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Totten Crossfield Tract

The Naming of Twitchell Lake in the Adirondacks

July 31, 2023 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

Copenhagen to Twitchell Lake, Google Maps“Toponym” is the technical term for a place name, especially one derived from a topographical feature.  I’m hooked on toponyms. My starting point is Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, located in the town Webb, Herkimer County, NY, in the Adirondacks where six generations of my family have vacationed in a cabin since the early 1900s.

Debate on our lake’s name has reached a crescendo as a history committee collects our stories for a Twitchell book. This article explores the fascinating connection between our lake’s name and the Twitchell family of Copenhagen, in Lewis County, NY. This map traces the 50-mile route from Copenhagen through Lewis County, across the Black River, and then up the Number Four Road into the Adirondack Mountains. Which leads to my question: How on earth did this dairy farming family get its name attached to this lake? [Read more…] about The Naming of Twitchell Lake in the Adirondacks

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Brown's Tract, Copenhagen, Frank Tweedy, Herkimer COunty, Lewis County, Lowville, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin

Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)

November 14, 2022 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Aaron Lloyd v. Moose River Lumber Co;An early 20th century Adirondack lawsuit pitted a small Big Moose Lake sportsman and landowner Aaron Lloyd against a team of powerful opponents, John Adams Dix and his Moose River Lumber Company with Dr. William Seward Webb and his Nehasane Park Association.

A second suit reversed the plaintiff and defendant, Webb vs. Lloyd, and appeared to be linked to the first complaint. Clearly this was a classic David versus Goliath clash. These cases would have been the fodder for conversations around the campfire in the Big Moose area for almost a decade.

On the surface, the complaints concerned the harvest of millions of board feet of virgin timber and flooding Big Moose Lake to get these logs to market, with Webb behind both actions. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks: A Legal Logjam (1880-1900)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Big Moose Tract, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, John A. Dix, Legal History, Logging, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, railroads, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin, William Seward Webb

Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

November 1, 2022 by Noel Sherry 1 Comment

6b1 Webb Land Sold to NYS in 1896 on Julius Bien MapAfter achieving his railroad dream and completing his Nehasane wilderness refuge – reachable using his own luxury rail car – William Seward Webb found himself in a major conflict with the State of New York.

Inlet historian Charles Herr tells this part of the story expertly, in his history of the Fulton Chain. My map here highlights that land aquisition by the State in yellow, totaling 74,585 acres of Brown’s Tract and in the Totten & Crossfield Purchase. Webb retained ownership of lakes like Twitchell and Big Moose because he intended those for later cottage and hotel sales. [Read more…] about Central Adirondacks Lumbering Operations (1880-1900)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Big Moose Tract, Black River, Forest Preserve, Herkimer, Herkimer COunty, John A. Dix, Legal History, Logging, McKeever, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, Moose River, Oneida County, Stillwater, Totten Crossfield Tract, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, Utica, William Seward Webb

An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80

May 25, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

5a Objects dug up in Lumber Camp #2 about a half mile east of Twitchell Lake, Noel SherryMy uncle Frank Sherry taught my brother Tom and I orienteering, using a map and compass to navigate through the woods and find a remote pond or other location. We were teenagers and it was an exciting way to spend a Saturday.

On one of these adventures we were in search of Silver Dollar Pond to the east of Twitchell Lake in Northern Herkimer County,when we stumbled on our first lumber camp. The telltale signs were pieces of metal hanging from a tree and protruding from the ground, with old bottles half-buried in the forest floor. We made note of the location on our map, a half-mile from Twitchell, and returned to explore it. It wasn’t long before we located the camp dump, from which we dug up the items pictured here.

These and other objects triggered an active discussion on the date of this old camp, with an imaginative re-creation of what life might have been like for a lumberjacks living and working there. [Read more…] about An Adirondack Lumber Camp at Twitchell Lake, 1860-80

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Adirondacks, Archaeology, Architecture, Beaver Falls, Beaver River, Big Moose, Black River, Brown's Tract, Copenhagen, Croghan, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Forestry, Hemlock Trees, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, Labor History, Lewis County, Logging, Moose River, Tanning, Totten Crossfield Tract, trees, Twitchell Lake

Logging the Adirondack Interior, Spurring Preservation (1840-60)

May 25, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

One of the most satisfying pastimes for me at our summer home on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose in the Adirondacks in Northern Herkimer County), was taking the camp guide boat out for a spin. That privilege was earned by passing the family test, a solo swim across the lake, about the distance of a football field.

