Rating:
75550
{76}%
1 vote
Ezra's Tunnel
Description
The earliest of industries in Ithaca, New York was centered around Fall Creek due to the powerful and consistent flow of Ithaca Falls.
The Olympic Falls Flouring Mill which originally operated via an overshot waterwheel. was fed by a wooden flume overhanging Ithaca Falls. The plant was purchased by Jeremiah S. Beebe in 1827 who rebuilt it. Beebe hired Ezra Cornell to manage it.
In 1828, Cornell began construction of a 200-foot long, 12-foot high, 13-foot wide tunnel along Fall Creek to bypass Ithaca Falls and channel water through a raceway for the mill. The tunnel, and a low-rise dam at the top of Ithaca Falls, was completed in 1832 at which point the wooden flume was dismantled.
Facts
- Overview
- Abandoned tunnel on Waterway
- Location
- Ithaca, Tompkins County, New York
- Status
- Derelict/abandoned
- History
- Built 1828-32 by Ezra Cornell for the Olympic Falls Flouring Mill.
- Builder
- - Ezra Cornell
- Design
- Tunnel
- Dimensions
-
Total length: 200.0 ft.
Deck width: 13.0 ft.
Vertical clearance above deck: 12.0 ft.
- Approximate latitude, longitude
- +42.45255, -76.49230 (decimal degrees)
42°27'09" N, 76°29'32" W (degrees°minutes'seconds")
- Approximate UTM coordinates
- 18/377289/4701102 (zone/easting/northing)
- Quadrangle map:
- Ithaca East
- Inventory number
- BH 75550 (Bridgehunter.com ID)
Update Log
- February 10, 2017: Updated by Sherman Cahal: Text update.