New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers responded to multiple backcountry incidents from August 18th through August 22nd. These included lost and injured hikers, stranded and injured boaters, an injured cliff jumper and more. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Respond to Lost, Injured Outdoor Recreationists
Oswego County
Lake Ontario’s Selkirk Shores, Southwick Beach Get Upgrade
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation (State Parks) has completed $9.5 million in upgrades to Selkirk Shores and Southwick Beach State Park on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, including campground upgrades, restoration of historic facilities, construction of a new park office and a new accessible trail. [Read more…] about Lake Ontario’s Selkirk Shores, Southwick Beach Get Upgrade
16 Socialists Poised for State Legislature, Most in New York State History
At least seven Democratic Socialist candidates have won primary elections for the New York Legislature in districts considered safe in November. The primary sweep included multiple victories over incumbent Democrats and in competitive open seats.
Not only will it more than double the socialist contingent in the state house to 16 across both chambers, it will mark the largest socialist contingent in the state legislature in New York history. [Read more…] about 16 Socialists Poised for State Legislature, Most in New York State History
Citing Dangerous Conditions, Mayor Bans Oswego River Ice Fishing
Several weeks of nearly sustained below-freezing temperatures in New York State has brought hard-water anglers (tip to our old friend recently passed – Joe hackett) to dangerous river ice, where currents, ice thickness and stability can be questionable, and rescues dangerous. This last point brought home by the death of a veteran firefighter during an icy Delaware River rescue on February 5th. [Read more…] about Citing Dangerous Conditions, Mayor Bans Oswego River Ice Fishing
Rangers Rescue Lost High Peaks Hiker & Dog; Respond to Snowmobile Accident
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State locating and extracting lost, injured or distressed people and policing state lands.
This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Rangers Rescue Lost High Peaks Hiker & Dog; Respond to Snowmobile Accident
The Creation of Fort Ontario State Historic Site
In December 1945, after the Second World War, the last refugee departed the Fort Ontario Emergency Refugee Shelter on February 5, 1946, and the Fort Ontario Military Reservation returned to the War Department at the end of the month.
The property then transferred to the State of New York on April 3, 1946. Approximately 60 wood-frame buildings constructed in 1941 were demolished. [Read more…] about The Creation of Fort Ontario State Historic Site
Fort Ontario During the American Revolutionary War
The American War for Independence (1775–1783) centered the Great Lakes in the middle of international conflict. By the 1770s, as tension between Britain and its American colonies reached a breaking point, Fort Ontario which had been constructed during the French and Indian War (1754-1763), was essentially abandoned.
It was located on Native land as defined by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and the boundary line established by the subsequent 1768 Treaty of Fort Stanwix. [Read more…] about Fort Ontario During the American Revolutionary War
Indigenous Transportation & Early Forts at Oswego
In attempts to maximize proximity to valuable trade with the Haudenosaunee and other Indigenous nations, Europeans established outposts and forts farther and farther into the interior of Haudenosaunee territory and the Great Lakes.
The French followed the St. Lawrence River into the Great Lakes and discovered that the Oswego River provided a water route inland to the Oswego-Oneida-Mohawk Carry, a trail using the largest portage connecting the Great Lakes and the Atlantic Ocean. [Read more…] about Indigenous Transportation & Early Forts at Oswego
Forest Rangers Kept Busy With Searches and Rescues
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers respond to search and rescue incidents throughout New York State locating and extracting lost, injured or distressed people and policing state lands.
This report of recent missions carried out by Forest Rangers was prepared by DEC: [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Kept Busy With Searches and Rescues
New York State & The Origins of America’s Oil Industry
The first written record of oil in North America is believed to have been made at Seneca Oil Spring in Allegany County in 1627 when a French Jesuit missionary was led to spring by local Seneca people.
The Senecas prized the oil for medicinal proposes; the spring is located in what is now Cuba, NY. [Read more…] about New York State & The Origins of America’s Oil Industry
King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace
King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace:continues the contest for North America from the end of Queen Anne’s War in 1713, marking the beginning of the Thirty-Year Peace, through the start of King George’s War in 1744, to its conclusion with the signing of Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle four years later.