Weighing just over 30 pounds, this unique 14-foot wooden craft sped through the water powered by two oars. A cabin shelf still displays several awards for winning the annual guide boat race. I fondly remember the one-mile hikes to neighboring Oswego Pond, trailing my older brother Burt carrying that guide boat on his shoulders using a hand-carved yoke, my father in the lead bearing the oars and fishing gear. [Read more…] about Logging the Adirondack Interior, Spurring Preservation (1840-60)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Beaver Falls, Beaver River, Big Moose, Big Moose Tract, Black River, Cultural History, Environmental History, fishing, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, John Brown Tract, Labor History, Lewis County, Logging, Moose River, Totten Crossfield Tract, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake

Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)

May 2, 2022 by Noel Sherry 6 Comments

2a Eastern Lewis Co TownshipsIn the nineteenth century Lewis County settlements east of the Black River were just getting established; most of these included at least one saw mill. By 1820 these settlements were beginning to push their way up the rivers into the Adirondacks, and new mills were being built along their courses. A Copenhagen, NY farmer on Tug Hill, viewing the Adirondack panorama spread out to his east, wrote the following in a Journal & Republican article titled “North Woods Wonder:”

“All the wilderness is strewn with lakes as if some great mirror had been shattered by an Almighty hand, and scattered through the forests for Nature to make her toilet by … And how the rivers meander the woods as the veins of a human hand. There are Beaver, Moose, and Indian, Bog, Grass and Racket… And how rough and shaggy the wilderness is with mountains … Let them pass unnamed.”

One of these “shattered” gems was Twitchell Lake. [Read more…] about Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Western NY Tagged With: Adirondacks, Alexander Macomb, Beaver Falls, Beaver River, Beech Trees, Black River, Boonville, Brown's Tract, conservation, Copenhagen, Croghan, Diana, Environmental History, Forestport, Greig, Herkimer COunty, Independence River, Independence River State Forest, Independence River Wild Forest, Indigenous History, Industrial History, Lewis County, Logging, Lowville, Moose River, New Bremen, Old Forge, Oneida County, Oswegatchie River, Otter Creek, Otter River, Raquette River, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Twitchell Lake, Watson

Deep In The Adirondack Woods, A Colvin Survey Benchmark Revealed

September 15, 2021 by Noel Sherry 4 Comments

1. Picture of Frank Tweedy, courtesy of Special Collections, Schaffer Library, Union College, 1875 As a boy growing up in the Battle Hill section of White Plains, NY, I remember my excitement at reading a brass memorial telling me “George Washington slept here.” White Plains was the site of a battle during the American Revolution.

Now as an adult I have had the thrill of learning that Verplanck Colvin surveyed Twitchell Lake and took measurements on the shore where my log cabin stands in Big Moose, NY.  That realization launched me on a quest to find a benchmark placed by one of Colvin’s surveyors on an important boundary line nearby. [Read more…] about Deep In The Adirondack Woods, A Colvin Survey Benchmark Revealed

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Frank Tweedy, Hamilton County, John Brown Tract, Pigeon Lake Wilderness, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin

Rediscovering An Ancient Adirondack Survey Monument

December 29, 2020 by Noel Sherry 7 Comments

C1 Colvin's TwnShp 42-41 Corner MapRight out of college as a Civil Engineer, Frank Tweedy spent four seasons as part of Verplanck Colvin’s Southwest Division, producing six  topographically accurate maps of the Beaver River basin and the important Totten and Crossfield Tract border with Brown’s Tract.

His maps and field books received high marks from his boss, and they recorded several moments of exciting discovery on his part, first as he closed ranks with the Eastern Division crew, completing a survey Line from Lowville to Lake Champlain; and then with shouts of victory at finding “The Great Corner” of Totten & Crossfield’s million-acre land Purchase. [Read more…] about Rediscovering An Ancient Adirondack Survey Monument

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Brown's Tract, Frank Tweedy, hiking, John Brown Tract, nature, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, Twitchell Lake, Verplanck Colvin, Wildlife

Early Adirondack Surveys: The Great Corner & An Ancient Boundary

December 14, 2020 by Noel Sherry 14 Comments

Frank Tweedys 3 T and C Line MapsIn 1876, Frank Tweedy was a tenderfoot surveyor right out of college. By 1878, he had two years’ experience under his belt, mentored by veteran surveyor Squire Snell heading the Southwestern Division of the Adirondack Survey.

Frank successfully led a dozen-man crew up the Beaver River from the hamlet of Number Four past Raquette Lake, producing three maps of that 29-mile trek for his boss, Verplanck Colvin. [Read more…] about Early Adirondack Surveys: The Great Corner & An Ancient Boundary

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondack Park, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Frank Tweedy, Macomb’s Purchase, surveying, Totten Crossfield Tract, wilderness

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