| County: |
Jefferson |
| Town: |
Wilna |
| USGS Map: |
Natural Bridge |
| Waterway: |
Indian River |
| Latitude: |
N 44.06710o |
| Longitude: |
W 75.49088o
|
| Drop: |
25' |
|
The Natural Bridge Falls are actually an unnamed group of
waterfalls located on the Indian River just outside the hamlet of
Natural Bridge. To get here, locate Natural Bridge on NYS
Route 3, between Carthage and Harrisville. There are three
streets in the hamlet which take you south off Route 3.
Depot Street is the east-most of these. As you proceed out
of the hamlet, the road will curve and you will come to an
intersection. The North Croghan Road will be on your right
and the Slye Road on your left. These falls are to the east
and north of this intersection.
Depending upon who is counting, there are four or five
waterfalls here. The first, and easiest to see is just
upstream from the bridge just east of the intersection. Walk
a few hundred feet up the Slye Road and you will see it on your
right. To distinguish these falls, we will call this one the
Natural Bridge Upper West Falls. It is about a 5' drop.
There is actually an island on your left as you view
upstream. Continue up the Slye Road and you will cross
another bridge over the east channel. There is another drop
of about 5' in this channel, which we will call the Natural Bridge
Upper East Falls.
Walk back to the intersection and you will see a man-made
reservoir of sorts on the north side of the road. On the
left end of this is an opening through which overflow water
goes. Because this is man-made, some might not classify this
as a waterfall, which is why we stated earlier that there are
either four or five falls here. We'll call this Natural
Bridge Reservoir Falls. It is an 8 to10' sliding drop.
There is also another drop of 10' or so downstream of this, which
we will call the Natural Bridge Lower Falls. We weren't able
to get pictures of either of these because of access issues.
You need to walk down the road toward the hamlet to see both of
these falls. However, the roadside and riverbank were
covered with poison ivy. Since it was a humid summer day
when we were there and we were dressed in shorts, we opted to get
pictures on a return trip at a later date.
To see the most significant of the falls in this group, it is
advisable to be wearing waders, or at least water shoes.
Continue down the embankment toward the reservoir and walk across
the left side of it. You will need to walk through the
spill-way portion. On the back right side of this reservoir,
you will find a fairly vertical drop of about three steps
totalling 25'. The easiest way down the back embankment is
off the center of the reservoir. It is a bit of a scramble
and you will get your feet wet, but it will be worth your
while. This is a very pretty waterfall which we will simply
refer to as the Natural Bridge Falls.
There is somewhat of a unique situation at this site.
Often, a river serves as a boundary between counties. The
county line is at this point, but not through the river. It
runs obliquely through the island between the two upper
channels. Although the west channel and the other three
falls here are in Jefferson County, the Upper East Falls are
actually in Lewis County. Since we have grouped these falls
together, we have simply listed them as being in Jefferson
County. However, we have made this distinction about the
Upper East Falls on our county listing page.
The Indian River continues its flow downstream through Black
Lake. Then it joins the Oswegatchie River which flows to the
St. Lawrence River in Ogdensburg.
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