LE ROY PENNYSAVER & NEWS - OCTOBER 29, 2023 by Lynne Belluscio It wasn’t always known as the Oatka Creek – or the O-At-Ka Creek. The earliest white settlers knew it as Allen’s Creek, named after Ebenezer “Indian” Allen. He had come into the region and lived on the Gardeau Flats in Letchworth with Mary Jemison. In 1786, he acquired 170 acres of lands just east of the present village of Scottsville, where the creek enters the Genesee River. Allen went on to many more adventures with his many wives and daughters. He had fought with the British during the Revolution and eventually he moved to Upper Canada, where he died in 1816. But he left his name on the creek that winds 58 miles through three counties. In 1793, when Hinds Chamberlain traveled into the area that we know as LeRoy, he camped overnight near Allen’s Creek. The water ran so swiftly over the rocks, that he said it looked like buttermilk, and so the rapids became known as Buttermilk Falls - - not the Buttermilk Falls that we know today, but the rapids where the Main Street bridge is today. Remember, the dam had not been built, and there was no mill pond. The creek came through and made a big curve. The 65 foot falls that we know today as Buttermilk Falls was called “The Great Falls” for a long time. In 1850, J.R. Anderson of LeRoy, wanted to change the name of the creek.As he noted, Indian Allen had fought on the side of the British during the Revolution and didn’t have a very good reputation. It was known that he was married to at least three women at the same time. Anderson approached Ely Parker, the Seneca chief who lived nearby, and asked him what the Seneca name was for the creek. Parker said that the creek was the O-AtKa, meaning “leaving the highlands” or “approaching an opening” which was in reference to the creek’s origins in the hills south of LeRoy. So, the creek became known as the O-At-Ka and forever, those of us who live in LeRoy, whether we pronounce LeRoy “Luh Roy” or “Lee Roy,” we know that it is the “Oh At Ka” not the “OAT-ka.” There are 32 bridges today that span the creek in journey to the Genesee River. The oldest is the Union Street bridge in Wheatland. Seven bridges carry Route 19 across the creek. Just in LeRoy there are several. The first bridge in LeRoy was built in 1801 on Main Street and it was replaced several times. There is the bridge at Clay Street and the bridge at Munson Street which at one time was known as Red Bridge. There’s a bridge at the bottom of Circular Hill Road, near Oatka Trail. There were three railroad bridges in the center of the village. Today, only one remains. The beautiful, cement spandrel bridge near Buttermilk Falls, which once carried the Lehigh Valley Railroad across the creek, is now used for gravel trucks. I know there’s an abandoned bridge in Scottsville, that is a favorite “diving bridge” for kids who try to find the deep hole, and there’s the bridge in Garbutt. Last year, I went searching for an abandoned historic iron bridge that is on private property and was amazed to learn that in spite of a rotting wooden deck, people still make a dash in their cars, trying to avoid the longer route to a new bridge. Many of the old bridges were washed out when the creek flooded and these bridges had to be replaced. The creek, once it was dammed, also provided important waterpower for the early settlers. All along the creek were dams and mills. In LeRoy, the early 1802 dam at Main Street, created a mill pond. As you stand on the steps of the Woodward Library, you look over the old mill pond that once led into the mill race for the mills on Mill Street. There were saw mills, grist mills, and stone mills. At one time, the old LeRoy Mill which was operated by Mr. Prentice, provided electricity. Perhaps more importantly, Prentice pumped water into the water mains for the fire hydrants. When the mills were no longer in use, the mill pond started to fill in with silt. The LeRoy mill pond was drained and dug out during the WPA project. A new dam, south of the Main Street bridge was built, to maintain the beauty of the creek, and the familiar gate house, near the Creekside Inn, is a reminder of the days when the creek played an important role in the community. The gate house still controls the level of the mill pond. The creek is the third longest tributary of the Genesee River and starts near Gainsville near the Warsaw Town line. Three creeks, Stony Creek, Mud Creek and Reylea Creek fall into the Oatka. It is one of the finest trout streams in the area, and the State maintains an area along Oatka Trail for fishing. Fishing is allowed along a 33 inch section on both sides of the creek. The Department of Conservation annually stocks 11,200 brown trout in the creek and trout season begins on April 1. However, there is a wild trout population in the creek which came about in the 1800s when some trout escaped from the fish hatcheries in Caledonia. The Oatka Creek Watershed Committee, is a nonprofit organization that was formed in 1999. The Oatka Creek Watershed Management Plan was adopted in 2006 in cooperation with the Genesee/Finger Lakes Planning Council. The US Geological Survey maintains two stream gauges on the creek, one at Garbutt and one in Warsaw. Warsaw uses water from the creek for a water supply. There are several places that discharge waste water into the creek. The name O-At-Ka has lent it’s name to the O-At-Ka Fish and Game Club; the LeRoy Highschool yearbook the Oatkan; the Oatka Trail; the new Oatka Creek Farm; O-AT-Ka Milk Products; and an obscure tool, known as the O-TA-KA Tire Changer, that was invented by a man from LeRoy that squeezed the rubber tire so it could be removed. In light of all of this, here is a poem, anonymously written: I am the Oatka: I have held my course for ages I shall flow on endlessly I have seen tribe succeed tribe, race follow race They are despoilers all, Careless desecraters of the beautiful In spite of them, I am still beautiful. The O-At-Ka
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