Adirondack Mountains
Encyclopedia
Mountain range
A mountain range is a single, large mass consisting of a succession of mountains or narrowly spaced mountain ridges, with or without peaks, closely related in position, direction, formation, and age; a component part of a mountain system or of a mountain chain...
located in the northeastern part of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
, that runs through Clinton
Clinton County, New York
Clinton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 82,128. Its name is in honor of the first Governor of New York as a state, George Clinton. Its county seat is Plattsburgh.-History:...
, Essex
Essex County, New York
Essex County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,370. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Its county seat is Elizabethtown...
, Franklin
Franklin County, New York
Franklin County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 51,599. It is named in honor of American Founding Father Benjamin Franklin...
, Fulton
Fulton County, New York
Fulton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,531. Its name is in honor of Robert Fulton, who is widely credited with developing the first commercially successful steamboat...
, Hamilton
Hamilton County, New York
Hamilton County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is named after Alexander Hamilton, the only member of the New York State delegation who signed the United States Constitution in 1787 and later the first United States Secretary of the Treasury. Its county seat is Lake Pleasant...
, Herkimer
Herkimer County, New York
Herkimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It was created in 1791 north of the Mohawk River out of part of Montgomery County. As of the 2010 census, the population was 64,519. It is named after General Nicholas Herkimer, who died from battle wounds in 1777 after taking part...
, Lewis
Lewis County, New York
As of the census of 2000, there were 26,944 people, 10,040 households, and 7,309 families residing in the county. The population density was 21 people per square mile . There were 15,134 housing units at an average density of 12 per square mile...
, Saint Lawrence, Saratoga
Saratoga County, New York
Saratoga County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 219,607. It is part of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy Metropolitan Statistical Area. The county seat is Ballston Spa...
, Warren
Warren County, New York
Warren County is a county in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Glens Falls, New York, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 65,707. It is named in honor of General Joseph Warren, an American Revolutionary War hero of the Battle of Bunker Hill...
, and Washington
Washington County, New York
Washington County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. It is part of the Glens Falls, New York, Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2010 census, the population was 63,216. It was named for the Revolutionary War general George Washington...
counties.
The mountains are often included by geographers in the Appalachian Mountains
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
, but they bear a greater geological similarity to the Laurentian Mountains
Laurentian mountains
The Laurentian Mountains are a mountain range in southern Quebec, Canada, north of the St. Lawrence River and Ottawa River, rising to a highest point of 1166 metres at Mont Raoul Blanchard, north east of Quebec City in the Reserve Faunique des Laurentides. The Gatineau, L'Assomption, Lièvre,...
of Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. They are bordered on the east by Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
and Lake George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
, which separate them from the Green Mountains in Vermont
Vermont
Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, , and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England...
. They are bordered to the south by the Mohawk Valley
Mohawk Valley
The Mohawk Valley region of the U.S. state of New York is the area surrounding the Mohawk River, sandwiched between the Adirondack Mountains and Catskill Mountains....
, and to the west by the Tug Hill Plateau
Tug Hill Plateau
The Tug Hill Plateau is an upland region in upstate New York in the USA, famous for heavy winter snow. The Tug Hill Region is west of the Adirondack Mountains and is separated from the Adirondacks by the Black River Valley. Although the region is and has traditionally been known as the Tug Hill...
, separated by the Black River
Black River (New York)
The Black River is a blackwater river that empties into the eastern end of Lake Ontario on the shore of Jefferson County, New York in the United States of America...
. This region is south of the Saint Lawrence River
Saint Lawrence River
The Saint Lawrence is a large river flowing approximately from southwest to northeast in the middle latitudes of North America, connecting the Great Lakes with the Atlantic Ocean. It is the primary drainage conveyor of the Great Lakes Basin...
.
State park
The Adirondack Mountains are contained within the 6.1 million acres (25,000 km²) of the Adirondack Park, which includes a constitutionally protected Forest PreserveForest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
of approximately 2.3 million acres (9,300 km²). About 43% of the land is owned by the state, with 57% private inholding
Inholding
An inholding is privately owned land inside the boundary of a national park, national forest, state park, or similar publicly owned, protected area...
s, heavily regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency
Adirondack Park Agency
The Adirondack Park Agency was created in 1971 by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as a governmental agency that performs long-range planning for the future of the Adirondack Park. It oversees development plans of private land-owners as well as activities within the Adirondack Forest Preserve...
. The Adirondack Park contains thousands of streams, brooks and lakes, most famously Lake Placid
Lake Placid (New York)
The body of water called Lake Placid is in the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York in the USA. The lake is approximately , and has an average depth of about . It is located in the towns of North Elba and St...
, adjacent to the village of Lake Placid
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
, two-time site of the Winter Olympic Games
Winter Olympic Games
The Winter Olympic Games is a sporting event, which occurs every four years. The first celebration of the Winter Olympics was held in Chamonix, France, in 1924. The original sports were alpine and cross-country skiing, figure skating, ice hockey, Nordic combined, ski jumping and speed skating...
, the Saranac Lake
Saranac Lake
Saranac Lake may refer to:* Saranac Lake, New York, a village in the northern Adirondacks*One of the three nearby Saranac Lakes, part of the Saranac River:**Upper Saranac Lake**Middle Saranac Lake**Lower Saranac LakeSee also...
s, favored by the sportsmen who made the Adirondacks famous, and Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has 99 miles of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the towns of Long Lake and Arietta,...
, site of many of the first Great Camps
Great Camps
Great camps refer to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, where they could relax, host or attend parties, and enjoy the...
.
Mountains
The Adirondacks do not form a connected range such as the Rocky MountainsRocky Mountains
The Rocky Mountains are a major mountain range in western North America. The Rocky Mountains stretch more than from the northernmost part of British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico, in the southwestern United States...
of the Western United States
Western United States
.The Western United States, commonly referred to as the American West or simply "the West," traditionally refers to the region comprising the westernmost states of the United States. Because the U.S. expanded westward after its founding, the meaning of the West has evolved over time...
