Great Falls (Passaic River)
| Great Falls | ||
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 The waterfall and the footbridge to the basalt rock |
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| Coordinates | 40 ° 54 '59.4 " N , 74 ° 10' 55.5" W | |
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| place | Passaic County , New Jersey , USA | |
| height | 23 m | |
| flow | Passaic River | |
The Great Falls of the Passiac River are a striking, 23 m high waterfall fed by the Passaic River near Paterson, New Jersey . The waterfall and its surroundings are managed by the National Park Service . In May 1976, the reserve was given the status of a National Historic Landmark as a Historic District . In 1977 the flow channel and the hydroelectric power station located there were added to the list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks . The area has been a National Historical Park since 2009 .
Emergence
The formation of the waterfall is dated to the last glacial period about 13,000 years ago. Previously, the watercourse was around Summit (New Jersey) , which was blocked by a moraine left by a receding glacier . A glacial lake formed there , the relic of which is now the Great Swamp National Wildlife Refuge . The new water flow formed the waterfall in the underlying basalt .
Usage history
The surrounding area initially belongs to the settlement area of the Lenni Lenape . Dutch people came there around 1690. In 1778 Alexander Hamilton visited the waterfall, recognized its potential for the use of water power and as a location for an industrial city. In 1791 he helped found a company of manufacturers. The driving force behind the company was William Paterson . The company founded the city of Paterson named after him, which became one of the first major industrial cities in the USA because of the use of the water power of the Great Falls. A memorial was also erected there for Hamilton. Hamilton had Pierre L'Enfant design the system of mill canals for the city's water mills. From 1812 the waterfall was used to drive a Fourdrinier machine . In 1945 the company sold its property to the city of Paterson. The deterioration of the historic facilities was not stopped until it was placed under protection in the 1970s.
With the exception of the years between 1969 and 1986, electricity has been generated from hydropower since 1913.
William Carlos Williams addressed this story in his work Paterson.
See also
Web links
- Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park
- Passaic Falls in the United States Geological Survey's Geographic Names Information System
Individual evidence
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: New Jersey. National Park Service , accessed August 17, 2019.
- ^ Marcia A. Dente: Great Falls of Paterson, 2010, p. 7
- ↑ Marcia Dente: Paterson Great Falls: From Local Landmark to National Historical Park, 2012, p. 3
- ^ US Congress (ed.): Congressional Record, V. 153, Pt. 1, January 4, 2007 to January 17 2007, p. 200
- ^ Maxine N. Lurie, Marc Mappen (ed.): Encyclopedia of New Jersey, 2004, p. 616