The Catskill Watershed
The designation of much of the Catskill region as the watershed for the New York City water supply system has proved to be an advantage in fending off the environmental damage that development of the Marcellus Shale would bring. Little did the folks who suffered the loss of their land and homes to allow the building of this reservoir system realize that their sacrifice would one day help preserve and protect the region that they loved.
The Catskill System began with the Ashokan Reservoir and Catskill Aqueduct which were completed in 1915. The 1950s brought a large expansion of the reservoir system with the Rondout Reservoir in 1950, Neversink Reservoir in 1954, Pepacton Reservoir (at Downsville) in 1955 and Cannonsville Reservoir in 1964.
While necessary for the New York City water supply, the displacement of long time Catskill residents was very painful. One of them, Orson Slack, at the age of 83 ran a little carpentry shop in the village of Arena on the headwaters of the Delaware River soon to be flooded to make way for the Pepacton Reservoir. Seated outside his shop on lawn chairs he had made he told campers from Camp Woodland “I’ve been east; I’ve been west; I’ve been south. I’ve worked at almost everything. We was brought up on work.” Orson’s grandfather, born in 1785, had been one of the first settlers in the Catskill area. His grandfather was one of eight men who had walked 50 miles of wilderness over the mountains from Kingston , carrying bags of grain on their backs, to begin clearing land, sow the first crops and prepare the way for their families.
Orson Slack was a frequent visitor to Camp Woodland in the Woodland Valley before he died. His history was related the 1952 Camp Woodland year book:
- Bill Horne
