History, Natural History & the Arts
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State locating and extracting lost, injured or distressed people and policing state lands.
This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Rangers Respond to Fourth Lake Snowmobile Accident, Lost & Injured Hikers
The New York State Police are investigating a fatal snowmobile accident that occurred early Sunday morning on Fourth Lake in the town of Webb in the Adirondacks involving five snowmobiles. [Read more…] about One Dead After Five Snowmobilers Crash on Adirondack Lake
Twitchell Lake is an Adirondack gem that has been protected over time by its remote location. Originally carved out by the last glacier, it drains northwestward into Beaver River, which exits the Adirondacks into Lewis County’s Black River, finally meandering its way into Lake Ontario. Twitchell’s location is starred on this unique watershed map. [Read more…] about Twitchell Lake: Wilderness, Survey and Settlement
Eagle Bay lies in the middle of the Adirondack Mountains of New York State at an elevation of 1,720 feet above sea level.
Situated just north of 4th Lake and about ten miles east of Old Forge the small hamlet (one of 94 in the Adirondacks) has seasonal activity consisting of winter snowmobiling, cross country skiing, and snowshoeing. Summer events focus on the various surrounding lakes, ponds, mountains, and hiking trails. [Read more…] about Eagle Bay in the Adirondacks: A Primer
The Fourth Lake Boat Launch in the town of Inlet, Hamilton County, has reopened for the season after closing last fall to undergo rehabilitation repairs and improvements. Improvements include new pavement, line striping, directional arrows, new kiosk, and new access dock. In addition, fencing was installed along the property border. [Read more…] about Fourth Lake Boat Launch Improvements
When seventy-eight-year-old William Rulison passed away in August of 1931, the only newspaper in Upstate New York that carried the news was Cooperstown’s Otsego Farmer. In this obituary, he was noted only as a “pioneer in balloon flying in this part of the country,” and a man who went by the title of Professor. This report of his passing left much untold, and in the material that follows I hope to give a complete account of his full and varied life. [Read more…] about New York’s Forgotten Aeronaut & Diver: William Warren Rulison
The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is notifying the public that the Fourth Lake Boat Launch in the town of Inlet, Hamilton County, NY, will be temporarily closed starting Monday, September 12th.
The closure will allow DEC to make repairs and improvements to the launch. The public boat launch will re-open in spring 2023. [Read more…] about Fourth Lake Boat Launch Closing For Repairs
The adventure began with an exchange of letters in the spring of 1877 between a sportsman in Syracuse, NY, and Byron P. Graves of Boonville, a town on the western border of the Adirondacks. The purpose of this correspondence was to hire a guide and transportation for a two-week hunting and fishing trip into the Fulton Chain of Lakes for the man and his 11-year-old son Ned.
The sportsman was Ansel Judd Northrup, a 43-year-old attorney who would later write the book, Camps and Tramps in the Adirondacks (1882), where this story was first told. The final communication from Northrup, in the form of a telegraph, simply read, “Engage Brinckerhoff, will reach Boonville, morning train, July 5th.” [Read more…] about Through The Fulton Chain of Lakes in 1877
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is seeking public comment on an amendment to the Campground and Day-Use Area Generic Unit Management Plan (UMP) that is hoped to support efforts to prevent the spread of harmful aquatic invasive species (AIS).
The proposed amendment includes the construction and permanent placement of storage facilities for decontamination equipment used to remove AIS from watercraft at these sites. [Read more…] about Campground, Day-Use Area Plans Proposed to Combat Invasives
Jack Sheppard came to the Fulton Chain region of the Western Adirondacks after roaming the West as a youth and then served in the Union Army during the Civil War.
These experiences equipped Sheppard with the knowledge, skills, and social network to become a successful guide and enabled him to shift his occupation from guide to innkeeper, to builder, to businessman. He never married or raised a family, but when he left the Adirondacks in 1892 he left behind a long list of devoted friends that reads like a virtual who’s who of Adirondack history. [Read more…] about Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, three generations of the Crego family worked as wilderness guides in the Western Adirondacks. Along the way, they raised families, worked for prominent employers, adapted to new forms of transportation, and helped lay the groundwork for the conservation movement in New York State. [Read more…] about The Crego Family: Three Generations of Adirondack Guides
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