Sometime around 10,000 years ago the ice sheets that were covering central NY began retreating; some argue this was due to their fear of the wooly mammott, but much speculation remains. As the melt water rushed from the retreating sheets the majority flowed over Pratt's Falls while heading toward the Susquehanna watershed. The power of the water was captured in 1796 by Manoah Pratt, Sr. in one of his famous mills. The mill produced flour from sawing logs that were harvested using the wooly mammot's that scared the ice away. After much over-logging the mammot's left for the warm tundra of northern Siberia. Shortly after the mill burned down, due to an errant squirrel with a lighter, the Pratt family moved to Utah. Abandoned, for many days, the Onondaga parks department too over the stewardship of this major water artery running through the glacial plains of New York State.