Finger Lakes Railway Solvay Yard

scottychaos wrote:the Finger Lakes would have probably been named by the English..
(Central NY wasnt under French control, I dont think..)

Scot

Indians named these lakes, didn't they?? otherwise these lakes would have normal names... ( I know what you meant.. im just picking on you )

roadster wrote:Besides the fact that Solvay yard is near "Syracuse, NY" and not Rochester. Seneca Falls is not spelled with an i. Interesting videos. Strange, spelling errors seem familiar.

I can't resist to post this... Uh oh I better run away and HIDE!! J/K

Re: Crew Pack Contents?
by roadster on Thu Jan 14, 2010 12:01 am

Several packs are usually supplied when engine receives it's dailey inspection...

That word seem familiar

heck! we all have typoerror or thought that it was correct spelling... I'm one of them... I dont have best grammer either...

Sorry about your luck with the spelling and name orders... just one question for the critics, Why is their a sign on Main St Penn Yan pointing down Elm St. toward "Lake Keuka?" Did that particular lake get named by the French? Or was the sign simply designed by a Frenchmen? The locals say the lake names either way (I work for many farmers and cottagers). The maps all say the name and "lake" and that does seem a bit more proper, somehow. The off topic on this thread was far more interesting to me then the intended subject as I only have dialup and thus cannot watch the videos. *sorry*


Speaking of the Auburn Rd though, I must also note the impressive activity - was at M+M surplus in Geneva and saw a 60 some car train roll through EB.

Is Lake Erie a "great lake"?

sd80mac wrote:

scottychaos wrote:the Finger Lakes would have probably been named by the English..
(Central NY wasnt under French control, I dont think..)

Scot

Indians named these lakes, didn't they?? otherwise these lakes would have normal names... ( I know what you meant.. im just picking on you )

Technically no, the Indians didnt "name" them..
they have Indian names, but they werent named by Indians..there is a difference!

It was actually the white settlers that gave everything its "current" modern name..
in many cases, they chose to use the Indian names, which was great..
but they didnt have to..and they didnt always..

All the Great Lakes have Indian names, except Superior..Superior is an English word that just means "big"..
(and Gordon Lightfoot tells us its Indian name! (a 70's flashback for those of you old enough)

All the Finger Lakes have Indian names..except for Hemlock Lake, Hemlock is an English word.

The Adirondacks seems to have far less Indian names..
Long Lake
Fourth Lake
Lake George (named by the English! For King George..one lake that doesnt follow the convention.)
Lake Champlain (named by the French)
Clearly not Indian names..but im sure all those Lakes *had* Indian names at one point!
they were just "re-named" later..

Lake George is carrying its 3rd name!
Originally named "Andiatarocté" by the Indians..
Then "Lac du Saint Sacrement" by the French.
then "Lake George" by the English.

names can be fluid!
Lehigh Valley Railroad Fans know all about the town of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania..now called Jim Thorpe.
(check it out, I worked in a Railroad reference!

Many rivers have Indian names..Susquehanna, Chemung, Genesee..
many more dont - Hudson River, named after the European explorer.. Wallkill River (named by the Dutch after a river back in their homeland)..etc..

so no, its not technically accurate to say "The Indians named the lakes"..
yes, they gave them the names we now use (usually in modified, anglicized form) on many lakes and rivers and towns..
but the lakes got to keep those names only by the choice of the "new owners"..

and actually..now that I think about it, many of the Finger Lakes are actually named for the Indian tribes themselves,
not the actual name of the Lake that the Indians would have called it..
Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga lakes are named after the tribes..but the Indians probably called the lakes something else entirely..
which also proves the Indians themselves didnt technically "name" the lakes..

