Establishing Roots in Renwick Park

This chapter looks at the new Wharton Studio facility that the Wharton brothers established at Renwick Park (now Stewart Park), at the southern tip of Cayuga Lake. With its lake frontage, gardens, bandstand, pavilions, open air theater, carousel, miniature steam railroad, and trolley connections, the site seemed ideal for their purposes. Best of all, the new facility would give the brothers the space they sorely needed and the opportunity to expand their operation. Once the renovations at the new Renwick Park studio were almost complete and the filming of the third segment of the Elaine serial was finished, the Whartons began planning their next projects. The most ambitious was Get-Rich-Quick-Wallingford, later released under the title The New Adventures of J. Rufus Wallingford (1915). The fourteen-part serial comedy was based on the “Get-Rich-Quick-Wallingford” stories by popular author George Randolph Chester. It was the success of their serial pictures that then inspired the Whartons to try their hand at something new: the production of a feature film. The chapter then considers the film versions of the plays Hazel Kirke (1916), The City (1916), and The Lottery Man (1916).

Long-Term Study of Soluble Reactive Phosphorus Concentration in Fall Creek and Comparison to Northeastern Tributaries of Cayuga Lake, NY: Implications for Watershed Monitoring and Management

This study focuses on soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP), a key driver of eutrophication worldwide and a potential contributor to the emerging global environmental problem of harmful algal blooms (HABs). Two studies of tributary SRP concentrations were undertaken in sub-watersheds of Cayuga Lake, NY, the subject of a total maximum daily load (TMDL) development process, due to phosphorus impairment of its southern shelf. The long-term study compared SRP concentration in Fall Creek in the 1970s with that in the first decade of the 2000s, thus spanning a period of change in phosphorus sources, as well as in regional climate. The spatial study used data collected between 2009 and 2018 and compared SRP concentrations in Fall Creek to levels in northeastern tributaries that flow into the lake close to areas where HABs have been problematic. SRP was measured using standard procedures. Flow-weighted mean SRP concentration ranged between 15.0 µg/L and 30.0 µg/L in all years studied in both the 1970s and 2000s, with the exception of 2010. Annual discharge in Fall Creek showed no trend between 1970 and 2018, but a higher proportion of high streamflow samples was captured in the 2000s compared to the 1970s, which resulted in proportionally increased SRP concentration in the latter time period. There was no significant difference in the SRP concentration—flow rate relationship between the two time periods. Adjusted for flow rate, SRP concentrations in Fall Creek have not changed over many decades. Increasing phosphorus contributions from growing population and urbanization since the 1970s may have been counterbalanced by improvements in wastewater treatment and agricultural practices. Mean SRP concentration in northeastern tributaries was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than in Fall Creek, likely reflecting more intense agricultural use and higher septic system density in the watersheds of the former. This finding justifies continued monitoring of minor northern tributaries. Future monitoring must emphasize the capture of high flow conditions. Historical stability and highly variable hydrology will slow the watershed response to management and confound the ability to detect changes attributable to decreased phosphorus inputs. Large scale monitoring on decadal timescales will be necessary to facilitate watershed management.