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Mining

Archibald McIntyre’s Life In Lotteries, Politics & Adirondack Mines

January 8, 2023 by Peter Hess Leave a Comment

Archibald McIntyre courtesy Project GutenbergArchibald McIntyre was born in Kenmore, Perthshire, Scotland on the June 1, 1772. His parents were Daniel and Anne Walker McIntyre. Daniel McIntyre taught school in Scotland.

In 1774, Daniel and his family immigrated to the colony of New York and settled with four or five other Scottish families in what is now Broadalbin in Fulton County, NY. [Read more…] about Archibald McIntyre’s Life In Lotteries, Politics & Adirondack Mines

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Albany, Albany County, Albany Rural Cemetery, Archibald McIntyre, Broadalbin, Calamity Pond, Daniel D. Tompkins, Delaware Lackawanna & Western Railroad, Essex County, Fulton County, High Peaks, Hudson River, Industrial History, Iron Industry, Ithaca and Owego Railroad, Lake Placid, Mining, Newcomb, North Elba, Political History, Tahawus, Timbuctoo

Former Saratoga and North Creek Railway Purchased

December 22, 2022 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Tahawus Railway Map Dec 2022Revolution Rail Company (RevRail) has announced its purchase of the Saratoga and North Creek Railway, which stretches from the hamlet of North Creek in Johnsburg, Warren County, north to the Tahawus mining works in the Town of Newcomb, Essex County. [Read more…] about Former Saratoga and North Creek Railway Purchased

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Essex County, High Peaks, Hudson Gorge Wilderness, Hudson River, Johnsburg, Mining, Newcomb, North Creek, Opalescent River, Open Space Institute, railroads, Tahawus, Vanderwhacker Mountain Wild Forest, Warren County, World War Two

The First Major Test at APA for Governor Hochul & Chairman Ernst

January 11, 2022 by Peter Bauer Leave a Comment

White Lake Granit QuarryWill the new boss be the same as the old boss?

We’ll know the answer to this question when the Adirondack Park Agency (APA) meets on January 13-14th. On its agenda is a draft permit for a new granite quarry in White Lake in the town of Forestport in the Western Adirondacks.

This project is widely opposed by neighboring landowners, residents, and property owners in the general area. There have been very few private land development projects in the last two decades that have engendered such a high level of public involvement and concern. [Read more…] about The First Major Test at APA for Governor Hochul & Chairman Ernst

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, APA, DEC, development, Environmental History, Forestport, Kathy Hochul, Mining, nature, Oneida County

‘Trouble at the Quarries’: The 1890 Slate Workers Strike

November 14, 2021 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

slate workers and their bosses near Granville in the early 20th century (photo courtesy Slate Valley Museum)Huge demand for slate in 1890 boosted prices for quarry owners and manufacturers in the Granville area of Washington County, NY, and workers sought a share of the wealth.

“The slate business is booming,” The Granville Sentinel reported on June 13, 1890, followed a week later with the report, “There is trouble at the quarries.” [Read more…] about ‘Trouble at the Quarries’: The 1890 Slate Workers Strike

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga Tagged With: Geology, Granville, Industrial History, Labor History, Mining, Slate Quarries, Vermont, Washington County

Copake Iron Works Tours And Talk Planned

June 4, 2014 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Copake Iron Works cart and horseHistorian Jim Mackin will present “Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Copake Iron Works But Were Afraid to Ask” at a lecture and slide show on Saturday, June 21st at 2pm at the Roeliff Jansen Community Library, 9091 Route 22 in Copake, Columbia County, NY, followed by a reception and tour of the Iron Works.

Mackin will also host guided tours of the Copake Iron Works Historic District throughout the summer, beginning on June 8th as part of New York State’s Path Through History Weekend. [Read more…] about Copake Iron Works Tours And Talk Planned

Filed Under: Events, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Columbia County, Industrial History, Labor History, Mining, Taconic State Park

The Lyon Mountain Mining and Railroad Museum

June 2, 2014 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

LyMtM&RRM NYHFor a century, the world’s best iron ore was produced by a small Clinton County village in upstate New York. That remarkable legacy is shared in the Lyon Mountain Mining and Railroad Museum, housed in the town’s former railroad depot building. The cost to visitors “can’t be beat,” as they say—admission is free.

This community project developed into a remarkable facility dedicated to regional and town history. The focus is on iron mining, once a dominant force in the region’s economy. [Read more…] about The Lyon Mountain Mining and Railroad Museum

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Industrial History, Labor History, Lyon Mountain Mining Museum, Mining, Museums, Natural History, Transportation

North Country History: Danger with Dynamite

July 2, 2013 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment

1899 Ad dynamiteI enjoy all kinds of stories, and true “Oops!” moments are among them. Like the time my dad, always a do-it-yourselfer (and a good one), was working on the house, and with hammer in hand, instinctively tried to shoo away a nuisance bee buzzing around his head. The result? Let’s just say an empty hand would have worked much better. Or when a friend of mine, a nice guy who didn’t always think things through, made the surprise announcement that he had bought a jeep from a buddy. I knew he couldn’t afford it, but he loved the open-air concept of the Wrangler.

As it turned out, during the tryout phase, he decided to cut some old trees for firewood, and yes, he managed to drop a tree on the jeep. You break it, you bought it.

