• Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to secondary sidebar

New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

  • Email
  • RSS
  • Adirondacks & NNY
  • Capital-Saratoga
  • Mohawk Valley
  • Hudson Valley & Catskills
  • NYC & Long Island
  • Western NY
  • History
  • Nature & Environment
  • Arts & Culture
  • Outdoor Recreation
  • Food & Farms
  • Subscribe
  • Support
  • Submit
  • About
  • New Books
  • Events
  • Podcasts

Mining

Farming With Dynamite: The Stone Boom in Schoharie County

December 1, 2023 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

Farming with DynamiteThirty-one quarries dotted the limestone belt that stretches from end-to-end along the northern third of Schoharie County, NY.

Before the introduction of concrete in the early 1900s, these quarries supplied millions of tons of cut and finished stone to projects like the Brooklyn Bridge, the expanding NYS Barge Canal System, and hundreds of homes and prominent buildings meant to last for centuries. [Read more…] about Farming With Dynamite: The Stone Boom in Schoharie County

Filed Under: Books, Events, History, Mohawk Valley Tagged With: Cobleskill, Engineering History, Esperance, Immigration, Industrial History, Mining, Schoharie, Schoharie County, Sharon, Sharon Springs

An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

November 6, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

"Early Days of Rapid Transit" by Edward Lamson Henry showing a canal packet boat ca 1840s (Private collection)The following letter, “A Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal To Carbondale,” appeared in the Register of Pennsylvania on August 14, 1830 and was written in the city of New York on August 2, 1830. This letter was discovered and transcribed by George A. Thompson, a volunteer scholar at the Hudson River Maritime Museum, and slightly edited and annotated by John Warren.

Mr. Croswell – I perceive by the paper, that a packet boat commences this day, to run regularly for the remainder of the season, on the Delaware and Hudson canal. Among the pleasant and healthy tours that are now sought after, I would strongly recommend a trip on that canal. [Read more…] about An 1830 Trip On The Delaware & Hudson Canal

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: anthracite coal, Catskills, Delaware & Hudson Canal, Delaware River, Hudson River, Iron Industry, Kingston, Lackawanna, Lackawanna River, Laxawaxen River, Mining, Mongaup Valley, Neversink, Neversink River, Orange County, Pennsylvania, Philip Hone, Port Jervis, Rondout, Shawangunk Ridge, Sullivan County, Susquehanna River, Transportation History, Ulster County

An Awkward Moment at the Adirondack Park Agency

October 27, 2023 by David Gibson Leave a Comment

Adirondack Park Agency (APA) SignDuring the Adirondack Park Agency’s October 12 meeting, I noted with appreciation the APA members who asked pertinent questions about the staff’s proposed permit for Carver Sand and Gravel in the town of Ephratah, Fulton County (Project 2022-0037). These questions and concerns included but were not limited to the proposed dramatic rise in the maximum number of daily truck trips out of the mine (from a maximum of 75 per day to a max of 200 per day).

For APA member Zoe Smith the letter from the Ephratah town board in the public comment file stood out to her because it is rare for a town board to raise detailed concerns about an APA project in writing. [Read more…] about An Awkward Moment at the Adirondack Park Agency

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Wild, Adirondacks, APA, development, Ephratah, Fulton County, Legal History, Mining

Black Veins, Green Blood: Coal Mining in Scranton

October 10, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Black Veins Green Blood Scranton Coal Strike Novel In the novel Black Veins, Green Blood (Synthesis Group, 2022) by  Gene McTiernan, Patrick O’Neil begins work as a breaker boy at the Hampton colliery in Scranton, Pennsylvania in 1893.

