Web image
People will tell you that Argyle became a wet town on election day last November. That's when voters rescinded a long standing prohibition on the sale of alcohol. True but not the whole truth. From a naturalist's perspective, what is now Argyle became wet with the waning of the last glacier some 13,000 years ago. All that melting ice - it was up to a mile thick! - flooded the landscape for hundreds of years. And even after the ice sheet had wasted far to the north it left behind a topography that didn't drain all that well.
Argyle - ice sculpted hill and hollow
Glaciers aren't just frozen water. They also carry a load of rock and dirt that gets scrapped up and embedded as the advancing ice flows across the land. With warming and melting this load is dumped back on the scoured surface in a variety of forms including kames, outwash, eskers, deltas, moraines and till.
Rain and snow have been falling on this landscape ever since and gravity has been pulling all that water inexorably to the sea. But it's not an easy commute. The combination of a rumpled bedrock surface along with the overlay of glacial carnage creates an obstacle course that every drop of runoff must navigate. And this in turn has resulted in a fascinating variety of wetlands, ponds, lakes, streams and rivers.
There is something rejuvenating in the sound of running water. As winter drips into spring I get the urge to walk by splashing brooks and sit beside waterfalls. You can do this anywhere (and you should) but in this post I'll share a little of what I've seen in central Washington County. In wet Argyle.
Let's start with the concept of watersheds. Every drop that leaves Argyle is destined to end up in the Atlantic Ocean but not all take the same route. Most of the town slopes toward the Hudson River where it's a straight shot south to New York Harbor. But in the northern reaches of town the tilt is in the opposite direction. Here the headwaters of Wood Creek begin a journey towards Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River that could last hundreds of years, with most of that time being spent in the big lake.
Different directions - these two wetlands in the northwest corner of Argyle are only separated by a low knoll but the top one drains to the Hudson via Dead Creek and the Moses Kill while the bottom one is the source of north flowing Wood Creek. This water will make its way thru Lake Champlain to the St. Lawrence.
Even within the parts of Argyle that drain to the Hudson there are a variety of paths. The Moses Kill system is the biggie but to the east some water flows into both Black Creek and the Cossayuna/Whittaker Brook valley. These in turn are tributary to the Battenkill which joins the Hudson near Schuylerville. Also of note is Slocum Creek which gathers itself in the southwest corner of town before embarking on a twisty route thru the hills towards its confluence with the river below Fort Miller.
Drain the swamp? Just another promise broken and that's a good thing. There are a lot of wetlands tucked among the hills of Argyle and they provide many benefits including flood control, groundwater recharge and wildlife habitat. They are low spots where water is blocked from flowing freely thus becoming almost filled with sediments. Many were lakes and ponds when the first Paleoindians hunted and fished here 12,500 years ago.
Tamarack Swamp
Tamarack Swamp is the reigning heavyweight of Argyle wetlands. Anyone who drives Rt. 40 towards Hartford has seen its sea of cattails that come right up to the highway. The swamp fills a valley that stretches four miles northeast of the hamlet of North Argyle. The southern end feeds into the Moses Kill while Hartford's Big Creek flows out of the north end near where Coach Road joins Rt. 40. The divide between the Hudson and the Champlain/St. Lawrence drainages lies within the swamp.
A soil profile from Tamarack Swamp is revealing. From the surface to a depth of six to seven feet there is decaying organic matter. Then comes six inches of shelly, calcareous marl with deep silt below that. The marl layer seems to represent a period when this was open water filled with clams and snails. Eventually the warm, shallow lake became choked with vegetation and the organic muck has been accumulating ever since.
Geologists view lakes and ponds as ephemeral landscape features. As sediments are washed into them they evolve into wetlands and then dry ground. Drive along the east side of Summit Lake and you can see this process happening. On one side of the road is the open water of the lake and on the other is a cattail wetland with trees becoming established on drier spots.
Summit Lake - open water
...and adjacent wetland
I have fond memories of picnics at Summit Lake. With the farms never ending work a stolen Sunday afternoon here was as close to a summer vacation as we got. I remember a beach, diving platform and tree shaded lawn. Most of all I remember the huge pavilion and its candy counter. If I'd been a very good boy I might be given a dime to spend at that counter! Today the pavilion and picnic area are long gone and there seems to be no public access to the lake. It's sad to think that the joy this little lake used to bring to so many is now reserved for the few who can afford water front property.
Summit Lake drains thru its adjoining wetlands and a small stream that drops some 250 feet into Cossayuna Lake. Argyle's biggest, Cossayuna is quite shallow with an average depth of only twelve feet - well on its way to becoming a wetland. The outlet stream, Whittaker Brook, flows thru several small impoundments and an extensive marsh in Carter Pond Wildlife Management Area. Four mile long Cossayuna is ringed with private camps but does have a DEC boat ramp. Fishing for warm water species is said to be good.
Cossayuna and Big Island looking south
Also worthy of mention is tiny Mud Pond. It sits at almost the same elevation as Summit Lake but is several miles to the northeast. From the road you can see a little open water surrounded by extensive cattails...the same story of evolving from wet to dry. The pond drains via a small stream that has cut a notch thru Todd Mountain before flowing into the Moses Kill below North Argyle.
Mud Pond beyond the cattails
Gillis Brook - the power of falling water
Finally, it's interesting to trace the tortuous route of tiny Slocum Creek as it wends its way thru the Taconic front and on towards the Hudson at Fort Miller. It heads up in some wetlands on the east side of Rt. 40 before crossing under the road near the Auction Barn. Then it drops briskly thru a gap in the hills beside Sullivan Road before flowing due south in a hidden valley. Eventually it finds a way around Gavettes Mountain picking up a few feeders as it cuts into the deep clays of the Hudson Valley.
Slocum Creek
There's a spot on East Road in the Town of Fort Edward where the Slocum and Moses Kill watersheds are separated by just a few feet at a narrow divide. It is possible that Slocum Creek could 'capture' the Moses Kill here at some point in the future. I'll be keeping a close eye on this spot over the next few thousand years.
WET YOUR WHISTLE...
Looking at all this water made me think about beer. That's how great minds work! My next thought was "I'm in luck". After more than a hundred years of prohibiting the sale of alcohol that all changed last November. Influenced by the craft beer boom and a couple of local guys who had to start their Argyle Brewing Company in neighboring Greenwich, Town voters made the switch at the last election.
Agricultural Washington County has been dependent on dairy farming for much of its economic activity over the last century. Too dependent. Dairying has shot itself in the foot with unbridled expansion and oversupply fueled by the availability of low paid, illegal immigrant labor. The result is a relatively few mega-farms milking many hundreds, if not thousands of cows and getting preferential treatment while honest hardworking families are forced out of the dairy business. Only in America...
This trend has left many empty small farms and idled many skilled farmers. What's needed are options other than dairy and that is where craft brewing, wineries and distilleries may fill a niche. Highlander Brewing has taken advantage of this changing environment. Located on Co 47 mid-way between Argyle Village and Cossayuna Lake, it claims to be the only craft brewery in the state that grows its own hops and malting barley.
I stopped by Highlander and had an interesting conversation with Rich. We had fun trading war stories about bagging grain on open combines when we were young boys. It was a hot, dirty, hard job that either turned you off to farming forever or convinced a kid that this was what he was meant to do. Rich and I are still farming but he had the good sense to switch to growing hops and barley while I'm still milking cows. Congratulations to Rich and Highlander Brewing for making Argyle tastily wetter...
Water and beer. Highlander Brewing and hop yard reflected in a pond
Dry Town Hops - another facet of Argyle's craft brewing industry
Good one, Don!
ReplyDelete