The “Land System of Colonial New York” article published recently in the New York Almanack prompts the thought that some things, if ever, are slow to change. As the article’s author points out, land was seen as a commodity and many in power kept substantial portions and then distributed the rest to their best advantage. Then, as now, they applied their version of the golden rule – them that have the gold rule. [Read more…] about In Search of a Land Ethic and Sustainable Planet
Gifford Pinchot
Later Logging of Nehasane, Whitney & Brandreth Parks
Nehasane, Brandreth and Whitney Preserves were three private parks in the Adirondacks that included logging railroads built to extract large stands of virgin timber in the late 19th century. This is the final part of a series of essays about the logging of these private parks in the 1900-1920 period. [Read more…] about Later Logging of Nehasane, Whitney & Brandreth Parks
Brandreth Park: A Latecomer to Adirondack Forestry Planning
Nehasane Park, and the Brandreth and Whitney Preserves were three private parks that included logging railroads built to extract large stands of virgin timber in the late 19th century. Brandreth Preserve was the last of these to institute serious forestry planning. [Read more…] about Brandreth Park: A Latecomer to Adirondack Forestry Planning
Nehasane Park: Ground Zero in the Adirondack Logging Debate
Nehasane Park, and the Brandreth and Whitney Preserves were three private parks that included logging railroads built to extract large stands of virgin timber in the late 19th century. In 1914, Brandreth Park gained the rare distinction of having the biggest log sled load in Northern New York.
Nehasane Park, created by William Seward Webb on Lake Lila, included 115,000 acres (including the Adirondack Railroad). [Read more…] about Nehasane Park: Ground Zero in the Adirondack Logging Debate
Along The Mohawk & Malone: Forest Fires & Logging South of Big Moose (1900-1920)
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)
Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue
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
William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks
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