. They are instead an eroded dome consisting of many peaks, either isolated or in groups, often with little apparent order. There are over one hundred summits, ranging from under 1200 to over 5000 feet (370 m to 1500 m) in elevation; the highest peak, Mount Marcy, at 5344 ft (1629 m), is near the eastern part of the group.
Other noted High Peaks include:
- Algonquin PeakAlgonquin PeakAlgonquin Peak is in the MacIntyre Range in the town of North Elba, in Essex County, New York. It is the second highest mountain in New York, and one of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks in Adirondack Park...
; 5114 ft (1559 m). - HaystackMount HaystackMount Haystack is a mountain in the Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. It is the third highest peak in the state, after Algonquin Peak and Mount Marcy. It gets its name from the resemblance of its rounded, conical peak to a haystack...
; 4960 ft (1512 m). - SkylightMount SkylightMount Skylight is a mountain in the Great Range of the Adirondack High Peaks in the Adirondack Mountains of New York. It gets its name from its open, bare and relatively flat summit, unusual in the Adirondack High Peaks....
; 4926 ft (1501 m). - WhitefaceWhiteface MountainWhiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in New York State, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont and even Canada. The...
; 4867 ft (1483 m). - Dix; 4857 ft (1480 m).
- GiantGiant MountainGiant Mountain is the twelfth highest peak in the High Peaks Region of the Adirondack Park, in New York, USA. The peak is also known as "Giant of the Valley," due to its stature looking over Keene Valley and St. Huberts to the west...
; 4627 ft (1410 m).
High peaks
Forty-six of the tallest mountains are considered "The 46" Adirondack High Peaks — those over 4000 feet (1,219.2 m), that were climbed by brothers RobertBob Marshall (wilderness activist)
Robert "Bob" Marshall was an American forester, writer and wilderness activist. The son of wealthy constitutional lawyer and conservationist Louis Marshall, Bob Marshall developed a love for the outdoors as a young child...
and George Marshall
George Marshall (conservationist)
George Marshall was an American economist, political activist, and conservationist. He was an early leader both of The Wilderness Society and later the Sierra Club.-Early life and education:...
between 1918 and 1924. Since that time, better surveys have shown that four of these peaks (Blake Peak
Blake Peak
Blake Peak is a mountain located in Essex County, New York. The mountain is named after Mills Blake , Verplanck Colvin’s chief assistant during the Adirondack Survey.It is part of the Colvin Range....
, Cliff Mountain
Cliff Mountain (New York)
Cliff Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York.The mountain is part of the Marcy Group of the Great Range of the Adirondack Mountains.Cliff is flanked to the southeast by Mount Redfield....
, Nye Mountain
Nye Mountain
Nye Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York, named after William B. Nye , an Adirondack mountain guide.Nye Mountain is part of the Street Range of the Adirondack Mountains; it is flanked to the southwest by Street Mountain....
, and Couchsachraga Peak
Couchsachraga Peak
Couchsachraga Peak is a mountain located in Essex County, New York."Couchsachraga" is based on an Algonquin or Huron name for the area, meaning "dismal wilderness". The mountain is part of the Santanoni Mountains of the Adirondacks. Couchsachraga Peak is flanked to the east by Panther Peak...
) are in fact just under 4000 ft (1,219.2 m). One peak just over 4000 feet (1,219.2 m) (MacNaughton Mountain
MacNaughton Mountain
MacNaughton Mountain is a mountain located in Essex County, New York, named after James MacNaughton , the grandson of Archibald McIntyre.The mountain is part of the Street Range of the Adirondack Mountains....
) was overlooked.
Some hikers who enjoy the Adirondack Mountains make an effort to climb all of the original 46 peaks (many go on to climb MacNaughton as well), and there is a Forty Sixers club for those who have successfully reached each of these summits. Twenty of the 46 mountains remain trailless, so climbing them requires bushwhacking or following game trails to the top.
Climbing is also very popular in areas throughout Keene Valley, NY, including a site called Bark Eater. The word 'Adirondack' is a Native American expression applied to the Algonquians
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
by the Iroquois
Iroquois
The Iroquois , also known as the Haudenosaunee or the "People of the Longhouse", are an association of several tribes of indigenous people of North America...
, who intended it as a derogatory name meaning 'the ones who eat bark'.
Ecology
The Adirondack Mountains form the southernmost part of the Eastern forest-boreal transitionEastern forest-boreal transition
The Eastern forest-boreal transition is a temperate broadleaf and mixed forests ecoregion of North America, mostly in eastern Canada.-Setting:...
ecoregion
Ecoregion
An ecoregion , sometimes called a bioregion, is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than an ecozone and larger than an ecosystem. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas of land or water, and contain characteristic, geographically distinct assemblages of natural...
. They are heavily forested, and contain the southermost distribution of the boreal forest, or taiga
Taiga
Taiga , also known as the boreal forest, is a biome characterized by coniferous forests.Taiga is the world's largest terrestrial biome. In North America it covers most of inland Canada and Alaska as well as parts of the extreme northern continental United States and is known as the Northwoods...
, in North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
. The forests of the Adirondacks include spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
, pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
and broad-leafed trees. Lumbering, once an important industry, has been much restricted since the establishment of the State Park in 1892.
