Water Power in Fall Creek

The area below is part of the City of Ithaca’s Ithaca Falls Natural Area. Ezra Cornell, founder of Cornell University, designed and built dams and mills in this area to harness the power of water. Under Ezra’s recommendation, a tunnel was carved into the gorge wall to carry water to power a mill downstream. The plans he drew to guide excavation estimated a tunnel distance that was only 6” different from actual measurements. This was considered an amazing engineering feat at the time.