More hikers in the woods and nicer weather led to several NYS Forest Ranger missions to rescue injured, lost, or unprepared people in the backcountry of the Adirondacks, Catskills, and elsewhere around New York. They also recovered a man’s body in the Croghan Tract Conservation Easement in Lewis County. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Recover Body, Make Several Rescues of Lost, Injured, Unprepared
Watson
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
Forest Rangers Spend Busy Memorial Day Weekend Making Rescues
New York State Department of Environmental Conservation Forest Rangers spent the Memorial Day Weekend busily responding to a dozen outdoor recreationist who were lost or injured in New York State’s backcounty areas. What follows is a report, prepared by DEC, of those recent missions. [Read more…] about Forest Rangers Spend Busy Memorial Day Weekend Making Rescues
History Corrected: Adirondack Guide Charles H Smith & King Edward VII
History often makes a muddle of people’s lives. One such example is Charles H. Smith (ca. 1832 – 1911) of Petries Corners in the town of Watson, Lewis County, NY. Charles was well known as an Adirondack guide in the Beaver River/Stillwater area of the Western Adirondacks.
He lived to a ripe old age as an elder statesman of the guiding fraternity. But confusing reports of his age, a story about guiding for royalty, and a common first and last name have obscured his actual accomplishments. [Read more…] about History Corrected: Adirondack Guide Charles H Smith & King Edward VII
Logging The Adirondacks From The West (1800-1820)
In 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)