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    The Adirondacks: 1830-1930
    The Adirondacks: 1830-1930
    The Adirondacks: 1830-1930
    Ebook180 pages53 minutes

    The Adirondacks: 1830-1930

    By Donald R Williams

    4.5/5

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    About this ebook

    How the Adirondack region was first "discovered," then explored and eventually maintained- all of which helped shape what it is today.


    The East's greatest wilderness, the Adirondack region of New York State, shares its history and lore with Native Americans, early settlers, artists, writers, sportsmen, professors and others. The Adirondacks are known to outdoor lovers, skiers, and year-round visitors for their 46 high peaks, 100-mile canoe route, 133-mile Northville-to-Lake Placid Trail, 30,000 miles of mountain streams, and 3,000 lakes.

    In addition to its finding, The Adirondacks: 1830-1930, shows how the six-million-acre Adirondack Park, which is the largest park in the contiguous United States and a patchwork of public and private lands governed by one of the largest regional zoning plans in the country, was preserved. With over 200 stunning photographs and fascinating tales of the region, it traces the development of the hamlets, the great camps, the guides, and the furniture and tanning businesses.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateSep 25, 2002
    ISBN9781439611685
    The Adirondacks: 1830-1930
    Author

    Donald R Williams

    Don Williams is a Horticulturist, gardener and self-professed history junkie.  He graduated from the State University of New York, with a degree in Landscape Development. Don has been working in the horticulture industry for over forty years. His work background includes most aspects of the industry; managing growing operations, garden centers and landscape operations. He lives in Vero Beach, Florida, with his wife of over 36 years, a fellow Horticulturist and mystery author. Together they have one son attending college at Palm Beach Atlantic University He professes to not knowing everything about plants. Don believes when you stop learning every day you soon lose sight of what’s going on in the horticulture industry. Environmental factors are always changing, new plant pests come into play, and new plant introductions are coming out every year. Knowing the practices and plant selections that work well in our Florida climate is crucial to the success of your landscape. Over the years, he has worked with and been associated with many leaders in the horticulture industry. Don’s goal is to share his experiences with you and help you achieve success in your landscape and increase the value of your home. I hope you have enjoyed this book and it has helped you with your landscape, so you will enjoy it for years to come. If you have questions or would like more information, contact him by using the contact page at    Botanical Concepts of Vero Beach BotanicalConceptsofVeroBeach.com

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    • 5/5
      As a person born and raised in the rural Adirondacks (many would call it wilderness), and the offspring of a summer Sport and a longtime native (complete with Native bloodlines), I loved this book and photos, especially since it was written by another native. There are those that still argue that my pedigree isn't impeccable due to my mother's only living there during the summers of her youth, and full-time since her marriage to my father ("If your cat has kittens in the oven, you wouldn't call them biscuits!"), but my heart has always been there, in particular in those places that have have been truly preserved, not developed into some Disney-world version of the place or neglected (I think they call it "preserved") into something that it never was, not even in pre-European times when large areas of the land were cleared by the Native peoples to facilitate their hunting. In fact, I would argue that I have a uniquely priviledged viewpoint as I grew up hearing about my paternal ancestors' lives there as well as how my mother's family came to call the place "home", at least during the summers.I see lower-rated reviews for the book on this site and will have to see why that is, but my guess is that readers are attempting to comprehend a people and a culture based on this thin book of photos, only 128 pages. Every picture does tell a story, and Donald Williams points out the details a casual observer might have missed, explaining them beautifully. Believing that any one book on the Adirondacks could do it all would be like rating a restaurant based on a platter of appetizers called a "sampler" or understanding an entire country and its people based on a one-day bus tour. Many of Donald Williams' descriptions match up with my memories (although I am not ancient: Time passes less quickly in that place on the planet), and other stories were simiar to those told to me by my father and grandparents. I have my own stack of old pictures and writings, only one photo a duplicateof those found in this book. To experience more, it is necessary to read more, a lot more, in essence, to get off the bus and have a look around for yourself. The Adirondack experience is a huge world to explore, more than could be covered in a lifetime:12 counties, 2.7 MILLION acres, cities, towns, hamlets and wilderness over 200 years (more if you like geology and other scientific studies), but this is a wonderful taste that captures some of the flavor of the experience. I'd recommend using it as your starting point and planning your exploration route from here.

    Book preview

    The Adirondacks - Donald R Williams

    Arnold.

    INTRODUCTION

    The Adirondack region covers the northeastern quarter of New York State, about six million acres of forested mountains and freshwater lakes. The Adirondack Park, which is made up of public and private lands, is the size of Yellowstone, Yosemite, Grand Canyon, Glacier, and Great Smokey Mountain National Parks combined. The Forest Preserve, lands owned by the people of New York State, covers some 2.7 million acres.

