The Black Dirts

USA / New York / Eden /
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This region of Orange County, New York, is noted for its rich Black Dirt soil which is some of the most organic rich soil in the U.S. Many different crops are grown, most notably onions.

The rich black soil results from a lake that formed here after a glacial moraine blocked the northward flow of the Wallkill River. Over time the lake became swampland, and decayed vegetation filled its area. During the 19th Century, enterprising settlers drained the swampland with a series of ditches and a channelization of the Wallkill River, opening the fertile land to farming.

Elvree cow farm owns some of these fields. Pumpkins and some other crops. The corn to feed the cattle was elsewhere. I picked rocks here for the dairy farm in the mid-late spring, summer, and early fall of 1993. I was told that the only other place in the world with a large area of such un-naturally rich black-dirt soil was in India.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Dirt_Region
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   41°19'35"N   74°26'52"W

Comments

  • this areas was centuries ago under water, the area is actually a valley surrounded my MT eve. the black dirt was what was left after the valley went "dry" thousands of years ago.
This article was last modified 15 years ago