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Town of Webb

Lake Ice Related to Snowmobile Death, Serious Accident

January 31, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

forest ranger logoAccording to New York State Forest Ranger Lee, on Saturday, January 28, 2023 at 4:30 pm, he overheard radio traffic from Herkimer County 911 reporting a snowmobile accident on Stillwater Reservoir in the Town of Webb.  Herkimer County 911 indicated there were two accidents and both victims were at the Stillwater Restaurant. [Read more…] about Lake Ice Related to Snowmobile Death, Serious Accident

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Recreation Tagged With: Bleecker, Forest Ranger Reports, Fulton County, Herkimer COunty, Peck Lake, Search and Rescue, snowmobiling, Stillwater Reservoir, Town of Webb

Adirondack Logging History: Wood’s Lake & Beaver River Stations

January 23, 2023 by Noel Sherry 5 Comments

Northern section showing lumber company railroads branching off New York Central, from BillAfter Hudson River logging sharply declined by 1905, the Adirondack railroad line known as the Mohawk & Malone kept NYS lumber companies in business for at least another twelve years. A big part of this was due to logging north of Big Moose, shown on this New York Central & Hudson River railroad map, with eight station stops northward toward Tupper Lake (shown at left), three of them as junctions for logging railroads — Wood’s Lake, Brandreth, and Nehasane.

Beaver River Station was shifting from logging to tourism. Little Rapids was a flag stop, Keepawa unlisted in an 1895 train schedule. This article will describe the logging history of Wood’s Lake and Beaver River stations, beginning with a new lumbering operation just north of Big Moose. [Read more…] about Adirondack Logging History: Wood’s Lake & Beaver River Stations

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Adirondacks, Beaver River, Big Moose, Burd Amendment, Forest Preserve, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, International Paper, Legal History, Lewis County, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, New York Central RR, railroads, Silver Lake, Stillwater, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Key Adirondack Wilderness Inholding Protected

January 17, 2023 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

map showing Bear Pond ForestNortheast Wilderness Trust announced that it has purchased a key inholding in the Adirondack Park’s Five Ponds Wilderness, establishing the Bear Pond Forest. With this acquisition, the 1,056-acre Bear Pond Forest is now safeguarded from development, and the Forest will gradually be integrated into the surrounding 107,230-acre Five Ponds Wilderness, which is connected to the 23,816-acre Pepperbox Wilderness. [Read more…] about Key Adirondack Wilderness Inholding Protected

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Nature, Recreation Tagged With: Adirondacks, Clifton, Diana, Fine, Five Ponds Wilderness, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, Lewis County, Long Lake, nature, Northeast Wilderness Trust, Pepperbox Wilderness Area, St Lawrence County, Town of Webb, Wildlife

Lumbering Operations at Big Moose Lake (1900-1920)

December 29, 2022 by Noel Sherry Leave a Comment

Totten & Crossfield Triangle in northwest corner of Township 41, The first of three major logging operations on Big Moose Lake in Herkimer County in the Adirondacks was headed by a veteran lumber company executive named Theodore Page. Page built palatial “Camp Veery” on Echo Island in West Bay, purchased from William Seward Webb in 1900. He arrived at Big Moose Lake from Oswego, NY, with many years of leadership in the lumber industry, importing timber from Canada for the Minetto Shade Cloth Company – one of the largest U.S. manufacturers of shade cloth, window shades, shade-rollers, and curtain fixtures. [Read more…] about Lumbering Operations at Big Moose Lake (1900-1920)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History, Nature Tagged With: Adirondacks, Big Moose, Big Moose Lake, Brown's Tract, Francis Higgins, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, Industrial History, Legal History, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, Mohawk & Malone Railroad, New York Central RR, railroads, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Big Moose As A Lumber & Tourist Hub (1900-1920)

December 28, 2022 by Noel Sherry 8 Comments

wedding picture of Norman Burt Sherry with Lucretia Caroline Hayes,The spark that got me writing about Adirondack history was the personal question of how my family came into possession of a log cabin on Twitchell Lake in Big Moose, NY. Unraveling this mystery took a year’s research — searching newly discovered diaries and networking with genealogy contacts.

It turns out my connection began with a love story, which I told in the New York Almanack. That account included the accompanying photo of my grandparents’ wedding in Buffalo, NY, in 1908. This article will explore how the hamlet of Big Moose supported the growth of thriving summer communities on Twitchell and Big Moose Lakes, setting the stage for major logging operations on Big Moose Lake. Early in this era, 60 percent of Twitchell’s lakeshore was slated for major logging before going up for sale as summer lots. [Read more…] about Big Moose As A Lumber & Tourist Hub (1900-1920)

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Architecture, Beaver River, Big Moose, Brown's Tract, Herkimer COunty, Logging, Logging the Adirondacks, New York Central RR, railroads, Town of Webb, Transportation History, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

Man Caught Cutting Christmas Tree on State Land

December 1, 2022 by Editorial Staff 4 Comments

Illegal tree cutting in WebbNew York State Forest Ranger McCartney reported that on Saturday, November 26 at about 1:00 pm, he was checking the trail register at Moss Lake in the town of Webb, Herkimer County, in the Adirondack Park when he heard someone approaching him on the trail. [Read more…] about Man Caught Cutting Christmas Tree on State Land

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Forest Ranger Reports, Forest Rangers, Herkimer COunty, Town of Webb

Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

November 15, 2022 by Noel Sherry 2 Comments

Entering Adirondack Park sign photo credit, Eric Meier;In the late nineteenth century, Adirondack VIP tours were arranged to assess water damage from state-sponsored dams that kept lumber mills powered and barges floating up and down the Erie Canal. Judges like Truman Fuller exhorted the New York State Forest Commission to get an accurate upstate map completed, to head off all the lawsuits. [Read more…] about Adirondack History: New York State to the Rescue

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Article 14, Big Moose, Environmental History, Forest Preserve, Forestry, Gifford Pinchot, Herkimer COunty, Legal History, Logging, Political History, Town of Webb, Twitchell Lake, William Seward Webb

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

November 14, 2022 by Noel Sherry 4 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

Herkimer County’s Three Lakes Tract Management Plan Complete

October 8, 2022 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

DEC LogoThe New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has released a final recreation management plan (RMP) for the Three Lakes Tract Conservation Easement in the Town of Webb, Herkimer County.

The 3,350-acre Three Lakes Tract (TLT) is comprised of commercially managed forestland and is named for three waterbodies located on the property-Hitchcock, Grass, and Moose ponds. [Read more…] about Herkimer County’s Three Lakes Tract Management Plan Complete

Filed Under: Nature, Recreation, Western NY Tagged With: DEC, Easements, fishing, Ha-De-Ron-Dah Wilderness Area, Herkimer COunty, hiking, hunting, Independence River Wild Forest, nature, Three Lakes Tract, Town of Webb, trapping, Wildlife

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