Before the 20th century, the upper Hudson River was used commercially as a conduit to ship logs downstream to the mills along the river. Logs were stored in pens, behind temporary dams, and at streamside log landings until the spring melt increased the flow of the river – known as the spring freshet. When the flow rate was right, the the logs were sent careening downstream to the mills. [Read more…] about How Hudson River Floods Helped Create Great Sacandaga Lake
Great Sacandaga Lake
The Church Graveyard in Fish House (Podcast)
This week on The Historians Podcast, Joanne Blaauboer discusses her research at the old Presbyterian Church graveyard in the hamlet of Fish House on Great Sacandaga Lake.
For example, Church deacon Abraham Beecher is buried there – the cousin of famous author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Blaauboer is Town of Northampton Deputy historian. [Read more…] about The Church Graveyard in Fish House (Podcast)
Sacandaga Series: Two Virtual Programs
The Schoharie Crossing State Historic Site in Fort Hunter and the Fulton County Historical Society are teaming up to present a virtual two program series, looking at the history of Great Sacandaga Lake. [Read more…] about Sacandaga Series: Two Virtual Programs
90 Years Ago Conklingville Dam Flooded The Sacandaga Valley
Ninety years ago the Sacandaga Valley changed forever. March 27, 1930 marked the completion of the Conklingville Dam and the closing of its three large Dow valves, which hold back the 37 billion cubic feet of Sacandaga River water we now know as the Great Sacandaga Lake. [Read more…] about 90 Years Ago Conklingville Dam Flooded The Sacandaga Valley
Building the Great Sacandaga Lake
This week on The Historians Podcast, audio excerpts are heard from the popular new documentary: Harnessing Nature-Building the Great Sacandaga Lake. One of the producers, Saratoga County historian Lauren Roberts, discusses how the film came to be.
Listen to the podcast here. [Read more…] about Building the Great Sacandaga Lake
The Mystery of William Johnson’s ‘Fish House’
One of the real pleasures in researching and writing When Men and Mountain Meet was exploring the actual sites of the historic places mentioned in my book: the little town of Castorland on the Black River, the LeRay Mansion at Fort Drum, Gouverneur Morris’ Mansion at Natural Dam and David Parish’s house, now the Remington Art Museum, in Ogdensburg. And then there was finding Zephaniah Platt’s grave in the Riverside Cemetery in Plattsburgh, in Lake Placid the site of the 1813 Elba Iron and Steel Manufacturing works , Charles Herreshoff’s flooded iron ore mine in Old Forge and the complex of building foundations that made up John Thurman’s 1790 development at Elm Hill.
There was one site, however, that was a little harder to locate than the others; Sir William Johnson’s fishing camp “Fish House”. [Read more…] about The Mystery of William Johnson’s ‘Fish House’