[Techtalk] Re: The "Great Bergen Swamp"

wny-tc at juno.com wny-tc at juno.com
Sat Jan 26 14:37:01 EST 2002


On Friday, 25 Jan 2002 at 23:04:16 -0500, David Merrill
<david at lupercalia.net> asked:

>Hi, Keith there in the Depths of the Great Bergen Swamp
 
>(WTH *is* the Great Bergen Swamp, anyway? I've been dying to ask you.)

The "Great Bergen Swamp" is a tounge-in-cheek reference to the area I
live in.  I am in Bergen, NY, about 40 km west of Rochester, NY.  The
area was formed geologically by glacial action and was part of the
original lake be for the Lake Ontario/Mohawk/Hudson drainage before the
current St Lawrence River basin was ice-free.

I am about 200 M below the hills to the south and west and 100M lower
than the hills to the north.  The drainage runs east from here.

Before the railroads came through in the 1840's, the area was all a mass
of bogs and swamps, drained b y Black Creek eastward to the Genesee
River, and then north to Lake Ontario.  The railroads cut drainage canals
and ditched and drained down about 350 - 400 square kilometers of swamp
to (1) firm up the ground for construction, (2) kill off the mosquitos
and (3) make farm land so someone would grow crops for them the ship on
their new railroads.

(1) worked, and the trains still run
(2) did not work and the mosquitos have registration numbers on their
tails and wings and are know to carry small pets and children away
(3) worked well to this day, and agriculture is the single biggest
industry here in the area, but they ship it out in semi's now.

Far more information than you asked for David, but there is not a really
good short answer...

73, Wm. Keith Hibbert, WB2VUO, Trustee of the NQ2RP/B 10 M beacon
President, Brockport Amateur Radio Klub (BARK),
Technical Coordinator, ARRL WNY Section
Ph - 585.494.1239
mailto:wb2vuo at arrl.net
 
 
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