Approximately 260 species of birds have been recorded, of which over 170 breed here. Because of its unique boreal forest habitat, the park has many breeding birds not found in most areas of New York
New York
New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
and other mid-Atlantic states, such as boreal chickadee
Boreal Chickadee
The Boreal Chickadee is a small passerine bird in the tit family Paridae.-Description:...
s, gray jay
Gray Jay
The Gray Jay , also Grey Jay, Canada Jay, or Whiskey Jack, is a member of the crow and jay family found in the boreal forests across North America north to the tree-line and in subalpine forests of the Rocky Mountains south to New Mexico and Arizona...
s, Bicknell's thrush
Bicknell's Thrush
The Bicknell's Thrush, Catharus bicknelli, is a medium-sized thrush, at 17.5 cm and 28 g . It was named after Eugene Bicknell, an American amateur ornithologist, who discovered the species on Slide Mountain in the Catskills in the late 19th century.Adults are olive-brown on the upperparts,...
es, spruce grouse
Spruce Grouse
The Spruce Grouse or Canada Grouse is a medium-sized grouse closely associated with the coniferous boreal forests or taiga of North America. It is one of the most arboreal grouse, fairly well adapted to perching and moving about in trees...
, Philadelphia vireo
Philadelphia Vireo
The Philadelphia Vireo, Vireo philadelphicus, is a small songbird.Adults are mainly olive-brown on the upperparts with yellow underparts; they have dark eyes and a grey crown. There is a dark line through the eyes and a white stripe just over them. They have thick blue-grey legs and a stout...
s, rusty blackbird
Rusty Blackbird
The Rusty Blackbird, Euphagus carolinus, is a medium-sized blackbird, closely related to grackles .-Appearance:...
s, American Three-toed Woodpecker
American Three-toed Woodpecker
The American Three-toed woodpecker, Picoides dorsalis is a medium-sized woodpecker .This woodpecker has a length of 21 cm and a wingspan of 38 cm and closely resembles the Black-backed Woodpecker, which is also three-toed. Until recently, it was considered to be the same species as the Eurasian...
s, black-backed woodpecker
Black-backed Woodpecker
The Black-backed Woodpecker also known as the Arctic Three-toed Woodpecker is a medium-sized woodpecker inhabiting the forests of North America. It is a medium sized woodpecker ....
s, ruby-crowned kinglets, bay-breasted warbler
Bay-breasted Warbler
The Bay-breasted Warbler, Dendroica castanea , is a New World warbler. They breed in northern North America, specifically in Canada, into the Great Lakes region, and into northern New England....
s, mourning warbler
Mourning Warbler
The Mourning Warbler, Oporornis philadelphia, is a small songbird of the New World warbler family.These 13 cm long birds have yellow underparts, olive-green upperparts and pink legs. Adult males have a grey hood and a black patch on the throat and breast...
s, common loons and the crossbill
Crossbill
The crossbill is a bird in the finch family . The three to five species are all classified in the genus Loxia. These birds are characterised by the mandibles crossing at their tips, which gives the group its English name...
s.
Geology and physiography
The Adirondack Mountains are a physiographic provincePhysiographic regions of the world
The physiographic regions of the world are a means of defining the Earth's landforms into distinct regions based upon classic 1916 three-tiered approach defining divisions, provinces, and sections...
of the larger Appalachian
Appalachian Mountains
The Appalachian Mountains #Whether the stressed vowel is or ,#Whether the "ch" is pronounced as a fricative or an affricate , and#Whether the final vowel is the monophthong or the diphthong .), often called the Appalachians, are a system of mountains in eastern North America. The Appalachians...
physiographic division.
The mountains consist primarily of metamorphic rocks, mainly gneiss
Gneiss
Gneiss is a common and widely distributed type of rock formed by high-grade regional metamorphic processes from pre-existing formations that were originally either igneous or sedimentary rocks.-Etymology:...
, surrounding a central core of intrusive
Intrusion
An intrusion is liquid rock that forms under Earth's surface. Magma from under the surface is slowly pushed up from deep within the earth into any cracks or spaces it can find, sometimes pushing existing country rock out of the way, a process that can take millions of years. As the rock slowly...
igneous rocks, most notably anorthosite
Anorthosite
Anorthosite is a phaneritic, intrusive igneous rock characterized by a predominance of plagioclase feldspar , and a minimal mafic component...
, in the high peaks region. These crystalline rocks are a lobe of the Precambrian
Precambrian
The Precambrian is the name which describes the large span of time in Earth's history before the current Phanerozoic Eon, and is a Supereon divided into several eons of the geologic time scale...
Grenville Basement rock
Basement Rock
Basement or Basement Rock music was a sub-genre coined in 2006 in an article by music magazine TGR. This was first in relation to the existence of underground record label Criminal Records but more for the independent bands they represent. The roots of the sub-genre are noted to be as far back as...
complex and represent the southernmost extent of the Canadian Shield
Canadian Shield
The Canadian Shield, also called the Laurentian Plateau, or Bouclier Canadien , is a vast geological shield covered by a thin layer of soil that forms the nucleus of the North American or Laurentia craton. It is an area mostly composed of igneous rock which relates to its long volcanic history...
, a craton
Craton
A craton is an old and stable part of the continental lithosphere. Having often survived cycles of merging and rifting of continents, cratons are generally found in the interiors of tectonic plates. They are characteristically composed of ancient crystalline basement rock, which may be covered by...
ic expression of igneous and metamorphic rock 880 million to 1 billion years in age that covers most of eastern and northern Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
and all of Greenland
Greenland
Greenland is an autonomous country within the Kingdom of Denmark, located between the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans, east of the Canadian Arctic Archipelago. Though physiographically a part of the continent of North America, Greenland has been politically and culturally associated with Europe for...
. Although the rocks are ancient, the uplift that formed the Adirondack dome has occurred within the last 5 million years — relatively recent in geologic time — and is ongoing. The dome itself is roughly circular, approximately 160 miles (260 km) in diameter and about one mile (1600 m) high. The uplift is almost completely surrounded by Palaeozoic strata
Stratum
In geology and related fields, a stratum is a layer of sedimentary rock or soil with internally consistent characteristics that distinguish it from other layers...
which lap up on the sides of the underlying basement rocks.
The rate of uplift in the Adirondack dome is the subject of some debate, but in order to have the rocks which constitute the Adirondacks rise from the depth where they were formed to their present height, within the last 20 million years, an uplift rate of 1-3mm a year is required. This rate is greater than the rate of erosion in the region today and is considered a fairly high rate of movement. Earthquakes in the region have exceeded 5 on the Richter scale.
