For me it starts here . . . in Kennesaw, Georgia. No . . . not the Passaic River . . but my interest in visiting Paterson, NJ, which I did last Saturday. And I got there from Manhattan, by train, in 44 minutes. But I digress: three years ago in Kennesaw–visiting family at Christmas, I was talked into visiting a Civil War museum that featured this locomotive. In the fine print, I read that it was built at Paterson’s Rogers Locomotive and Machine Works, which I’d never heard of.
Behold the totally freshwater wild Passaic, only about 20 miles from the sixth boro! This view is less than a mile’s walk from the Paterson passenger rail stop.
I’d heard people ridicule the Great Falls, but judge for yourself. I took this foto from an arched steel walkway with wooden treads, so icy Saturday morning from a glaze of spray that froze that I skated my way across. Shangri-la in Paterson!!
Here’s a shot from below the Falls. Just to the left of the foto is the power house, where water power gushes through raceways to turn the turbines that powered this birthplace of American industry. Besides
manufacturing 12,000 locomotives, factories within a quarter mile made the seminal revolver called Colt Paterson and a certain engine called J-5 Wright Whirlwind that ran on a “spirited” 33.5-hour flight.
A certain Catholic school teacher named John P. Holland also worked in Paterson, after moving there from Ireland. And his toys made Capt. Nemo’s fantasy a reality.
The Paterson museum houses not one but two early Holland subs, both inside now after some years outdoors (one of them) and at the bottom on the Passaic (the other).
I currently work in Elizabeth, NJ, on the Arthur Kill. Today there appears widespread amnesia about Elizabeth’s connection with subs, but 95 years ago, folks there made quite the ceremony to honor Holland.
All fotos by Will Van Dorp. And guess who visits Paterson today? Salazar. Maybe he’ll have time to take a boat ride from there down to the sixth boro?
Imagine Great Falls after Irene’s dump? See it here.
To see other watersheds I’ve visited, type watershed into the search window. Here are a few: St. Lawrence, Delaware, Columbia . . .
tugster: a waterblog 
5 comments
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November 7, 2011 at 7:48 am
Johna Till Johnson
Will, thanks so much for this. I used to work in Wayne, NJ and to this day recall the beauty of the commute out from Jersey City… it’s nice to see the beauty of this part of the world showcased.
Plus, my dad was a nuclear submariner, so there’s added resonance.
Just added the falls to my “must-do” list (and may need to paddle the Passaic as well!)
Great way to start the morning! Thanks!
November 7, 2011 at 8:12 am
tugster
johna–it was truly stunning although i needed to forget some of the decay and neglect i’d seen on my hike there. it is a diamond in the rough . . . a paddle from the falls to the sixth boro would take you through another potential gem, the meadowlands, the natural ones, an area once covered by cedars so dense that pirates used to hide in there. but that’s another story.
November 7, 2011 at 10:15 pm
Philip Orton
Mindblowing footage of the falls!! I had no idea there even were falls there. Thanks for the very cool post.
November 9, 2011 at 6:01 am
eastriver
My parents grew up there in the 19-teens and 20s, when silk was king there — no doubt aided by the waterpower. I have snapshots of a beautiful city with beautiful parks, and a memory of me as a small child cavorting there on a visit to an aunt. Thanks for the memory-enhancement, and the beautiful photos.
January 31, 2019 at 11:46 am
ws
A really great, eclectic, museum Submarines, radial engines,, Colt revolvers..