While there would be little fighting between the French, Spanish, and British colonies in North America during the Thirty-Year Peace — the Franco-Spanish conflict of 1719 being an exception — for the French and British it did not prove to be peaceful. [Read more…] about King George’s War and the Thirty-Year Peace
Drought Watch Issued for 20 New York Counties
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has issued a Drought Watch for 20 New York counties because of a shortage of rainfall and declining levels of stream-flow and ground water. [Read more…] about Drought Watch Issued for 20 New York Counties
30 Deer Over 5 Years: Persistent Poacher Faces Felony Charges
On August 6, 2025 New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Officer (ECO) Lieutenants Burnell, Grogan, and ECO Hilton arrested a subject accused of widespread deer poaching in Oswego County following a lengthy investigation that began in late 2024 with a complaint about gunshots on posted, County-owned property. [Read more…] about 30 Deer Over 5 Years: Persistent Poacher Faces Felony Charges
Constable Hall: A Unique Lewis County House Museum
Constable Hall remains a clear reminder of the era when much of the land in Northern New York was settled in the late 1700s. Located on Constableville, in Lewis County, this Federal style limestone mansion with a Greek Revival portico was built in the early 1800s by members of the Constable family.
In 1792, Wiliam Constable, Alexander Macomb, and Daniel McCormick bought nearly four million acres of land known as the Macomb Purchase for 16 cents an acre (encompassing all of Lewis, Jefferson, St. Lawrence and parts of Oswego, Herkimer and Franklin counties). [Read more…] about Constable Hall: A Unique Lewis County House Museum
Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans: Some History
Baked beans are an ancient dish native to the Americas, so popular that original ceramic “bean pots” are still found in antique shops around the Northeast.
Every Upstate New Yorker of a certain age knows about Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans, but most probably don’t realize it’s a regional brand, established in Oswego County during the Great Depression. Others may not realize the company no longer exists. [Read more…] about Grandma Brown’s Baked Beans: Some History
Drilling For Salt: Salt Springs & New York’s Salt Industry Origins
As the presence of salt in New York was first made manifest through saline mineral springs it is proper to begin this discussion with the history of their discovery and utilization. The most important of these are in Onondaga County at Syracuse.
About the middle of the seventeenth century several of the Jesuit missionaries during their journeys among the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois), in what is now the State of New York, heard local salt springs and related these experiences in the Relations of the Jesuit fathers. [Read more…] about Drilling For Salt: Salt Springs & New York’s Salt Industry Origins
11 Wildfires Burn in Eight Counties Across Upstate New York
Between April 28 and May 5, NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Forest Rangers and local fire departments responded to wildfires in eight counties across New York State, including Chemung, Onondaga, Orange, Oswego, Otsego, Putnam, Sullivan, and Ulster Counties. [Read more…] about 11 Wildfires Burn in Eight Counties Across Upstate New York
Rare Documents Highlight Temperance & Suffrage History
Two documents which connect Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, who helped women organize to secure the right to vote, are being offered for sale.
The newly discovered 1853 documents certify Mr. P.S. Kingsley and Mrs. Angeline Kingsley of Minetto in Oswego County, NY, as members of the first organization founded by Anthony and Stanton, the Women’s New York State Temperance Society, formed in 1852. [Read more…] about Rare Documents Highlight Temperance & Suffrage History
How Winter is Changing in the Tug Hill Region
Tug Hill receives the greatest average snowfall totals in New York State. In Harold Samson’s book Tug Hill Country; Tales from the Big Woods (1971) he wrote “Tug Hill is, and always has been, noted for its winter snows… In winter, the Tug Hill plateau becomes a vast wilderness of white; favorite playground of snowmobilers and other winter sports enthusiasts.”
An economic study in 2021 estimated that 34,254 unique snowmobile users ride Tug Hill’s trails each year, bringing in nearly $81.6 million in sales from snowmobile activity. A new study by the Tug Hill Commission hopes to better understand how our warming climate will affect the region and its winter sports industry in the years to come. [Read more…] about How Winter is Changing in the Tug Hill Region
40 and 8: New Jersey’s ‘Merci Train’ Boxcar Returning Home
New Jersey’s “Merci Train” boxcar, missing for nearly 45 years and feared to have been destroyed, is being returned to New Jersey.
In 1949 France gifted the United States 49 boxcars, the French Gratitude Train (Train de la Reconnaissance française), as a symbolic gesture of gratitude for American aid during and after World War II. The 130-year-old railroad cars, known as “40 and 8” boxcars, had been used to transport troops during the First World War and used again in the Second World War and by occupation forces after the war. [Read more…] about 40 and 8: New Jersey’s ‘Merci Train’ Boxcar Returning Home