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
watershed and the Great Lakes Basin
Great Lakes Basin
The Great Lakes Basin consists of the Great Lakes and the surrounding lands of the states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin in the United States, and the province of Ontario in Canada, whose direct surface runoff and watersheds form a large...
/St. Lawrence River watershed. On the south and south-west the waters flow either directly into the Hudson, which rises in the center of the group, or else reach it through the Mohawk River
Mohawk River
The Mohawk River is a river in the U.S. state of New York. It is the largest tributary of the Hudson River. The Mohawk flows into the Hudson in the Capital District, a few miles north of the city of Albany. The river is named for the Mohawk Nation of the Iroquois Confederacy...
. On the north and east the waters reach the St. Lawrence by way of Lakes George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
and Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
, and on the west they flow directly into that stream or reach it through Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario
Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south by the American state of New York. Ontario, Canada's most populous province, was named for the lake. In the Wyandot language, ontarío means...
. The tiny Lake Tear-of-the-Clouds, nestled in the heart of the High Peaks area between Mt. Marcy and Skylight, is considered to be the source of the mighty Hudson. The most important streams within the area are the Hudson, Black
Black River (New York)
The Black River is a blackwater river that empties into the eastern end of Lake Ontario on the shore of Jefferson County, New York in the United States of America...
, Oswegatchie
Oswegatchie River
The Oswegatchie River is a river in northern New York that flows north from the Adirondack Mountains to the Saint Lawrence River at the city of Ogdensburg. The river mouth was the site of a Jesuit mission, Fort de La Présentation, founded in 1749. Also a fur trading post, the village had 3,000...
, Grasse
Grasse River
The Grasse River or Grass River is a river in northern New York, in the United States...
, Raquette
Raquette River
The Raquette River, sometimes spelled Racquette, originates at Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. long, it is the third longest river entirely in the state of New York....
, Saranac
Saranac River
Saranac River is an river in the U.S. state of New York. In its upper reaches is a region of mostly flat water and lakes. The river has more than three dozen source lakes and ponds north of Upper Saranac Lake; the highest is Mountain Pond on Long Pond Mountain...
, Schroon
Schroon River
The Schroon River is a tributary of the Hudson River in the southern Adirondack Mountains of New York, beginning at the confluence of Crowfoot Brook and New Pond Brook near Underwood, and terminating at the Hudson in Warrensburg. Its watershed is entirely within the Adirondack Park...
and Ausable rivers.
The region was once covered by the Laurentian Glacier
Laurentide ice sheet
The Laurentide Ice Sheet was a massive sheet of ice that covered hundreds of thousands of square miles, including most of Canada and a large portion of the northern United States, multiple times during Quaternary glacial epochs. It last covered most of northern North America between c. 95,000 and...
, whose erosion, while perhaps having little effect on the larger features of the country, has greatly modified it in detail, producing lakes and ponds, whose number is said to exceed 1300, and causing many falls and rapids in the streams. Among the larger lakes are Lake George, The Fulton Chain
Fulton Chain Lakes
The Fulton Chain Lakes are a string of eight lakes located in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York in the United States of America. These lakes are located in Herkimer County and Hamilton County...
, the Upper
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
and Lower Saranac
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
, Big
Tupper Lake (New York)
Tupper Lake is a lake in New York in the USA. The lake is in the Adirondack Park and crosses the county lines of St. Lawrence County and Franklin County....
and Little Tupper
Tupper Lake (New York)
Tupper Lake is a lake in New York in the USA. The lake is in the Adirondack Park and crosses the county lines of St. Lawrence County and Franklin County....
, Schroon
Schroon, New York
Schroon is a town in the Adirondack Park, in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,759 at the 2000 census. The town is also known as Schroon Lake, which is actually a centrally located lake, and the name of a hamlet on the lake....
, Placid, Long
Long Lake
-Canada:Long Lake and its French language equivalent, "Lac Long", is the most commonly used name for a geographical feature in Canada. There are 203 Long Lakes and 164 occurrences of Lac Long...
, Raquette
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has 99 miles of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the towns of Long Lake and Arietta,...
and Blue Mountain
Blue Mountain Lake
Blue Mountain Lake is a reservoir in Arkansas, United States. A U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Lake on the Petit Jean River in west central Arkansas, Blue Mountain Lake has approximately 50 miles of shoreline, located between Mount Magazine and the Ouachita Mountain range just west of Havana,...
. The region known as the Adirondack Wilderness, or the Great North Woods
Great North Woods
The Great North Woods are spread across four northeastern U.S. states: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont and New York and into the Canadian province of Quebec, from the Down East lakes to the Adirondack Mountains...
, embraces between 5000 and 6000 square miles (13,000 km² and 16,000 km²) of mountain, lake, plateau and forest.
Mining was once a significant industry in the Adirondacks. The region is rich in magnetic iron ores, which were mined for many years. The Benson Mines was an open pit iron mine extracting magnetite and hematite ores from the Grenville gneiss in St. Lawrence County on the northwestern portion of the Adirondack uplift. Other mineral
Mineral
A mineral is a naturally occurring solid chemical substance formed through biogeochemical processes, having characteristic chemical composition, highly ordered atomic structure, and specific physical properties. By comparison, a rock is an aggregate of minerals and/or mineraloids and does not...
products are graphite
Graphite
The mineral graphite is one of the allotropes of carbon. It was named by Abraham Gottlob Werner in 1789 from the Ancient Greek γράφω , "to draw/write", for its use in pencils, where it is commonly called lead . Unlike diamond , graphite is an electrical conductor, a semimetal...
