For folks not from the area, Hinckley Lake and the dam that created it are not common knowledge. The dam across West Canada Creek is about 20 miles north of Interstate 90 at Utica. The image below is what you’d see if you drove east on NY 365. The 3700′ dam generates hydropower, and the lake serves as water supply and offers recreational activities, but it was built as a reservoir for the Barge Canal.

Here’s the view looking north from a driveway off county Road 151,

and here’s roughly that same view around 191

A detail of that shows a number of people working on the dry side of the dam. note the 400′ section of masonry toward the far side, where the spillway is located.

Here’s the view looking south. Again note the masonry section.

I gather this is what you’d see if you were looking south at the same area before the 1915 completion,

and some detail in that image. Here’s that same area in 1921. Note all the smoke from steam engines.

I suspect this is the view looking west pre-1915. This view is not available today because it’s underwater. Would all those logs in the water be fuel for the steam engines, or would they have used coal?

It took me a while analyzing the image before I saw any workers, but then I spotted this guy and

possibly two others to his left on the lowest ledge.

Any insights on these images are welcome in the comments. Many thanks to Bill Hecht for cleaning up these CSNY images.