Black River Canal Locks and 11.2mw?/5.6mw Powerhouse in Lyons Falls, NY

Powerhouse: (Satellite)

Black River Canal Overview

This is the waterfalls of Lyons Falls.

Evan Swingholm, Sep 2021

While looking for an image that still shows the paper mill, I found an image that allows us to clearly see the Black River Canal west of the river.

Google Earth, Apr 2005

Lyons Falls was the northern terminus of the Black River Canal. It used a series of locks to go around the falls.

1905/05 Port Leyden @ 62,500

This would be some of those locks.

LyonsFallsHistory

This is where the canal left the Black River upstream (south) of the waterfalls.

LyonsFallsHistory

Before the locks, it appears the canal went through a cut next to the paper mill. The hydropower house is behind the white tower near the center of this photo.

LyonsFallsHistory

Once you know where to look, the canal is easy to find along the river. The paper mill closed in 2001 [LyonsFallsHydro_history], and this is the last view that still has all of the paper mill buildings.

Google Earth, May 2013

Today, the only thing left is the power house.

Satellite

The dam was built on top of the waterfalls to provide a larger hydraulic head for the mill.

LyonsFallsHydro
The last update on their website was Aug 10, 2016. They got their FERC License Amendment, but the economy was "challenging." So I don't know if the $40m project was finished. Thus the question mark in the title: "11.2mw?/5.6mw." It appears that they did finish the site cleanup.

LyonsFallsHydro_gallery