New York Almanack

History, Natural History & the Arts

Schroon River

Rangers Rescue 15 Rafters; Recover Body; Make Rescues at Fish Creek, OK Slip Falls, Whiteface, Colden, Phelps, N-P Trail

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Whiteface Mounatin rescue over Labor Day Weekend in 2023New 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 Rangers Rescue 15 Rafters; Recover Body; Make Rescues at Fish Creek, OK Slip Falls, Whiteface, Colden, Phelps, N-P Trail

Sharp Bridge Campground, One The Oldest In The Adirondacks, Getting Upgrades

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Sharp Bridge Campground in North Hudson, Essex County, NY AdirondacksThe Adirondack Park Agency (APA) and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) are holding a joint public comment period to solicit comments for the Sharp Bridge Public Campground and Day Use Area Draft Unit Management Plan (UMP).

The campground is located on NYS Route 9, 15 miles north of Schroon Lake in the town of North Hudson, Essex County. [Read more…] about Sharp Bridge Campground, One The Oldest In The Adirondacks, Getting Upgrades

NYS Awards $8M in Clean Water Project Grants to Adirondack Communities

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Entering Adirondack Park signThe NYS Environmental Facilities Corporation (EFC) has awarded $638 million in grants to municipalities statewide for water infrastructure projects and Town of Indian Lake in Hamilton County was the biggest winner among Adirondack communities. [Read more…] about NYS Awards $8M in Clean Water Project Grants to Adirondack Communities

New Effort to Promote Western Warren County’s “First Wilderness” Heritage Underway

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first wilderness heritage cooridorThe Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development has launched a collaboration with Cliff & Redfield Interactive (CRI), a Saratoga Springs-based rich-media communications organization, for a year-long campaign to promote community development and heritage tourism in the First Wilderness Heritage Corridor of western Warren County. [Read more…] about New Effort to Promote Western Warren County’s “First Wilderness” Heritage Underway

The Pottersville Fair: Gambling, Races, and Gaslight Village

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Pottersville Fairgrounds with acrobatsThose traveling on the Adirondack Northway (I-87) between Exits 27 and 28 probably don’t realize they are passing over Pottersville, the northern Warren County hamlet that borders southern Schroon Lake.

For a hundred years, from the 1870s into the early 1960s, the tiny village was home to amusements that drew thousands. The most remarkable of them, the Pottersville Fair, drew 7,000 on a single day in 1913. Later it hosted a large dance hall, roller skating rink, and the Glendale Drive-in, while nearby Under the Maples on Echo Lake was host to circus acts and an amusement park that was a forerunner of the Gaslight Village theme park in nearby Lake George.  [Read more…] about The Pottersville Fair: Gambling, Races, and Gaslight Village

Adirondack Advocate Paul Schaefer’s Influence On The Northway

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Northway I-87As the decade of the 1990s began, noted Adirondack conservationist and wilderness coalition leader Paul Schaefer’s eyesight was failing. He had macular degeneration. We had noticed that this skilled carpenter, home and cabin builder and historic restorationist was no longer hitting the nail squarely on its head. We worried about him continuing to drive. [Read more…] about Adirondack Advocate Paul Schaefer’s Influence On The Northway

Hudson River Dam History: The Big Hadley And Glen Dams

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Mike Prescott paddling One day as my wife and I and our dogs walked along River Road at Riparius on the Hudson River, my wife said to me in a folksy manner “just think all this water here, is on its way to New York City.”

It’s true the Hudson River has flowed out of the Adirondack Mountains for millennia, southward towards the Atlantic Ocean. And over the last two centuries or so there have been plans to dam the Upper Hudson for one reason or another. Most of those plans have dealt with using the water resources for some down state endeavor. [Read more…] about Hudson River Dam History: The Big Hadley And Glen Dams

Invasive Emerald Ash Borer Found in Adirondack Park

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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has announced that emerald ash borer (EAB) has been confirmed in Warren County.

While not unexpected given the EAB’s spread, this marks the first confirmed case of EAB within the Adirondack Park. The affected trees were identified by Department of Transportation personnel at the Warren County Canoe Launch on the Schroon River in the town of Chester. A sample has been sent to Cornell University Insect Diagnostic Lab for further review. [Read more…] about Invasive Emerald Ash Borer Found in Adirondack Park

An Old Hudson River Chain Recalls Logging History

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courtesy Adam PearsallRecently my son Adam and his daughter were canoeing on the Hudson River above the Feeder Dam in Glens Falls when they noticed a small tree growing atop an old stone pier about 30 feet from shore – and something more. Tangled in the roots, they found a large old rusted chain with links 4 inches wide by 6 inches long.

Sharing pictures with Richard “Dick” Nason, the unofficial Finch Pruyn Paper Company historian and an authority on river log drives, it appears likely the chain was left over from the heyday of log drives on the Hudson River. [Read more…] about An Old Hudson River Chain Recalls Logging History

Free Historical Tours of Warrensburg This Weekend

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Warrensburg Historical Society BuildingOn Saturday and Sunday, June 20 and 21 the Warrensburgh Historical Society will be conducting a walking tour of the early residential and civic district of the village, led by architectural historian Delbert Chambers.

The tour will pass more than 30 historic properties and is one of four walking and two driving tours being developed by the Society’s Preservation Committee. [Read more…] about Free Historical Tours of Warrensburg This Weekend