I’ve collected a few North Country Oops! stories over the years. Here are some involving dynamite, leaving behind few injuries but plenty of red faces. [Read more…] about North Country History: Danger with Dynamite

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Labor History, Mining

Northern New York Survival Stories

November 27, 2012 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

I recently covered some pretty tough hombres from Lyon Mountain in far upstate New York. Rugged folks, for sure, but by no means had they cornered the market on regional toughness. Here are a few of my favorite stories of Adirondack and North Country resilience. [Read more…] about Northern New York Survival Stories

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY Tagged With: Adirondacks, Essex County, Hamilton County, Industrial History, Labor History, Mining, Natural History, Transportation

Swedish Lyon Mountain Mining Oral History

November 20, 2012 by Lawrence P. Gooley 1 Comment

Last week’s subject, iron miner George Davies (1892–1983) of Standish and Lyon Mountain, was a kindly gentleman with a powerful work ethic and a can-do, pioneer spirit. Interviews with him in 1981 were key to my second book, Lyon Mountain: The Tragedy of a Mining Town. Humble and matter of fact, he shared recollections from nearly 80 years earlier. [Read more…] about Swedish Lyon Mountain Mining Oral History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY Tagged With: Adirondacks, Clinton County, Immigration, Industrial History, Labor History, Lawrence Gooley, Mining

Lyon Mountain Mines: George Davies of Clinton County

November 13, 2012 by Lawrence P. Gooley Leave a Comment


George Davies of Standish in Clinton County was about as tough an Adirondacker as you’ll find anywhere. Standish was the sister community to Lyon Mountain during its century-long run of producing the world’s best iron ore. Davies (1892–1983) was among the many old-timers I interviewed around 1980 for my second book, Lyon Mountain: The Tragedy of a Mining Town. He was kind, welcoming, and honest in describing events of long ago.

George was a good man. The stories he told me seemed far-fetched at first, but follow-up research in microfilm archives left me amazed at his accuracy recounting events of the early 1900s. His truthfulness was confirmed in articles on items like strikes, riots, injuries, and deaths.

When I last interviewed George in 1981 (he was 88), he proudly showed me a photograph of himself as Machine Shop Supervisor in the iron mines, accepting a prestigious award for safety. I laughed so hard I almost cried as he described the scene. George, you see, had to hold the award just so, hiding the fact that he had far fewer than his originally allotted ten fingers. He figured it wouldn’t look right to reveal his stubs while cradling a safety plaque.
In matter-of-fact fashion, he proceeded to tell me what happened. Taken from the book, here are snippets from our conversation as recorded in 1981: “I lost one full finger and half of another in a machine, but I still took my early March trapping run to the Springs. I had a camp six miles up the Owl’s Head Road. While I was out there, I slipped in the water and nearly froze the hand. I had to remove the bandages to thaw out my hand, and I was all alone, of course. It was just something I had to do to survive.

“When I lost the end of my second finger in an accident at work, I was back on the job in forty-five minutes. Another time I was hit on the head by a lever on a crane. It knocked me senseless for ten minutes. When I woke up, I went back to work within a few minutes. [George also pointed out that, in those days, there was no sick time, no vacation time, and no holidays. Unionization was still three decades away, and the furnace’s schedule ran around the clock.]

“When I started working down here, the work day was twelve hours per day, seven days a week, and the pay was $1.80 per day for twelve hours [fifteen cents per hour] around the year 1910. That was poor money back then. When they gave you a raise, it was only one or two cents an hour, and they didn’t give them very often.

“In one month of January I had thirty-nine of the twelve-hour shifts. You had to work thirty-six hours to put an extra shift in, and you still got the fourteen or fifteen cents per hour. It was pretty rough going, but everybody lived through it. Some people did all right back then. Of course, it wasn’t a dollar and a half for cigarettes back then [remember, this was recorded in 1981].

“Two fellows took sick at the same time, two engineers that ran the switches. They sent me out to work, and I worked sixty hours without coming home. Then the boss came out to run it and I went and slept for twelve hours. Then I returned for a thirty-six hour shift. No overtime pay, just the rate of twenty-five cents per hour.” Now THAT’s Lyon Mountain toughness.

The tough man had also been a tough kid. “When I was thirteen years old, I worked cleaning bricks from the kilns at one dollar for one thousand. On July 3rd, 1907, when I was fifteen, I accidentally shot myself in the leg. I stayed in Standish that night, and on the next day I walked to Lyon Mountain, about three miles of rough walking.”

His father was in charge of repairing the trains, and young George climbed aboard as often as he could. “I was running those engines when I was sixteen years old, all alone, and I didn’t even have a fireman. I always wanted to be on the railroad, but I had the pleasure of losing an eye when I was nine years old. I was chopping wood and a stick flew up and hit me in the eye.

“I pulled it out, and I could see all right for a while. Not long after, I lost sight in it. The stick had cut the eyeball and the pupil, and a cataract or something ruined my eye. The doctor wanted to take the eye out, but I’ve still got it. And that’s what kept me off of the railroad. That was  seventy-nine years ago, in 1901.”

Next week: A few of George Davies’ remarkable acquaintances.

Photo: George Davies.

Lawrence Gooley has authored 11 books and more than 100 articles on the North Country’s past. He and his partner, Jill McKee, founded Bloated Toe Enterprises in 2004. Expanding their services in 2008, they have produced 32 titles to date, and are now offering web design. For information on book publishing, visit Bloated Toe Publishing

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY Tagged With: Adirondacks, Clinton County, Industrial History, Labor History, Lawrence Gooley, Medical History, Mining, Oral History

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