A beautiful setting for a city.
I find the abandoned Cornell Hydraulics Lab, built in 1898, a very interesting subject:
https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/40/849...c4a26f55_o.jpg Sadly, it's not there anymore (collapsed a few years ago).
http://opacity.us/ephemera/post/cornells_hydraulic_lab
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This was Cornell's Hydraulic Lab (originally owned by the College of Civil Engineering), built in 1898 to study water flow and purification. It was last used by Cornell University until 1963; abandoned after a flood, the site had been sitting vacant since.
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When it was in use:
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That image (above) allows us to see the water rushing out of the building, which contained a massive pipe. Construction began in Spring 1896 and it was completed in 1898.
http://cdsun.library.cornell.edu/cgi...xt-txIN------#
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The laboratory, according to the description given in the President's Report, will include a canal excavated through rock along the south edge of Fall Creek Gorge from Triphammer Falls reservoir to the face of the cliff overlooking the Falls. At the lower end, a side channel branches to a vertical steel stand pipe standing on a level with the foot of the Falls In order that the supply of water for the stand pipe in ordinary circumstances may be independent of the conditions of flow in the canal, a 30-inch pipe leads under the bed of the canal from an auxiliary entrance chamber provided for the purpose, to the feed pipe and side channel connecting the canal and stand pipe. Under normal conditions of usage, the supply to the stand pipe will be drawn entirely from the 30 inch pipe. The distinctive features of the canal are the double entrance chamber and double system of gates, ample weir chambers, and side waste weirs. The canal proper is 400 feet long, 16 feet wide and 12 feet deep, lined with concrete, backed with asphaltic waterproofing to insure against leakage, and there is an under channel for the thorough sub drainage of the surrounding rock strata. A waste weir set at the foot of the canal allows the entire flow to be wasted over the cliff except when it is desired to turn the flow through side gates into the stand pipe feeder. The discharge into the stand pipe through the 30-inch pipe, is measured by a weir set in the auxiliary entrance chamber. The riveted steel stand pipe 6 feet in diameter and 60 feet high is fitted with openings at intermediate heights which are suitably housed and connected by a staircase. The base of the stand pipe is in a laboratory building 24 feet by 50 feet, set at the foot of the Falls. A large reservoir is necessary for the successful performance of the more extensive experiments, and the present Triphammer Falls reservoir will provide available storage for a number of million gallons of water. The water shed contains 117 square miles and contributes a supply varying from 12 to 4700 cubic feet per second.
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A larger view of the site:
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