New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Newcomb

Forest Rangers Kept Busy With Multiple Adirondack, Catskills Rescues

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forest ranger logoNew York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State. Working with other state agencies, local emergency response organizations and volunteer search and rescue groups, Forest Rangers locate and extract lost, injured or distressed people.

What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Kept Busy With Multiple Adirondack, Catskills Rescues

Hikers Rescued From Adirondack High Peaks After Navigation App Fails

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forest ranger logoOn Saturday, April 22 at about 6:50 pm, Ray Brook dispatch received a call from two hikers in their 20s near the summit of Mount Marshall in the Adirondack High Peaks in Newcomb, Essex County, NY.  The hikers were concerned they couldn’t make it back to the trailhead. [Read more…] about Hikers Rescued From Adirondack High Peaks After Navigation App Fails

Adirondack Council Identifies NYS Budget Priorities

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New York State CapitolThe Adirondack Council called on the New York lawmakers to prioritize wilderness preservation, climate protection measures, clean air across the state and incentives that boost diversity in the Adirondack Park’s workforce, visitors and residents, in its testimony on Governor Kathy Hochul’s FY2023/24 budget proposal. [Read more…] about Adirondack Council Identifies NYS Budget Priorities

Adirondack Town Gets Community Composter

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CfG’s John Culpepper inspects the newly manufactured compost systemAdkAction and the Compost for Good (CfG) team have announced that they have selected the Town of Newcomb in Essex County as the recipient of a high flow drum composter as part of a USDA Rural Business Development Grant (RBDG).

Newcomb was selected upon recommendation from a local advisory committee through a competitive application process based on the Town’s long standing interest in community scale composting, its strong collaborative team, and the educational opportunities it will provide. [Read more…] about Adirondack Town Gets Community Composter

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

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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

Former Saratoga and North Creek Railway Purchased

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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

Teddy Roosevelt’s Wild Ride to the Presidency

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On September 9th through 11th Newcomb, in Essex County at the heart of the Adirondacks, once again celebrates 26th President Theodore Roosevelt, who was vacationing at the Tahawus Club there in 1901 when the wheels leading to his presidency were set in motion.

Roosevelt had come to the Tahawus Club, a hunting and fishing retreat created in the 1870s on the site of early mining efforts on the uppermost reaches of the Hudson River, as a guest of one of its members. His arrival had been delayed by the assassination attempt on William McKinley, but after a trip to Buffalo where the stricken President was recovering, Roosevelt felt assured that he could join his family at Tahawus. [Read more…] about Teddy Roosevelt’s Wild Ride to the Presidency

Remembering Edith Roosevelt, Wife of Theodore Roosevelt

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Edith Kermit Roosevelt wife of Theodore RooseveltEdith Roosevelt, wife of TR, was staying with her husband at the Tahawus Club in Newcomb when he was called away to deal with the assassination of President William McKinley.

In 1933, she spoke about her experience in an address to school children: [Read more…] about Remembering Edith Roosevelt, Wife of Theodore Roosevelt

Plans To Dam The Upper Hudson Would Have Been Catastrophic

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Gooley-Kettle19-511x800On almost every stream, pond or lake in the Adirondacks there is still evidence of lumberman’s dams and lumbering operations.  In the mid-to-late 1960s however, there was a controversial plan to dam the Upper Hudson River in order to supply water and hydro-electric power to the parched, urban, metropolitan area of New York City.

In the early 1960s there had been a severe drought along the entire northeastern seaboard. One of New York City’s answers to the drought problem was to tap the Upper Hudson to supply its seemingly unquenchable need for water. [Read more…] about Plans To Dam The Upper Hudson Would Have Been Catastrophic