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Gifford Pinchot

Along The Mohawk & Malone: Forest Fires & Logging South of Big Moose (1900-1920)

December 27, 2022 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Picture of Rev. John Fitzgerald, Born in England, John Gerald Fitzgerald (1850-1925) attended seminary in Troy, NY, accepting his first assignment as a priest in the Diocese of Ogdensburg. Following pastorates in upstate New York, Father Fitz – as he was affectionately called – was given the daunting challenge of establishing a parish in Old Forge, in the Adirondacks.

In 1896, Northern Herkimer County was a heavily forested region dotted by tiny hamlets, scattered lumber camps, and remote railroad stations along the Mohawk & Malone Railroad. For the next twenty-nine years, he got off the Mohawk & Malone at stations like McKeever, Carter, Big Moose, Beaver River, Brandreth, Keepewa, Nehasane, and Horseshoe Lake, carrying his bible and sacraments from these stops to remote lumber camps on snowshoes, wearing his trademark coonskin cap and woolen mittens. His parish stretched over a 200 square-mile area. [Read more…] about Along The Mohawk & Malone: Forest Fires & Logging South of Big Moose (1900-1920)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Beaver River, Big Moose, conservation, Fires, Forest Preserve, Forestry, Fulton Chain, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, McKeever, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, Moose River, New York Central RR, railroads, Raquette Lake

Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

November 15, 2022 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Entering Adirondack Park sign photo credit, Eric Meier;In the late nineteenth century, Adirondack VIP tours were arranged to assess water damage from state-sponsored dams that kept lumber mills powered and barges floating up and down the Erie Canal. Judges like Truman Fuller exhorted the New York State Forest Commission to get an accurate upstate map completed, to head off all the lawsuits. [Read more…] about Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Big Moose, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Forestry, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Legal History, Logging, Political History, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

October 31, 2022 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Picture of an antique crosscut saw taken by Noel Sherry and hanging in his cabin; Hanging above a window in our Twitchell Lake cabin northeast of Big Moose, Herkimer County, in the Adirondacks is this five-foot-long saw with a handle at both ends, and a row of sharp knife-like teeth. I have never used it, but now know it is an antique crosscut saw for use by one or two persons. [Read more…] about William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Brown's Tract, Copenhagen, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, John A. Dix, Labor History, Logging, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, Moose River, New York Central RR, railroads, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

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