Area residents have long been impressed by the seasonally raging waters of Valatie's two major streams, the Valatie Kill and the Kinderhook Creek. High water is typically driven by spring rain and melting snow. As the photos here attest, however, other factors come into play as well. These photos were taken at the time of the (unnamed) hurricane that devastated the northeastern United States in September of 1938.
In the photo at the right - taken from the island at the Chatham Street bridge - the gorge at Beaver Mill Falls is filled nearly to the brim with churning water. Below, left, the storehouse located near the present sight of the Beaver Mill Overlook suffered major damage. Below, right, one of the last remaining mills of Nathan Wild (by 1938 a storehouse for the Valatie Mills Corp.) stands on the brink of the raging Valatie Kill at the dam on Wild's Pond.
These photos are all hand-labeled "September 15, 1938", which would have been almost a week before the hurricane roared ashore. (Heavy rains were reported several days in advance of landfall.)
