New York, Erie County, West Seneca
![]()
Community of True Inspiration Residence has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 by the United States Department of the Interior
William G. Pomeroy Foundation 2013
(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
Community of True Inspiration Residence has been placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 by the United States Department of the Interior
William G. Pomeroy Foundation 2013(Settlements & Settlers) Includes location, directions, 2 photos, GPS coordinates, map.
A heiau (temple) at Pu’ukohola was built long before Kamehameha started construction on the heiau that you see. This showed great vision and strategy on the part of the kahuna (priests). The heiau was physically very prominent and imposing on the landscape, adding to its spiritual power. 
The semi-subterranean assembly and dance house was the largest structure in the principal village or capital of the tribelet and was owned by the headman.
Chaw’se is the Miwok word for a mortar hole. The cup-shaped depression in a grinding rock was used to process acorns and other seeds into food by pounding and grinding with a cobblestone pestle.
In addition to the bedrock mortars, over 363 petroglyph designs are carved into the surface of the marbleized outcropping of limestone. This association of rock art and grinding pits is unique in California. Except for one other small site, Chaw’se has the only known occurrence of mortars intentionally decorated with petroglyphs.
On approximately this spot
Since the operation of Chabot reservoir in 1876, four different water companies have managed the lake. Their staff led colorful lives on this hill as they kept an eye on this valuable resource. 
The stone structure before you is a 157 foot vertical control shaft. It joins to Tunnel No. 1 to open and close the flow of water running through the tunnel pipes. Two known accidents took place at this site. Tunnel No. collapsed on two Chinese workers in 1874 causing an uproar in the camp. In 1875, when water was forced down the control shaft to dislodge debris, four Chinese laborers were washed out of the tunnel. Although injured, the four survived. 
In 1979 a renovation of Chabot dam unearthed a century-old Chinese encampment buried in the creek embankment below. California State University Hayward (now called California State University, East Bay) was contracted and students excavated over 60,000 artifacts revealing the once invisible life, diet, and work habits of the 800 Chinese people who worked on Chabot dam from 1874-1892. 
“Aha!” exclaimed Anthony Chabot It was spring of 1866 when he saw the raging waters of San Leandro Creek collide with Grass Valley Creek. He studied the vast surrounding watershed and determined it could nourish a reservoir year-round. He had found his dam site. 
How do you climb the wall of a dam using fins? The dam blocked the natural migratory route of the steelhead trout, prohibiting them from swimming up San Leandro Creek to spawn in their natural habitat, what is now upper San Leandro Reservoir and tributary creeks. To sustain the fish population and stock the lake, Anthony Chabot constructed a fish hatchery in 1874 near the dam. The hatchery became the California State Fish and Game Hatchery 1878-1883. The hardiness of fish, like the land-locked Maine salmon and Eastern brook trout, were tested here before distribution across California. Some of the fish now found in the lake are illustrated here. 
Chabot Dam, originally called San Leandro Dam, was built by Anthony Chabot who started Contra Coast Water Company in 1868. When artesian wells and Temescal and Sausal Creeks failed to bring Oakland and surrounding cities enough water he decided to dam San Leandro Creek. In 1874 some 800 Chinese laborers were imported to sluice in 682,000 cubic yards of earth fill. Wild horses brought from Oregon trampled successive layers of San Leandro Dam’s clay center. The reservoir’s water first flowed into pipelines in May 1876. The East Bay’s first filter plant was added in 1890. In December 1928 East Bay Municipal Utility District acquired the facilities remaining them Chabot Dan Reservoir, and Filter Plant to honor the pioneer. 
The Transporting the Water marker consists of an illustration and two photographs accompanied by captions. They captions are presented here, left to right. Click on the image to enlarge it. 
Underneath the lake lies evidence of the dams construction. The steps on this panel and the next one show how hands and hooves toiled to complete this engineering feat in 1892. 
Commemoration of
This 50-minute walk through the park features five rustic monuments. Four of them were hand-made by Joaquin Miller between 1892 and 1913. The walk is steep in places, but provides exhilarating views of the Bay and a visit to the Cascade. 
This American-Victorian (Queen Anne) house was built tin 1889, by its owner Charles D. Henry. Henry was a building contractor who specialized in brick and built other houses in Florence of similar architecture. These probably included the Colton-Freeman House nearby. With the introduction of brick as the "new" building material and with a brick yard in town, this material came into general use for both homes and commercial buildings.
In 1876, Roderick Ross, one of Florence's first blacksmiths, constructed this Sonoran-style adobe house. The original flat earthen roof made of round log beams, saguaro ribs, and mud is well-preserved by a gable roof added between 1899 and 1910. Turned-wood posts support a timber-framed, hip-roof veranda. W.C. Smith was the second owner. Celebrated union spy Pauline Cushman and her husband, Jere Fryer, later purchased the house. Tom Mix was a tenant here in the 1930s.