History of Rochester, Kent longtitudinal timber beams provided the actual bridging structure, with cross planking to form the road surface. They constructed a substantial causeway, wide, over the marshy ground on the Strood Side of the river, extending from the river to the present day Angel Corner. In more settled times, the combination of transport links and the fertile Medway valley became the basis of a developed agricultural economy. Compared to the rest of the country there was a marked abundance of Roman villas lining the valley from Rochester down to Maidstone. During the 190s systematic earthen fortifications were established which were replaced in
Genesee River Genesee River The Genesee River is a tributary of Lake Ontario flowing northward through the Twin Tiers of Pennsylvania and New York in the United States. The river provided the original power for the Rochester area's 19th century mills and still provides hydroelectric power for downtown Rochester. The Genesee is the remaining western branch of a preglacial system, with rock layers tilted an average of 40 feet (12 m) per mile, so the river flows across progressively older bedrock as it flows northward. It begins in exposing the Allegheny Plateau's characteristic conglomerates: sandstones and shales in the of the Mississippian