, garnet
Garnet
The garnet group includes a group of minerals that have been used since the Bronze Age as gemstones and abrasives. The name "garnet" may come from either the Middle English word gernet meaning 'dark red', or the Latin granatus , possibly a reference to the Punica granatum , a plant with red seeds...
used as an abrasive, pyrite
Pyrite
The mineral pyrite, or iron pyrite, is an iron sulfide with the formula FeS2. This mineral's metallic luster and pale-to-normal, brass-yellow hue have earned it the nickname fool's gold because of its resemblance to gold...
, wollastonite, and zinc
Zinc
Zinc , or spelter , is a metallic chemical element; it has the symbol Zn and atomic number 30. It is the first element in group 12 of the periodic table. Zinc is, in some respects, chemically similar to magnesium, because its ion is of similar size and its only common oxidation state is +2...
ore. The Balmat-Edwards district on the northwest flank of the massif also in St. Lawrence County was a major zinc ore deposit within Grenville age marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
s worked during the mid twentieth century. There is also a great quantity of titanium
Titanium
Titanium is a chemical element with the symbol Ti and atomic number 22. It has a low density and is a strong, lustrous, corrosion-resistant transition metal with a silver color....
, which was mined extensively. The Sanford Lake district was a significant titanium ore producer during the 20th century. It is in Essex County
Essex County, New York
Essex County is a county located in the U.S. state of New York. As of the 2010 census, the population was 39,370. Its name is from the English county of Essex. Its county seat is Elizabethtown...
within the anorthosite bodies on the east flank of the range.
Naming, spelling, and pronunciation
The mountains were given the name "Adirondacks" in 1838 by Ebenezer EmmonsEbenezer Emmons
Ebenezer Emmons , was a pioneering American geologist.Emmons was born at Middlefield, Massachusetts, on May 16, 1799, son of Ebenezer and Mary Emmons....
; the name is sometimes spelled "Adirondaks", without a "c". Some of the place names in the vicinity of Lake Placid have peculiar phonetic spellings attributed to Melvil Dewey
Melvil Dewey
Melville Louis Kossuth Dewey was an American librarian and educator, inventor of the Dewey Decimal system of library classification, and a founder of the Lake Placid Club....
, who was a principal influence in developing that town and the Lake Placid Club
Lake Placid Club
The Lake Placid Club was a social and recreation club founded 1895 in Lake Placid, New York by Melvil Dewey, and intended as a place where educators might find health, strength and inspiration at modest cost...
. The Adirondak Loj
Adirondak Loj
Adirondak Loj is a historic lodge near Lake Placid in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State. The Loj, built in 1927, is currently owned and operated by the Adirondack Mountain Club. Located on the shore of Heart Lake, it is at the trailhead of the most popular trails to Mount Marcy and...
, a popular hostel and trailhead run by the Adirondack Mountain Club
Adirondack Mountain Club
The Adirondack Mountain Club is a nonprofit organization founded in 1922. It has approximately 35,000 members. The ADK is dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve, parks, wild lands, and waters; it conducts extensive conservation, and...
in the high peaks region, is one example. The word carries stress on the third syllable: ædɨˈrɒndæks.
The name "Adirondacks" is an Anglicized version of the Mohawk ratirontaks, meaning "they eat trees", a derogatory name which the Mohawk historically applied to neighboring Algonquian-speaking tribes; when food was scarce, the Algonquians would eat the buds and bark of trees. By 1634, the word was being used by the Mohawks, when speaking among the Dutch, to refer to French and English. The Dutch transliterated the word Aderondackx at that time.
Tourism and recreation
Lake Placid, New York
Lake Placid is a village in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York, United States. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638....
, Lake George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
, Saranac Lake
Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village located in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle, and Lower Saranac Lakes, which are nearby....
, Schroon Lake
Schroon, New York
Schroon is a town in the Adirondack Park, in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 1,759 at the 2000 census. The town is also known as Schroon Lake, which is actually a centrally located lake, and the name of a hamlet on the lake....
and the St. Regis Lakes.
Although the climate during the winter months can be severe, with absolute temperatures sometimes falling below −30 °F (−35 °C) pre wind chill, a number of sanatorium
Sanatorium
A sanatorium is a medical facility for long-term illness, most typically associated with treatment of tuberculosis before antibiotics...
s were located there in the early twentieth century because of the positive effect the air had on tuberculosis
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...
patients.
Hunting
Hunting
Hunting is the practice of pursuing any living thing, usually wildlife, for food, recreation, or trade. In present-day use, the term refers to lawful hunting, as distinguished from poaching, which is the killing, trapping or capture of the hunted species contrary to applicable law...
and fishing
Fishing
Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....
are allowed in the Adirondack Park, although in many places there are strict regulations. Because of these regulations, the large tourist population has not overfished the area, and as such, the brooks, rivers, ponds and lakes are well stocked with trout
Trout
Trout is the name for a number of species of freshwater and saltwater fish belonging to the Salmoninae subfamily of the family Salmonidae. Salmon belong to the same family as trout. Most salmon species spend almost all their lives in salt water...
and black bass
Black bass
Micropterus , is a genus of freshwater fish in the sunfish family of order Perciformes. The type species is M. dolomieu, the smallmouth bass...
.
The varied birdlife within the park attracts birdwatchers
Birdwatching
Birdwatching or birding is the observation of birds as a recreational activity. It can be done with the naked eye, through a visual enhancement device like binoculars and telescopes, or by listening for bird sounds. Birding often involves a significant auditory component, as many bird species are...
.
Flatwater and whitewater canoeing
Canoeing
Canoeing is an outdoor activity that involves a special kind of canoe.Open canoes may be 'poled' , sailed, 'lined and tracked' or even 'gunnel-bobbed'....
and kayaking
Kayaking
Kayaking is the use of a kayak for moving across water. Kayaking and canoeing are also known as paddling. Kayaking is distinguished from canoeing by the sitting position of the paddler and the number of blades on the paddle...
are very popular. Hundreds of lakes, ponds, and slow-moving streams link to provide routes ranging from under a mile to weeklong treks.