Scot

scottychaos wrote: <snip>
Technically no, the Indians didnt "name" them..
they have Indian names, but they werent named by Indians..there is a difference!
<snip>
so no, its not technically accurate to say "The Indians named the lakes"..
yes, they gave them the names we now use (usually in modified, anglicized form) on many lakes and rivers and towns..
but the lakes got to keep those names only by the choice of the "new owners"..
<snip>
Scot

I would admit that I dont know where these 10 finger lakes names came from.. But.. Honeoye lake was named by Indians. I know that from somewhere, I cant recall. it was named as "lying finger" or "where the finger lies" and was changed to Honeoye which is Iroquois word. I am not sure **who** changed the name. I doublechecked with info from Wikipedia but it wasnt any big help..

BTW, Honeoye lake used to have rails for logging at south end.. very small one (rr related.. )

sean3f wrote:Is Lake Erie a "great lake"?

Yes it is........

Laugh out loud, this has got to be the funniest thread I read on this forum. Thanks for the interesting history, though !

trwinship wrote:Boy, this is way off topic. However, most of central/western NY didn't get settled by Europeans until after the American revolution. If this kind of thing interests you, here's a fun website from SUNY Stony Brook about French exploration and mapping of the area long before Brtish/American influences

http://www.stonybrook.edu/libmap/coordi ... no1/a1.htm

The French knew about places like the Finger Lakes much before the British did, due to the wanderings of explorers like Brule (Champlain's assistant) and Jesuit priests, plus several military campaigns against the Iroquois, but do not seem to have named the individual lakes as we know them today, or at least the names do not appear on the surviving maps. Some of these date to more than a century before the American Revolution and are not so bad!

Vary true but one must rember that the French knew the area vary well due to the french fur traders being here first. Also rember that the French built a tradeing post on Onondaga Lake a rebuilt copy of this fort stands near where the orignal one is today. Most of the finger Lakes are named after the Indian tribes in the area even thow they were all apart of the iroquois confederation. The British would have more than likley renamed the lakes after the varyed Native American Tribes after the french were booted out after the French and Indian War. The French moved back into Canada where they had been and later settled into Quebec under orders of the British who gave the remaining french settlers the choice to go back to france or settle in Quebec after the French armys had moved out of North America. The people of Quebec are what is left of the decendants of the original French Settles and former fur traders that had married into the Native American tribes in the local areas this is where you get French-Canadian which is a dialect of French and Indian woards.

Also don't forget that some lakes streams and Ponds from Albany, NY down to NYC also have Dutch names due to the Dutch fur traders being in the area as well.

I've never been clear on which one is the "middle" Finger Lake, though, or I'd know what postcards to send to some choice folks.

lvrr325 wrote:I've never been clear on which one is the "middle" Finger Lake, though, or I'd know what postcards to send to some choice folks.

i get it lol!

lvrr325 wrote:I've never been clear on which one is the "middle" Finger Lake, though, or I'd know what postcards to send to some choice folks.

Well, on my hand the middle finger appears to be the longest. So, maybe just pick the longest lake and go with that.

RailKevin wrote:

lvrr325 wrote:I've never been clear on which one is the "middle" Finger Lake, though, or I'd know what postcards to send to some choice folks.

Well, on my hand the middle finger appears to be the longest. So, maybe just pick the longest lake and go with that.

looks like Seneca Lake wins the prize for logest and deepest?

scharnhorst wrote:

RailKevin wrote:

lvrr325 wrote:I've never been clear on which one is the "middle" Finger Lake, though, or I'd know what postcards to send to some choice folks.

Well, on my hand the middle finger appears to be the longest. So, maybe just pick the longest lake and go with that.

looks like Seneca Lake wins the prize for logest and deepest?

Cayuga is the longest..
Seneca is the deepest..

Seneca lake could be said to the "largest" of the Finger Lakes, in the sense that it holds the most water..
but Cayuga lake is technically the longest.

Seneca lake is actually deeper than Lake Erie!

scot

There are eleven Finger Lakes. Which one are we leaving out, Otisco? That's like folks from Syracuse leaving out Conesus. Ted