History, Natural History & the Arts
Burning fuel, like wood and gasoline, happens around the world every day. Most of the time, we burn fuels to make heat or power engines. Sometimes the burning happens by accident, as in the case of wildfires.
Most of the time, the process of burning fuels creates emissions in the form of visible smoke. Black carbon is a significant component of fine particulate matter pollution and a key ingredient in “soot.” [Read more…] about Black Carbon: Some History & Science of Soot
Galway in Saratoga County, NY had more than a half dozen churches in the early 1800s, but very little industry. It was first settled by immigrants from Scotland in 1774.
A lack of large rivers or a railroad connection stifled the growth of the town, although by 1855 it had six sawmills, two grist mills, two broom handle factories, and eight blacksmiths within the village of Galway. [Read more…] about Galway’s Gristmill: A Short History
On the Hudson River along upstate New York’s eastern border, within the natural boundaries of river and mountains, lies the rough rectangle of Rensselaer County. It is bisected by the Poesten Kill,* a powerful stream that scours its way from the mountains to the sea level flats of the Hudson River at Troy.
The Poesten Kill splits the county across the middle into two pieces of roughly equal size, north and south. From its source at about 1,600 feet in the Petersburg Mountains, to the village which bears its name, it’s a smaller steam tumbling over forested rocks and ledges, and forming pools and small waterfalls. At the village of Poestenkill it begins to meander across a 10-mile wide plateau of farmlands before falling abruptly through a series of steep gorges at Troy to settle into the Hudson. [Read more…] about The Poestenkill: Mountains, Waterfalls and Waterworks
This week on The Historians Podcast, Kimberly Hess discusses A Lesser Mortal: The Unexpected Life of Sarah Cochran (Books Fluent, 2021). Cochran lived in Pennsylvania and headed companies that processed coal and coke. A distant ancestor of Hess, Cochran advocated for women’s suffrage and was a philanthropist. [Read more…] about The Coal Queen of Western Pennsylvania
Few industrialists in the history of the United States have been so widely involved in multiple production operations as Henry Ford. His business philosophy was to operate and control all phases of his manufacture, which included transportation between production facilities.
Certain operations of his automobile empire involved the transportation of raw materials, and completed sub-assemblies between the main plants in the Detroit area, and satellite plants on the eastern seaboard.
Ford, a trenchant industrialist, realized that the New York State Barge Canal offered business a tremendous economic corridor between the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. [Read more…] about Henry Ford’s Barge Canal Fleet: A Short History
Shoemaking was a common trade for centuries, but quickly became a casualty of the industrial revolution in the 19th century. The development of the sewing machine in the 1840s, by Elias Howe, Isaac Singer (from Pittstown, Rensselaer County, NY) and others revolutionized the textile industry.
Machines that could stitch leather for shoes soon also appeared and events like the Civil War spurred the technology on. The U.S. Army ordered thousands of machine-made boots for its soldiers. During this time, Russel Crego (1820-1892) was one New York shoemaker who made a very successful leap from making shoes by hand to selling sewing machines, not only to factories but to the home market. [Read more…] about Shoemaking to Sewing Machines: One Central NY Cobbler’s Path to Prosperity
Floods have been a fairly frequent occurrence in Rensselaer County, especially along the Poesten Kill and Wynants Kill and at their mouths which are impacted by the flooding of the Hudson River.
Two whales that ascended the river and were stranded during exceptionally high water in the Hudson in 1647 died there. In 1654 flooding all but destroyed the West India Company’s garden below Fort Orange and in 1666 Jeremias van Rensselaer reported that “fully forty houses and barns have been carried away, among which our house in which we lived, the barn and the brewery, the new as well as the old are lost also, so that hardly any traces can be found of where they have stood.” [Read more…] about Rensselaer County Floods: A Short History
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has released a draft proposal for a national marine sanctuary in eastern Lake Ontario and the Thousand Islands region of the St. Lawrence River. The proposed sanctuary designation celebrates Upstate New York’s unique maritime heritage and provides a national stage for promoting the region’s tourism and recreational opportunities. [Read more…] about Proposed National Marine Sanctuary Highlights Lake Ontario Maritime History
In the early morning hours of July 4, 1919, a fire alarm was sounded in the village of Corinth, Saratoga County. Many residents thought some kids were celebrating Independence Day a bit early, but when the International Paper Mill fire whistle sounded everyone knew it was real.
The popular German-American Club next to a creek on lower Pine Street was ablaze. [Read more…] about Corinth’s 1919 German–American Club Fire
New York State is committing resources to perform and/or oversee an investigation of emerging contaminants, namely 1,4-dioxane and per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), detected in groundwater near a complex of inactive landfills between State Route 149 and Mud Pond Road in the Town of Queensbury, Warren County.
The New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and Health (DOH) say the levels may be a concern for nearby private wells and with the property owners’ consent are conducting testing of those wells. The Departments say that to date, PFAS have not been detected in any private wells above New York State’s public drinking water standards although 1,4-dioxane has. [Read more…] about State Investigating Several Polluted Landfill Sites In Queensbury