Grasse River
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The Grasse River is a river in northern New York, in the United States.
The river flows mainly north-easterly from the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains into the St.Lawrence Valley, making up what is known as the greater St.Lawrence River Drainage Basin along with other rivers such as Oswegatchie River and Raquette River.
The Source
The river is created by a series of small ponds, lakes and streams located in the Northern New York towns of Russell, Clare and Clifton. Two main branches of streams and ponds do lay claim as the main source known as the Northern Branch and Southern Branch. The southern branch is the dominate flow of the river, feeding off Moosehead Pond (and Little Moosehead Pond) and is located near the hamelet of Degrasse. The weaker northern branch is fed from smaller ponds such as Clear Lake, Bullhead Pond and Horseshoe Pond near the hamlet of Russell, and has a State Forest Reservered known as the Grasse River Wild Forest Reserve. The two branches meet in the town of Russell and form the main branch of the river which slowly grows along its track north-easterly.
This area of New York was first explored in the 1790s as part of the Macomb Purchase, in which Alexander Macomb a rich American Revolution Merchant purchased 3.6 million acres from New York State at twelve cents an acre. This area was divided into counties and townships which were established between 1800 to 1815. The area thrived on thick pine forests and ore rich grounds mining metals and stone. On the St.Lawrence valley floor the pine forests razed gave way to agriculture, and lead to industry.
The Course
The Grasse River along with the other rivers flowing to the St. Lawrence River served as a water power source for several mills in the towns and hamlets along its course. Virtually none of this excists in today's world, but stone foundations, burned out furnaces and other ancient structures can be located along its banks. Several old world dams excist along the path of the Grasse River, while its so called "twin" sister river, The Raquette contains a series of old and new age hydropower dams.
The Grasse River makes it way through many small hamlets and two major towns, Massena and the St. Lawrence County Seat, Canton. From the town of Russell where its two source branches meet, the river makes it way down into the village of Canton flowing mostly north away from the Adirondack Foothills. It flows past the hamlet of Morley (town of Canton) and Bucks Bridges (town of Potsdam) into the township of Madrid. The first of two major dams appears just several yards west of New York Highway 345. Just south of the dam is the Madrid Municipal Park which host several large events during the summer season. The Madrid Country Club is located upriver from the park on the northern bank. From this point the river flows northwards to the hamlet of Chase Mills near Cole's Creek State Park on the St. Lawrence River.
From Chase Mills the river begins its north-easterly path into the township of Louisville passing through a series of small rapids or waterfalls, depending on the amount of water flowing. The river then flows into the township and village of Massena, passing by the Massena Rod & Gun Club on the northern bank, in the township of Louisville.
The river flows into the village of Massena and makes up the northern boundary of the downtown district. On the southern end of the village the Raquette River and was the location of the once famed Massena Health Spa and Health Spring. Located several yards east of the downtown bridge on the Grasse River is the second remaining major dam of the river, only known as the Downtown Dam or "weir", standing only 3 to 4 feet tall. In the late 1990s the mid-section of the weir was breached and now lies several yards away from the dam.
The river continues to cut through the village of Massena to the eastern borders where the old Massena Power Canal connects with the river. This canel was constructed by the Pittsburgh Reduction Company (now the Aluminum Company of America (ALCOA) in the 1900s. The canel connects the Grasse River with the St.Lawrence River and was used for Hydropower Dam. The dam is known as one of the first 10 hydro-dams built in the United States, but only operated to 1956 when the St. Lawrence river was flooded for the St. Lawrence Seaway Project. The St. Lawrence River end of the canel is blocked off by a massive wall, known as the Massena Intake (the village water supply is also drawn in by this wall). On the Grasse River end the cement and brick structure of the old powerhouse remains, without any equipment inside or the original buildings.
The river from the old powerhouse onwards is calm and level to its mouth in the St. Lawrence River. This section of the river is the only section that can be transversed by motor/power boats, but activity is light as Lake St. Lawrence is the draw for boating in the area (which is behind a pair of shipping locks and two dams if you were trying to travel from the Grasse to the lake). This was only possible during the construction of the old powerhouse, as the river was dredged to 15 feet along its course to the St.Lawrence. At the mouth of the Grasse River is Snell Lock, part of the St. Lawrence Seaway Shipping System. Several hundred yards upriver from the mouth of the Grasse is a docking area which contains a large floating crane with replacement doors to the locks, and the Tug Boat "Robinson Bay" which is used for ice breaking in the spring.
The Pollution
There are high levels of PCB Contamination in the last several miles of the Grasse, the most significant being located near the old powerhouse and at a drainage outlet on the river for the ALCOA plant located north. ALCOA has spent years cleaning this section of river. In a first attempt of cleanup the company "capped" the riverbottom so that the chemicals could not be released. This plan failed due to the ice flows in the spring which successfully breached the cap. This plan failed due to the weir break in the village of Massena, this weir before its breach had kept ice upriver longer, allowing it to melt. Since it was breached, larger pieces of ice now flow down this section of river and was accounted for the cap breach. It has also caused major erosion of the shoreline along this section of river, due to the ice gouging it out during the spring ice flows.
The Cleanups
In 2005 a company was hired by ALCOA to remove the chemicals from the riverbed near what is known as "Outfall One", one of the factory's water drainages just downriver from the powerhouse. The riverbottom was removed and pipped into machines where it was cleaned and deposited in a private land fill on ALCOA's property. ALCOA is also working on plans to prevent large chunks of ice to move down this section of river, first plans calling for large cement barriers located in the town of Louisville which has not gone well with its residents. Other ideas have included repairing and or rebuilding the Downtown Weir in Massena, but many problems have cropped up including that the weir is privately owned (by a deed that gives ownership over that section of river to the bedrock). The most recent idea was proposed by the Massena Electric Company, in which a small one turbine hydrodam would be constructed about a half mile downriver from the old weir.
See also
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