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water had a greenish tinge when the sunshine touched it, as if it had caught an emerald tint from the tender overhanging verdure. It must have suited admirably the complexions of the wood-nymphs who no doubt once sported in these secluded dells. Here and there where the shelving soil had been heaped against the side of the cliff and the restless stream had ceased to undermine it the hemlocks grew dark and high, so that their topmost branches showed sometimes above the level of the banks. Even yet there are few more romantic scenes, cosier nooks or wilder bits than are found in this rugged glen that stretches back into the heart of the
Chautauqua hills, with the emerald-tinted stream speeding swiftly and fiercely, yet almost noiselessly, along the smooth but sinuous channel its restless waters have so deftly carved in the soft, gray, slippery shale. Heaven grant that the foot of the despoiler may be long delayed, and that the trout which hide in its cool waters may long continue too wary and too few to tempt the pot hunter to the unprofitable task of their extermination!
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windings through a thousand feet of hindering shale, down to the level of the sparkling lake. From source to mouth there was hardly a hundred yards of quiet water. It had cut the slaty layers smoothly off, so that the riven ends made a sheer wall, falling sharply to the water's edge on either side, and shutting out the sunshine save at midday, until it shot laughingly out from its prisoning banks, sparkled and gurgled for an instant over rounded stones, with the shelving beach-sands crumbling into it, and then lost itself in the blue bosom of the lake.
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Innumerable springs oozed through the severed laminæ and trickled down the shelving sides, wearing sharp furrows in the crumbling rock in which the silvery rills were oft half-hidden by the hemlocks and beeches whose moss-clad roots found precarious hold upon the narrow ledges, while the ferns grew
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Almost noiselessly the little stream swept over its slippery bed, murmuring gently as it shot down some self-made flume into a deeper pool evenly hollowed in the soft smooth rock, sped quickly round and round a few times, and then glided swiftly on over the shallow ripple below. In these pools the
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At its very crest the hill was cloven by a yawning gorge, whose sides fell sheerly down to the level of a dashing stream that sped along its slippery bed a hundred feet below. Here ran one branch of an impetuous rivulet, that rising half a score of miles from the lake fought its way with devious
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Seneca lore states that
Chautauqua Creek took its name from a native fishing trip: having caught some fish in Chautauqua Lake, they brought the fish by foot to Chautauqua Creek and, surprised that the fish had not suffocated without water, released them into the water. Some time later, the same
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In 1804, James McMahan, the first settler of
Westfield, established a grist mill near the mouth of the creek, at the head of the old trail, and others followed. For the next century the creek powered grist mills, saw mills, carding mills, and other manufactories.
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rank upon the dripping sides. For miles the stream rushed silent and swift between its shadowing walls, inaccessible to human foot, save here and there where an impetuous tributary had cut a difficult path to the bottom of the cañon.
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wrote about the roadside inn, now gone, that stood three miles (5 km) uphill from Lake Erie, and the creek that flowed nearby:
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in abundance. Thus, according to the story, both the creek and the lake were given the name of "fish taken out" in the local
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fishery, boasting the highest catch rate of any New York river at 1.4 steelhead per fishing hour.
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Indians found that that species of fish, once absent from the creek, were now there and in
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Rivers. In 1753 the French cut a road to
Chautauqua Lake, now known as the
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Location of the mouth of
Chautauqua Creek in New York State.
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History of
Chautauqua County, New York, and Its People
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492:John Phillips Downs; Fenwick Y Hedley (1921).
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541:, Robert's Brothers (Boston 1887), pp. 2-4.
393:The creek is stocked with small numbers of
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520:New York's Top December Steelhead Rivers
472:United States Department of the Interior
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498:. American Historical Society. p.
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563:Rivers of Chautauqua County, New York
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88:Chautauqua Creek (the United States)
463:Geographic Names Information System
309:of Westfield where they empty into
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33:Early Autumn on Chautauqua Creek
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16:River in New York, United States
468:United States Geological Survey
341:, a scout and interpreter for
221: • coordinates
156: • coordinates
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136:Physical characteristics
91:Show map of the United States
260: • elevation
209: • location
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558:Rivers of New York (state)
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568:Tributaries of Lake Erie
525:August 14, 2007, at the
379:New York State Route 394
264:571 ft (174 m)
397:but is more noted as a
361:systems, by way of the
272:15 mi (24 km)
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413:, published in 1887,
243:42.33778°N 79.60667°W
178:42.18167°N 79.59944°W
63:Show map of New York
405:Literary references
371:French Portage Road
343:Samuel de Champlain
248:42.33778; -79.60667
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183:42.18167; -79.59944
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458:"Chautauqua Creek"
375:Mayville, New York
281:is a tributary of
537:Tourgee, Albion,
415:Albion W. Tourgee
359:Mississippi River
299:Chautauqua County
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355:Great Lakes
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552:Categories
441:References
389:Recreation
315:Chautauqua
234:79°36′24″W
231:42°20′16″N
169:79°35′58″W
166:42°10′54″N
399:steelhead
363:Allegheny
347:Lake Erie
328:Lake Erie
311:Lake Erie
283:Lake Erie
214:Lake Erie
523:Archived
505:March 4,
287:New York
120:New York
101:Location
321:History
307:village
295:Sherman
289:in the
106:Country
269:Length
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145:Source
126:Region
297:, in
199:Mouth
116:State
507:2013
479:2015
367:Ohio
365:and
357:and
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303:town
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