    The Adirondacks were created by some three billion years of birth and rebirth of geological history. The eventual creation of the forested mountains interspersed with natural and glacial lakes provided a special environment for living creatures. Moose and elk, wolves and fishers, along with 50 or more different species, known and unknown, roamed the endless forest. More than 50 kinds of fish multiplied boundlessly where nourishment flourished in the clean rivers, streams, and lakes. Trees fell and new trees grew. Eagles, osprey, falcons, and more than 200 other creatures of the air claimed their chosen lands in the vast wilderness. Reptiles and amphibians moved about the moist and shaded forest floor.

    Some say that early man entered the Adirondack region c. 70,000 years ago. Native Americans were known to make seasonal visits to the remote Adirondack country. Evidence of their hunting and fishing trips has been found in the Champlain Valley, near Seventh Lake, and along streambeds. Shale beds provide evidence of their tools, including arrowheads. Eventually, the trappers, both Native American and European settlers, came to get the big Adirondack beaver hides to trade in the European markets.

    The dense wilderness of the Adirondacks became its greatest protection in those early years. Mapmakers recorded the remoteness and vague knowledge of the Adirondack wilds. Early maps called it Couchsachrage Country or beaver-hunting grounds. A 1775 British Colony map noted, by reason of mountain swamps and drowned lands, [the wilds] are impassable and uninhabited. Guy Johnson’s map of 1771 stated, The boundary of New York, not being closed this part of the Country, shall belong to the Mohawk Indians. William Ritche’s state map number seven calls the mountains uninhabited. Nelson Green in his Mohawk Valley books warned farmers that the Adirondacks were clothed with dreary forests with a soil that forbids cultivation. John Eddy’s 1818 map of New York State summarizes the early thinking: A wild barren tract extends hereabouts, the property of the State, covered with almost impenetrable bogs, marshes and ponds, and uplands with rocks and evergreens.

    Samuel de Champlain became one of the first white men to make his mark on the Adirondacks. In a 1609 skirmish with the Mohawk Indians on the shores of his namesake lake, he opened a wound that set the Iroquois against the French forever. The battle for the furs of the Adirondacks had begun. Prof. Ebenezer Emmons made his exploration of the Adirondacks in 1837 and named the mountains Adirondack. Verplanck Colvin started his 35-year survey of the Adirondack wilderness in 1865. The Reverend John Todd passed through the Adirondacks in 1841 and recorded his findings, too.

    The lands of the Adirondacks became the subject of great purchases as speculators saw opportunities to make a fortune. The Jessup brothers acquired lands in today’s Hamilton, Essex, and Warren Counties in what was called the Jessup’s Purchase or the Totten and Crossfield Purchase. (Totten and Crossfield, shipwrights, simply lent their names to the purchase.) It took some political maneuvering to make a purchase that was likely to be approved by the Native Americans and the Crown. Alexander Macomb pulled off a four-million-acre purchase of Adirondack lands in 1792. Other names appear in Adirondack land deals, including Palmer’s Purchase, Benson Tract, Nobleborough, John Brown Tract, Roaring Brook Tract, and Moose River Tract. Some 11 other lesser purchases were added to the land deals.

    Pioneers were found scattered throughout the mountains in the early days, including Sir William Johnson and others who had established fishing lodges in the Adirondacks before the Revolution. William Gilliland had his place in the eastern Adirondacks. Charles Frederick Herreshoff tried the Brown’s Tract. In the 1790s, William Wells and Isaiah Whitman came to the southern Adirondacks from Long Island. By the start of the 19th century, serious settlers were finding the Adirondacks in numbers. Andrew Morehouse attempted a settlement in the 1840s. The MacIntrye Iron Mine brought in many of the early settlers. Artists, writers, and sports enthusiasts were attracted to the picturesque mountains. The wealthy found the mountains to be an ideal vacation spot and built their great camps––massive camp complexes, most with a huge main building made of logs surrounded by 20 to 70 support buildings. Paul Smith built his first hotel in 1848 and launched the hotel era in the Adirondacks. Eventually, the Adirondack guides evolved to make it possible to open up the entire Adirondack region of New York State.

    Three special years should be noted in the saving of the Adirondacks. In 1885, the Forest Preserve was created by the New York State Legislature to keep the state-owned lands as wild forestlands. In 1890, a blue line was drawn on a map to outline the boundary of a proposed Adirondack park, and in 1892, Adirondack Park was legally established. In 1894, the Adirondacks were given their constitutional protection in Article I, Section XIV by the people of New York State: The lands of the State now owned or hereafter acquired constituting the Forest Preserve as now fixed by law, shall be forever kept as wild forestlands. They shall not be leased, sold, or exchanged, or be taken by any corporation, public or private, nor shall the timber thereon be sold, removed, or destroyed.

    The Adirondack region, now under a regional zoning plan maintained by the Adirondack Park Agency, is growing. Settlements, hamlets, and villages have grown throughout the Adirondacks, and many summer tourists are becoming permanent residents. The permanent population is reportedly about 130,000. Thousands of visitors find the Adirondacks each year, and the forested mountains and sparkling lakes are still there to inspire the artists, stimulate the writers, invite the

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