Expanded New Edition Adirondack History Published

Echoes in These Mountains was author-historian Glenn Pearsall’s first award-winning book. Published in 2008, it tells the stories behind 55 historic sites in the Adirondack township of Johnsburg, in Warren County, NY.

The book was well received and the original run of 1,500 copies sold out years ago, so Pearsall decided it was time for a second edition. The second edition features additional historic photographs, an index and added new research and analysis, totaling 512 pages.

The new edition includes additional documentation of a French & Indian War warpath that passed through the area including pictures of a Revolutionary-Era “cannon” found unearthed along a local dirt road years ago, cannon balls of different diameters found in a garden in Bakers Mills by a local resident and a Revolutionary War French bayonet found near the east shore of Loon Lake.

Many know that Theodore Roosevelt, after climbing Mt Marcy, hurried to the North Creek Train station where he found out that he’d be the next President of the United States, but the new edition asks the question: When did “TR first visit the Adirondacks?” New research on the local abolitionist preacher Reverend Enos Putnam and the “Wevertown” vs “Weavertown” controversy is included as well as an extensive exploration on the question whether Mathew Brady, famous Civil War photographer and acknowledged as “America’s first photojournalist,” just grew up in Johnsburg or was actually born there?

There is also extensive new material on the earliest days of “Ride up-Ski Down” skiing on Gore Mountain; the cost of tourist accommodations around Garnet Lake in 1916 and its “freshwater jellyfish;” and more speculation on the age and original height of Crane Mountain. The section on North River has been expanded to include the fire that destroyed Thirteenth Lake Lodge (not to be confused with Garnet Hill Lodge) with loss of life in 1931 and an 1858 map which shows an “Indian Settlement” on the south shore of 13th Lake. The story behind the famous fire bell at the North Creek firehouse is also featured as well as an aerial photograph of North Creek before the Route 28 bypass was built.

The book also includes a 1885 map of a proposed “Adirondack Park,” to be administered by a forest commission, that would have had much of Johnsburg and most of northern Warren County outside today’s “blue line.”

A higher-grade paper stock was used in the new edition. This has enabled the many historic photographs and maps featured to be viewed with greater detail and a broadened tonal range.

A comprehensive index has been added and an appendix containing the families and military records on 175 men from Johnsburg who fought in the Civil War.

The new expanded second edition of Echoes in These Mountains is available through local book sellers throughout the region and by emailing the author at Glenn.Pearsall.author@gmail.com.

The Expanded Second Edition of Echoes in These Mountains (2022) is $24.95. With NYS Sales tax $26.70. With postage and handling $31.61 Checks should be made out to Glenn L. Pearsall and mailed to 1187 Garnet Lake Rd N, Johnsburg, NY 12843.