dam and reservoir

The Conklingville Dam, finished in 1930, located by the west town line of Hadley, greatly expanded the width of the river, creating Great Sacandaga Lake, formerly called the Great Sacandaga Reservoir.

References

• Documents of the Assembly of the State of New York: SACANDAGA RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN

References

1. "The National Map". U.S. Geological Survey.
2. [https://books.google.com/books?id=MBQTAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA23 Aboriginal place names of New York, By William Martin Beauchamp, page 23]
3. "ACME Mapper".
4. [http://adirondackscenicbyways.org/resource/sacandaga-river.html Adirondack Scenic By-Ways: ''Adirondack Trails and the Sacandaga River'']
5. [http://saratoganygenweb.com/sacscrap.htm Saratoganygenweb.com: ''Sacandaga River and the Conklingville Dam'']