History

Figure 1:  A copy of an 1817 engraving published contemporarily in Paris.  The image reveals that a footbridge was already present along the north side of the Poesten Kill to provide better viewing of the upper falls.  Men, women and children in their finest outfits sit and stand on the south bank of the gorge, which was a popular destination even at this early date.  Two men stand contemplating the cascade, as if looking past the obvious beauty of the water and toward its service as a tool for power and industry (Arthur James Weise, Troy’s One Hundred Years, 102).  

Figure 2:  Detail from an 1862 G.H. Houghton stereo view of Ida Falls.  Benjamin Marshall’s 600-foot long water tunnel cuts through the rock at the bottom left hand corner.   The stairway above the tunnel perhaps provided access to the opening of the chute itself.  The pedestrian bridge crossing the Poesten Kill in the forefront appears in an engraving from 1817 and on the Klein map of 1818.  The tall slender building at the top of the gorge is the Lafayette Engine Company, Number 10.  The building on the right was a private residence (Courtesy of George Carr).