One day, when
the Bicentennial Committee was discussing the upcoming transportation event in
September, the comment was made about alternate means of transportation for
getting to work. One of the members recalled that in the 1950s some of the
local men would use their boats to cross Cayuga Lake while working at the
construction site for the new Milliken Station. It was faster than driving all
the way around the lake.
Wondering if
there might be something in the archive files or the newspapers, I started
searching. Several items about the generator plant were found, but so far
nothing about people using lake travel to get to work, other than memories of
comments long ago.
The June 15,
1956 Interlaken Review carried a notice for the open house.
On June 22, 1956
the Interlaken Review reported, “Myron W. Bassette and John
V. Kellogg attended the dedication June 14th of the new $23,000,000
Milliken Electric Plant of New York State Gas & Electric Corp. It is one of
the most modern generating plants in the east.”
For those who
recall the Blizzard of 1958 this item was found in the Ovid Gazette,
“Fortunately, electric power has not been interrupted…Manager Don Price
reported…that they had to chop through an 18-foot drift to get to the Milliken
power station.”
And in June
1974, Mr. Russell, took the South Seneca basic electrical class members on a
field trip to the station. “Students took a tour through the plant to learn how
electricity is produced. Students learned that Milliken burns 2,400 tons of
coal per day, and that Milliken now has stockpile of 180,000 tons of coal.” [Interlaken Review June 20, 1974].
If it is quiet
when you are on the western shore of Cayuga Lake you can hear the coal trains
as they move toward the plant. Of course, many of us have been “caught” on the
wrong side of the tracks when a coal train moves through Ithaca.
In the end, we have memories of those
earlier days, and for some we recall looking at the smoke stack to see which
way the wind was blowing and/or how strong. But in the end, I’ve not found any
stories about people who crossed the lake to get to the station. If you know of
someone, their stories would be a welcome addition to 200 Years of
Transportation or just to the archives.
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| Two recent photos of the Milliken Station. Photo by Gary Hunt. |
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| Thank you Nancy Radloff. Looking at both of these I realized how I miss seeing that plume of smoke. |
Dewitt’s Diary Sunday, June 17, 1956
Cloudy temperature 64. Cooler this
morning. We went to the lake a few minutes this morning.
Cloudy most all day. Drove up south
of Townsendville this afternoon. Everything needs a warm rain.
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