History, Natural History & the Arts
It was 1930, during the era of Prohibition (1920–1933). So, it was not unusual when law enforcement personnel caught bootleggers on the Glens Falls-Lake George Road attempting to transport illegal alcohol from Canada to a local speakeasy.
What was uncommon, however, was arresting a smuggler who tried to sneak a large cache of untaxed contraband, Swiss watches, into the United States. [Read more…] about When Smuggling Swiss Watches Was A Thing
Thank you, Anne Gilliland, for asking the question – What’s in a name? On October 31, 1931, Anne was asked to read a paper to the Major Benjamin Mooers Chapter of the Daughters of 1812 in Plattsburgh, NY. Her paper? “What’s in a name? – a lot of history, that’s what!.”
Most of her information came from Three Centuries in the Champlain Valley written in 1909 by Jeanette Tuttle, which is a treasured source of history. [Read more…] about Clinton County’s History Reminders: What’s In A Name?
What follows is a letter to addressed to Secretary at War Hon. John H. Eaton at Washington, DC, from Brigadier General John E. Wool in the Inspector General’s office (although that position had been vacant for many years).
Conformably to your wishes, expressed when I met you at Buffalo, in July last, I have the honor to present my views on the expediency of fortifying the Northern Frontier, and particularly in the neighborhood of Rouses Point on Lake Champlain. [Read more…] about General John E. Wool & New York’s Northern Defenses, 1830
Few villages in New York State can lay claim to as rich a heritage as Rouses Point, and like the oft-used real-estate axiom says, there are three primary reasons — location, location, location.
As New York’s northeasternmost village, Rouses Point can be found at the north end of Lake Champlain. Bordering on Canada to the north and Vermont to the east, for decades it was a shipping and transportation crossroads, serving both water and rail traffic. [Read more…] about Rouses Point: A Northern New York Crossroads
Dennis Warren left his job as a coal shoveler on the New York Central Railroad in Albany to ship out to the First World War. His transport ship had a close call with a German submarine on the way over, but got there in time to take part in what one of the bloodiest military campaigns in American history.
For Americans after the war, the Argonne would mean what Normandy meant just 25 years later – sacrifice. Sadly, that sacrifice in the Argonne Forest was never repaid to Dennis Warren, who met the death of a smuggler – running from an officious and invasive law on a treacherous mountain road near Port Henry on Lake Champlain.
According to the newsman who reported his death at the age of 29, “Canadian Ale was spread across the road.” [Read more…] about Smugglers & The Law: Prohibition In Northern New York
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