New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Herkimer COunty

A Place Called Pauley: An Adirondack History

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1906 Topographic Map Powley PlaceIn the autumn of 1917, the well-known hotel and sportsman’s lodge Pauley Place was torn down as part of New York’s pursuit to bring her wilderness back on the path to being forever wild. The hotel was in Arietta, one of the most remote sections of the southern Adirondacks.

This town in Hamilton County spans sixty miles of wilderness, with Caroga Lake to the south and Tupper Lake to the north. The town was so sparsely populated during those years that the 1915 census listed less than four hundred permanent residents, only one physician, and more wilderness guides than farmers. [Read more…] about A Place Called Pauley: An Adirondack History

Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

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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

Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)

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Aaron Lloyd v. Moose River Lumber Co;An early 20th century Adirondack lawsuit pitted a small Big Moose Lake sportsman and landowner Aaron Lloyd against a team of powerful opponents, John Adams Dix and his Moose River Lumber Company with Dr. William Seward Webb and his Nehasane Park Association.

A second suit reversed the plaintiff and defendant, Webb vs. Lloyd, and appeared to be linked to the first complaint. Clearly this was a classic David versus Goliath clash. These cases would have been the fodder for conversations around the campfire in the Big Moose area for almost a decade.

On the surface, the complaints concerned the harvest of millions of board feet of virgin timber and flooding Big Moose Lake to get these logs to market, with Webb behind both actions. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)

NYS Forest Rangers Battle Numerous Wildfires Exacerbated By Dry Conditions

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Forest Rangers battle a wildfire in Fort Ann on October 30, 2022 (photo courtesy DEC)New York State Forest Rangers joined local firefighters from multiple fire companies to fight numerous wildfires in New York State on Sunday as careless campfires and debris burning combined with dry conditions. About 40 acres were burned in three locations in Washington, Fulton and Herkimer Counties. [Read more…] about NYS Forest Rangers Battle Numerous Wildfires Exacerbated By Dry Conditions

Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

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6b1 Webb Land Sold to NYS in 1896 on Julius Bien MapAfter achieving his railroad dream and completing his Nehasane wilderness refuge – reachable using his own luxury rail car – William Seward Webb found himself in a major conflict with the State of New York.

Inlet historian Charles Herr tells this part of the story expertly, in his history of the Fulton Chain. My map here highlights that land aquisition by the State in yellow, totaling 74,585 acres of Brown’s Tract and in the Totten & Crossfield Purchase. Webb retained ownership of lakes like Twitchell and Big Moose because he intended those for later cottage and hotel sales. [Read more…] about Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

William Seward Webb’s Railroad & Logging The Adirondacks

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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

Herkimer County’s Three Lakes Tract Management Plan Complete

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DEC LogoThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released a final recreation management plan (RMP) for the Three Lakes Tract Conservation Easement in the Town of Webb, Herkimer County.

The 3,350-acre Three Lakes Tract (TLT) is comprised of commercially managed forestland and is named for three waterbodies located on the property-Hitchcock, Grass, and Moose ponds. [Read more…] about Herkimer County’s Three Lakes Tract Management Plan Complete

New Adirondack History Book About The Beaver River Country

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Beaver River CountryThe book Beaver River Country: An Adirondack History (Syracuse Univ. Press, 2022) by Edward I. Pitts is a vivid history of this remote section of the western Adirondacks and its inhabitants. Encompassing the lands immediately surrounding the upper reaches of the Beaver River from its headwaters at Lake Lila to Beaver Lake at the settlement of Number Four, Beaver River country is one of the largest undisturbed tracts of forest in the entire northeastern United States. [Read more…] about New Adirondack History Book About The Beaver River Country

Ilion, Herkimer County, NY: 300 Years of History

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The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, Joseph Collea Junior is author of Our Town–Ilion, New York: a Selective Look at 300 Years of History. An Ilion native, Collea was a history teacher and administrator in Ilion schools for many years and served three terms as mayor of the village, which is located in Herkimer County, NY. [Read more…] about Ilion, Herkimer County, NY: 300 Years of History

New Mural Project Finishes in Old Forge

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Old Forge Mural courtesy Living ADKLiving ADK and View, the Center for Arts and Culture, have teamed up to create a new mural that is hanging on the side of Souvenir Village by the five corners/Point Park in Old Forge, NY.

The mural was designed and painted by Char Miller, a View summer intern and current Rochester Institute of Technology graphic design student, over the course of multiple days in August. [Read more…] about New Mural Project Finishes in Old Forge