Motorboating
Motorboating
Motorboating is one of many problems that can afflict radio transmitters and similar devices. Radio transmitters are vulnerable to unwanted feedback; one possible symptom of unwanted feedback are rapid changes in power output, which repeats about 20 to 20,000 times per second; this is called...
is restricted on many bodies of water, but allowed on most of the larger lakes such as Lakes George, Champlain, Raquette, Schroon, and Blue Mountain Lake, among others. Personal watercraft are a controversial subject in the Adirondack Park at this time.
Cliffs with rock climbing
Rock climbing
Rock climbing also lightly called 'The Gravity Game', is a sport in which participants climb up, down or across natural rock formations or artificial rock walls. The goal is to reach the summit of a formation or the endpoint of a pre-defined route without falling...
and ice climbing
Ice climbing
Ice climbing, as the term indicates, is the activity of ascending inclined ice formations. Usually, ice climbing refers to roped and protected climbing of features such as icefalls, frozen waterfalls, and cliffs and rock slabs covered with ice refrozen from flows of water. For the purposes of...
routes are scattered throughout the park boundaries, most notably around Keene Valley, Wallface, Pok-O-Moonshine Mountain, Moss Cliffs, and Rogers Rock.
Though restricted from much of the park, snowmobile
Snowmobile
A snowmobile, also known in some places as a snowmachine, or sled,is a land vehicle for winter travel on snow. Designed to be operated on snow and ice, they require no road or trail. Design variations enable some machines to operate in deep snow or forests; most are used on open terrain, including...
enthusiasts can ride on a large network of trails centered mainly around the towns of Old Forge, Speculator, and Saranac Lake.
At the head of Lake Placid stands Whiteface Mountain
Whiteface Mountain
Whiteface Mountain is the fifth-highest mountain in New York State, and one of the High Peaks of the Adirondack Mountains. Set apart from most of the other High Peaks, the summit offers a 360-degree view featuring the Adirondacks and perhaps on a clear day glimpses of Vermont and even Canada. The...
, from whose summit one of the finest views of the Adirondacks can be obtained. Two miles (3 km) southeast of this lake, at North Elba
North Elba, New York
North Elba is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 8,661 at the 2000 census. The town is named after the island of Elba.North Elba is on the western edge of the county...
, is the old farm of the abolitionist John Brown
John Brown (abolitionist)
John Brown was an American revolutionary abolitionist, who in the 1850s advocated and practiced armed insurrection as a means to abolish slavery in the United States. He led the Pottawatomie Massacre during which five men were killed, in 1856 in Bleeding Kansas, and made his name in the...
, which contains his grave and is frequented by visitors. Lake Placid outflow is a major contributor to the Ausable River, which for a part of its course flows through a rocky chasm 100 feet (30.5 m) to 175 feet (30 m to 53 m) deep and rarely more than 30 ft (10 m) wide. At the head of the Ausable Chasm
Ausable Chasm
Ausable Chasm is a sandstone gorge tourist attraction located near Keeseville, New York. The Ausable River runs through it, which then empties into Lake Champlain....
are the Rainbow Falls, where the stream makes a vertical leap of 70 ft (20 m). Among the less invasive methods of touring the Adirondacks is the original, sight-seeing journey on horseback. See The Adirondack Equine Center of Lake Placid for more details.
Another impressive feature of the Adirondacks is Indian Pass, a gorge about between Algonquin and Wallface Mountains. The latter is a majestic cliff rising several hundred feet from the pass. Keene Valley, in the center of the High Peaks, is a notably picturesque region, presenting a pleasing combination of peaceful valley and rugged hills.
The Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks
Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks
The Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks is a natural history museum that opened July 4, 2006 in New York state's Adirondack Park. The museum and the exhibits were designed by The Office of Charles P. Reay with the St. Louis architectural firm HOK...
in Tupper Lake offers extensive exhibits about the natural history of the region. Many of the exhibits are live, including otters, birds, fish and porcupines. The Museum has trails to a river and pond on its campus.
Human history
Algonquian
Algonquian peoples
The Algonquian are one of the most populous and widespread North American native language groups, with tribes originally numbering in the hundreds. Today hundreds of thousands of individuals identify with various Algonquian peoples...
and Mohawk
Mohawk nation
Mohawk are the most easterly tribe of the Iroquois confederation. They call themselves Kanien'gehaga, people of the place of the flint...
Indians used the Adirondacks for hunting and travel, but they had no settlements in the area. Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain
Samuel de Champlain , "The Father of New France", was a French navigator, cartographer, draughtsman, soldier, explorer, geographer, ethnologist, diplomat, and chronicler. He founded New France and Quebec City on July 3, 1608....
sailed up the Saint Lawrence
Saint Lawrence
Lawrence of Rome was one of the seven deacons of ancient Rome who were martyred during the persecution of Valerian in 258.- Holy Chalice :...
and Rivière des Iroquois
Richelieu River
The Richelieu River is a river in Quebec, Canada. It flows from the north end of Lake Champlain about north, ending at the confluence with the St. Lawrence River at Sorel-Tracy, Quebec downstream and northeast of Montreal...
near what would become Ticonderoga
Ticonderoga
Ticonderoga may refer to :*Ticonderoga, New York, a town in New York, United States*Ticonderoga , New York, a hamlet in New York, United States*Fort Ticonderoga, a fortification in New YorkIn ships:*Ticonderoga...
on Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain
Lake Champlain is a natural, freshwater lake in North America, located mainly within the borders of the United States but partially situated across the Canada—United States border in the Canadian province of Quebec.The New York portion of the Champlain Valley includes the eastern portions of...
in 1609, and thus may have been the first European to encounter the Adirondacks. Jesuit missionaries and French trappers were among the first Europeans to visit the region, as early as 1642.
Part of the French and Indian War
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is the common American name for the war between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War and thus came to be regarded as the North American theater of that war...
