Delta was a village located near

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

Oneida County, New York Oneida County is a county in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 232,125. The county seat is Utica. The name is in honor of the Oneida, one of the Five Nations of the Iroquois League or ''Haudenos ...

. The former village was established in the 1800s, but was submerged to form Delta Reservoir in the early 20th century. Once part of the town of

Western Western may refer to: Places *Western, Nebraska, a village in the US *Western, New York, a town in the US *Western Creek, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western Junction, Tasmania, a locality in Australia *Western world, countries that id ...

, Delta was situated within the former Delta River Valley associated with the

Mohawk River The Mohawk River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed October 3, 2011 river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk f ...

and the

Black River Canal The Black River Canal was a canal built in northern New York in the United States to connect the Erie Canal to the Black River. The canal had 109 locks along its length. Remains of several of the canal's former locks are visible along New York ...

. For generations, Delta was a country town full of farms; shops and businesses were eventually built on the western side of the village.

History

In the 1800s, a man named Israel Stark began to plan and develop the village of Delta, among others. Prosper E. Rudd moved from Connecticut to Delta and installed the early

grist mill A gristmill (also: grist mill, corn mill, flour mill, feed mill or feedmill) grinds cereal grain into flour and Wheat middlings, middlings. The term can refer to either the Mill (grinding), grinding mechanism or the building that holds it. Grist i ...

, helping modernize the village. David Smith Sr. built the first

sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes (dimensi ...

in the village, beginning a key program that helped build homes and stores and prosperity throughout the village. Families and friends soon moved into the village, increasing the population. When other villages formed around Delta in 1811, it split the people into other towns. Delta Oneida NY Gillette 1858

Delta to WesternVille Oneida NY Gillette 1858

In 1903, New York passed an agreement to enlarge and improve the

Erie Canal The Erie Canal is a historic canal in upstate New York that runs east-west between the Hudson River and Lake Erie. Completed in 1825, the canal was the first navigable waterway connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, vastly reducing t ...

. The expanded canal required more water, necessitating the construction of new

reservoir A reservoir (; from French ''réservoir'' ) is an enlarged lake behind a dam. Such a dam may be either artificial, built to store fresh water or it may be a natural formation. Reservoirs can be created in a number of ways, including contro ...

s. One reservoir erected near Delta submerged the village in four years. A project for construction of the reservoir was awarded for $995,347 and included the removal of 295 buildings including 70 dwellings and two cemeteries as well as other private burial lots to be exhumed and reburied.

References

External links

Historic photos of Delta, New York
{{authority control Villages in Oneida County, New York Former villages in New York (state)