POESTENKILL GORGE FACT FILE
by Sloane D. Bullough
For more information: http://www.troyvisitorcenter.org/

(Reference: Jane Gottlieb, "Troy Wants to Build a Bridge to the Past,"
Albany _Times_Union_, April 17, 1998.)

*    The Poestenkill Gorge in Troy features Mount Ida falls, with a
     vertical drop of 120 feet.
*    The Poestenkill ("kill" is a Dutch word for "stream" or "river")
     drops an additional 80 feet on its way to the Hudson River.
*    Grist mills first appeared along the Poestenkill in the 1600s.
     Saw mills followed about 100 years later, followed again by 
     factories near Mount Ida Falls in the 1800s.
*    The factories near the Falls included Manning Company (paper),
     Troy File (metal tools), E.J. Hays (springs), Ruff's Flour Mills
     (flour) and Benjamin Marshall (textiles).
*    Benjamin Marshall constructed housing for his workers nearby
     so that they needed only to walk across a bridge to come to work.
*    The last water-powered factory ceased operation in 1962. Hardly 
     any physical evidence remains today of the Poestenkill Gorge's
     industrial legacy.