(1754–1763) was played out on the edge of the Adirondacks. The British built Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George in the province of New York. It is best known as the site of notorious atrocities committed by Indians against the surrendered British and provincial troops following a successful French siege in 1757, an event which is the...
on the south end of Lake George
Lake George (New York)
Lake George, nicknamed the Queen of American Lakes, is a long, narrow oligotrophic lake draining northwards into Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River Drainage basin located at the southeast base of the Adirondack Mountains in northern New York, U.S.A.. It lies within the upper region of the...
in 1755; the French countered by building Fort Carillon on the north end, which was renamed Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga, formerly Fort Carillon, is a large 18th-century fort built by the Canadians and the French at a narrows near the south end of Lake Champlain in upstate New York in the United States...
after it was captured by the British. In 1757, French General Montcalm
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm-Gozon, Marquis de Saint-Veran was a French soldier best known as the commander of the forces in North America during the Seven Years' War .Montcalm was born near Nîmes in France to a noble family, and entered military service...
, captured Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George in the province of New York. It is best known as the site of notorious atrocities committed by Indians against the surrendered British and provincial troops following a successful French siege in 1757, an event which is the...
.
Iron
Iron is a chemical element with the symbol Fe and atomic number 26. It is a metal in the first transition series. It is the most common element forming the planet Earth as a whole, forming much of Earth's outer and inner core. It is the fourth most common element in the Earth's crust...
deposits were discovered in the Champlain Valley
Champlain Valley
The Champlain Valley is a region of the United States around Lake Champlain in Vermont and New York extending slightly into Quebec, Canada as part of the St. Lawrence River drainage basin drained northward by the Richelieu River into the St...
, precipitating land clearing, settlement and mining
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
in that area, and the building of furnaces and forges. A growing demand for timber pushed loggers
Logging
Logging is the cutting, skidding, on-site processing, and loading of trees or logs onto trucks.In forestry, the term logging is sometimes used in a narrow sense concerning the logistics of moving wood from the stump to somewhere outside the forest, usually a sawmill or a lumber yard...
deeper into the wilderness. Millions of pine
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
, spruce
Spruce
A spruce is a tree of the genus Picea , a genus of about 35 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the Family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal regions of the earth. Spruces are large trees, from tall when mature, and can be distinguished by their whorled branches and conical...
, and hemlock
Tsuga
Tsuga is a genus of conifers in the family Pinaceae. The common name hemlock is derived from a perceived similarity in the smell of its crushed foliage to that of the unrelated plant poison hemlock....
logs were cut and floated down the area's many rivers to mills built on the edges. Logging continued slowly but steadily into the interior of the mountains throughout the 19th century and farm communities developed in many of the river valleys.
The area was not formally named the Adirondacks until 1837; an English map from 1761 labels it simply "Deer Hunting Country." Serious exploration of the interior did not occur until after 1870; the headwaters of the Hudson River
Hudson River
The Hudson is a river that flows from north to south through eastern New York. The highest official source is at Lake Tear of the Clouds, on the slopes of Mount Marcy in the Adirondack Mountains. The river itself officially begins in Henderson Lake in Newcomb, New York...
at Lake Tear of the Clouds
Lake Tear of the Clouds
Lake Tear of the Clouds is a small tarn located in the town of Keene, in Essex County, New York, on the southwest slope of Mount Marcy; it is both the highest lake in the state and the highest source of the Hudson River via Feldspar Brook and the Opalescent River...
near Mount Marcy were not discovered until more than fifty years after the discovery of the headwaters of the Columbia River
Columbia River
The Columbia River is the largest river in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. The river rises in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, flows northwest and then south into the U.S. state of Washington, then turns west to form most of the border between Washington and the state...
in the Canadian Rockies
Canadian Rockies
The Canadian Rockies comprise the Canadian segment of the North American Rocky Mountains range. They are the eastern part of the Canadian Cordillera, extending from the Interior Plains of Alberta to the Rocky Mountain Trench of British Columbia. The southern end borders Idaho and Montana of the USA...
of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
.
Prior to the 19th century, mountainous areas and wilderness were viewed as desolate and forbidding. As Romanticism
Romanticism
Romanticism was an artistic, literary and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Europe, and gained strength in reaction to the Industrial Revolution...
developed in the United States, the writing of James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper
James Fenimore Cooper was a prolific and popular American writer of the early 19th century. He is best remembered as a novelist who wrote numerous sea-stories and the historical novels known as the Leatherstocking Tales, featuring frontiersman Natty Bumppo...
and later the transcendentalism
Transcendentalism
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the 1830s and 1840s in the New England region of the United States as a protest against the general state of culture and society, and in particular, the state of intellectualism at Harvard University and the doctrine of the Unitarian...
of Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau
Henry David Thoreau was an American author, poet, philosopher, abolitionist, naturalist, tax resister, development critic, surveyor, historian, and leading transcendentalist...
and Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson
Ralph Waldo Emerson was an American essayist, lecturer, and poet, who led the Transcendentalist movement of the mid-19th century...
began to transform the popular view of wilderness in more positive terms, as a source of spiritual renewal.
Part of Cooper's 1826 The Last of the Mohicans: A narrative of 1757 is set in the Adirondacks. Frederic Remington
Frederic Remington
Frederic Sackrider Remington was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West, specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th century American West and images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U. S...
canoed the Oswegatchie River
Oswegatchie River
The Oswegatchie River is a river in northern New York that flows north from the Adirondack Mountains to the Saint Lawrence River at the city of Ogdensburg. The river mouth was the site of a Jesuit mission, Fort de La Présentation, founded in 1749. Also a fur trading post, the village had 3,000...
, and William James Stillman
William James Stillman
William James Stillman , United States was an American painter, journalist, and photographer.-Biography:Stillman was born in Schenectady, New York in 1828. His parents were Seventh Day Baptists, and his early religious training influenced him all through his life...
