# What was the use for this pond? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 17, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463 "2009-04-17T20:21:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/1 "2009-04-17T20:21:58Z")
The basin [here](http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=42.083714,-79.22245&spn=0.001113,0.001926&t=h&z=19), in Jamestown, New York. Set right next to a creek but a foot or so above it. Clearly the water at some point had been channelized (in the bottom right) to go into the (now-empty) basin. These days it’s a mess of leaves, and the water bypasses it to the right of it. If you ever see it on the ground it’s an artificial basin made of stones, that’s around 2 feet higher than the creek it’s next to and about 5 feet deep. I think it might have been an ice-skating rink, because it’s high enough off the creek that you’d need to actively pump water into it. Or perhaps another sort of entertainment-based artificial pond? It doesn’t seem to be the right size for a reservior, so I’m pretty sure it’s not that, and I don’t see evidence of a pipe to use it for a mill or water reservior. But does it look like those from the picture? ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 12:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/2 "2009-04-18T00:41:34Z")
Retarding basin? > **[Retarding basin - Everything2.com](https://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1379827)** > > A retard|retarding basin is a constructed empty lake, used to absorb and contain flood|flooding in periods of high rain, the idea being that the flow of... ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/3 "2009-04-18T00:43:29Z")
I can’t tell enough from the linked photo. Are you saying it has a wall made of stones? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/4 "2009-04-18T01:49:12Z")
> [@Caught\_Work](#): > > Retarding basin? > [http://everything2.com/index.pl?node\_id=1379827](http://everything2.com/index.pl?node_id=1379827) Hmmm, that might be it, an artificial lake that was refilled naturally during the flood season. Ninety, I _seem_ to recall its side were stone, but they could have been concrete. The main thing is that I couldn’t find any mechanism for the water to get up _to_ the pond in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/5 "2009-04-18T02:20:00Z")
**Caught@Work** ’s suggestion makes sense. It just seems too small to make any dent in flooding. I like your notion of an ice skating rink. The park there, Allen Park, seems to have an indoor rink. I wonder if this was an old outdoor one. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/6 "2009-04-18T02:36:49Z")
Check this out, from the history of Jamestown: > [@](#): > > The first system of fire protection consisted of a series of small storage reservoirs located in various sections of the village. From [here](http://history.rays-place.com/ny/chau-jamestown.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-use-for-this-pond/493463/7 "2009-04-18T03:06:35Z")
I think you might be right! It is consistent with a storage reservoir that had to be hand-pumped, then refilled manually since it is so close to the creek, although the fact it’s at the bottom of a ravine is sort of weird. But let me keep the illusion of an ice skating rink 🙂 (Yeah, I had seen the ice skating rink in Allen Park before and just never connected the two, perhaps I did subconsciously.)