He is the son of an Irish immigrant known simply as “The O’Neil.” He expects to follow in his father’s footsteps to become an independent miner. As he moves through the various colliery jobs, his path seems certain. [Read more…] about Black Veins, Green Blood: Coal Mining in Scranton

Filed Under: Arts, Books, Events, History Tagged With: anthracite coal, HIstorical Fiction, Irish American Heritage Museum, Irish Immigrants, Labor History, Mining, Pennsylvania

Historic Adirondack MacNaughton Cottage Being Rehabilitated

September 25, 2023 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

MacNaughton Cottage in 2021 (provided by the Open Space Institute) MacNaughton Cottage, located at the Open Space Institute (OSI)-owned and managed 212-acre Adirondac Upper Works property in the Adirondacks, is the site from which then-Vice President Theodore Roosevelt began his famous “midnight ride to the presidency” in 1901 after receiving news that President William McKinley had been shot in Buffalo. [Read more…] about Historic Adirondack MacNaughton Cottage Being Rehabilitated

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Cloudsplitter Foundation, DEC, Essex County, Historic Preservation, Iron Industry, MacNaughton Cottage, Mining, Newcomb, Open Space Institute, Tahawus, Theodore Roosevelt, Upper Works

The Geology of Clinton County and History

June 18, 2023 by Guest Contributor 1 Comment

Map of Clinton CountyThe geology of Clinton County has shaped the county’s history in complex ways. There are five major geologic rock types in the county, each mined for its beauty and strength. You can see them in the buildings. [Read more…] about The Geology of Clinton County and History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondacks, Alice T. Miner Museum, Architecture, Ausable Chasm, Ausable Forks, Ausable River, Bluff Point Light House, Champlain Valley, Chateaugay, Chateaugay Lake, Chazy, Chazy Lake, Churubusco, clinton correctional facility, Clinton County, Clinton County Community College, Dannemora, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Fossils, Geology, Historic Preservation, I-87, Iron Industry, Keeseville, Lake Champlain, Lyon Mountain, Mining, peru, Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Samuel de Champlain History Center, Town of Ausable, Transportation History

New Mini Railroad Starts Running at Copake Iron Works June 7th

April 11, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Pomeroy Family Railroad at the Copake Iron WorksCopake Iron Works has announced the inauguration of the Pomeroy Family Railroad at the Copake Iron Works at Copake Falls in Columbia County, NY is set for Wednesday, June 7th. [Read more…] about New Mini Railroad Starts Running at Copake Iron Works June 7th

Filed Under: Events, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Columbia County, Copake Iron Works, Industrial History, Iron Industry, Mining, Museums, railroads, Transportation History

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

January 8, 2023 by Peter Hess 1 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 3 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, Rail Biking, 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

  • Go to page 1
  • Go to page 2
  • Go to page 3
  • Go to Next Page »

Primary Sidebar

Help Support The Almanack

PayPal, CashApp $NewYorkAlmanack orVenmo @John-Warren-363
Subscribe to New York Almanack

Recent Comments

  • Bernard Thomas Mccann on The Rebellions of 1837-1838: American Influence & The Formation of Canada
  • Gene Porter on The Rebellions of 1837-1838: American Influence & The Formation of Canada
  • Richard Daly on DEC to Lead Multi-Agency Effort to Investigate Bottle Bill Fraud
  • Peter on DEC to Lead Multi-Agency Effort to Investigate Bottle Bill Fraud
  • Alexandra van Dongen on The Hawleys, Opposition to the War of 1812 and the Church of the Presidents
  • Renee on Preservation Failures: The Hardenbergh House
  • Edythe Ann Quinn on Poetry: But What Do They Think?
  • Patty Matteson on The Last Days of John Brown: Martyr, Revolutionary or Terrorist?
  • Editorial Staff on Free 2024 Erie Canalway Calendar Available December 1st
  • Kim Smith on Free 2024 Erie Canalway Calendar Available December 1st

Recent New York Books

Samson Occom
Whites of Their Eyes
Radicals and Rogues: The Women Who Made New York Modern
Road to Ticonderoga Campaign 1758 Champlain Valley
Birds of Happiness Aren’t Blue
The mayflower Rebecca Fraser
deep history
The Trials of Madame Restell
Made in New York by Frank Vizard
God Save Benedict Arnold by Jack Kelly

Secondary Sidebar

It's That Time of YearWe Can't Publish Without Your Support

New York Almanack delivers to you each day.

We receive no public funds - we're supported only by readers like you.

If you enjoy reading the Almanack - if you find yourself more informed or entertained, please donate now at

Rally.org, via PayPal, CashApp $NewYorkAlmanack, Venmo @John-Warren-363

Or send a check to:

New York Almanack
7269 State Route 9
Chestertown, NY 12817

*Donations are not tax deductible.

Give Now

Don't Show Me This Message Again.