, painter and journalist, spent the summer of 1857 painting near Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has 99 miles of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the towns of Long Lake and Arietta,...
. The next year he returned with a group of friends to a spot on Follensby Pond that became known as the Philosophers Camp. The group included Emerson, James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell
James Russell Lowell was an American Romantic poet, critic, editor, and diplomat. He is associated with the Fireside Poets, a group of New England writers who were among the first American poets who rivaled the popularity of British poets...
, Louis Agassiz
Louis Agassiz
Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz was a Swiss paleontologist, glaciologist, geologist and a prominent innovator in the study of the Earth's natural history. He grew up in Switzerland and became a professor of natural history at University of Neuchâtel...
, and Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr. was an American jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States from 1902 to 1932...
's brother John.
Although sportsmen had always shown some interest in the Adirondacks, the publication of Joel Tyler Headley's Adirondack; or, Life in the Woods in 1849 started a flood of tourists to the area, leading to a rash of hotel building and the development of stage coach lines. Later writings on the Adirondacks, such as clergyman William H. H. Murray's Adventures in the Wilderness; Or Camp-Life in the Adirondacks in 1869, helped to increase Adirondack tourism.Thomas Clark Durant, who had helped to build the Union Pacific railroad, acquired a large tract of central Adirondack land and built a railroad from fashionable Saratoga Springs to North Creek
North Creek, New York
North Creek is a hamlet in the Adirondack Park, in the town of Johnsburg, in Warren County, New York, United States. It is an area known for skiing , hiking and other outdoor recreational activities. It is located at ....
. By 1875 there were more than two hundred hotels in the Adirondacks, some of them with several hundred rooms; the most famous was Paul Smith's Hotel
Paul Smith's Hotel
Paul Smith's Hotel, formally known as the Saint Regis House, was founded in 1859 by Apollos Smith in the town of Brighton, Franklin County, New York in what would become the village of Paul Smiths; it was one of the first wilderness resorts in Adirondacks...
. About this time, the "Great Camps
Great Camps
Great camps refer to the grandiose family compounds of cabins that were built in the latter half of the nineteenth century on lakes in the Adirondacks such as Spitfire Lake and Rainbow Lake. The camps were summer homes for the wealthy, where they could relax, host or attend parties, and enjoy the...
" of the Adirondacks evolved near Raquette Lake, where William West Durant
William West Durant
William West Durant was a designer and developer of camps in the Adirondack Great Camp style, including Camp Uncas, Camp Pine Knot and Sagamore Camp which are National Historic Landmarks. He was the son of Thomas C. Durant, the financier and railroad promoter who was behind the Crédit Mobilier...
, son of Thomas C. Durant, built luxurious compounds. Two of them, Camp Pine Knot and Sagamore Camp, both near Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake
Raquette Lake is the source of the Raquette River in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, USA. It is near the community of Raquette Lake, New York. The lake has 99 miles of shoreline with pines and mountains bordering the lake. It is located in the towns of Long Lake and Arietta,...
, have been designated as National Historic Landmarks, as has Santanoni Preserve
Santanoni Preserve
-Further readings:* Robert Engel, Howard Kirschenbaum, Paul Malo. Santanoni: From Japanese Temple to Life at an Adirondack Great Camp. Keesville, NY: Adirondack Architectural Heritage, 2000....
, near Newcomb
Newcomb, New York
Newcomb is a town in Essex County, New York, United States. The population was 481 at the 2000 census.The Town of Newcomb is at the west border of the county. It is southwest of Plattsburgh, southwest of Burlington, VT, northeast of Utica, NY, north-northeast of Albany, NY, and ...
, NY. Camps Sagamore and Santanoni are open to the public seasonally.
Verplanck Colvin
Verplanck Colvin was a lawyer, author, illustrator and topographical engineer whose understanding and appreciation for the environment of the Adirondack Mountains led to the creation of New York's Forest Preserve and the Adirondack Park....
developed a report urging the creation of a state forest preserve
Forest Preserve (New York)
New York's Forest Preserve is all the land owned by the state within the Adirondack and Catskill parks, managed by its Department of Environmental Conservation. These properties are required to be kept "forever wild" by Article 14 of the state constitution, and thus enjoy the highest degree of...
covering the entire Adirondack region, based on the need to preserve the watershed
Drainage basin
A drainage basin is an extent or an area of land where surface water from rain and melting snow or ice converges to a single point, usually the exit of the basin, where the waters join another waterbody, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea, or ocean...
as a water source for the Erie Canal
Erie Canal
The Erie Canal is a waterway in New York that runs about from Albany, New York, on the Hudson River to Buffalo, New York, at Lake Erie, completing a navigable water route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes. The canal contains 36 locks and encompasses a total elevation differential of...
, which was vital to New York's economy at the time. In 1883 he was appointed superintendent of the New York state land survey. In 1884, a commission chaired by botanist Charles Sprague Sargent
Charles Sprague Sargent
Charles Sprague Sargent was an American botanist. He was the first director of the Arnold Arboretum at Harvard University in Boston, Massachusetts and the standard botanical author abbreviation Sarg. is applied to plants he described.-Biography:Sargent was the second son of Henrietta and...
recommended establishment of a forest preserve, to be "forever kept as wild forest lands." In 1885 the Adirondack Forest Preserve was created, followed in 1892 by the Adirondack Park. When it became clear that the forces seeking to log and develop the Adirondacks would soon reverse the two measures through lobbying
Lobbying
Lobbying is the act of attempting to influence decisions made by officials in the government, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying is done by various people or groups, from private-sector individuals or corporations, fellow legislators or government officials, or...
, environmentalists sought to amend the State Constitution. In 1894, Article VII, Section 7, (renumbered in 1938 as Article XIV, Section 1) of the New York State Constitution was adopted, which reads in part:
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 forest lands. 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 restrictions on development and lumbering embodied in Article XIV have withstood many challenges from timber interests, hydropower projects, and large scale tourism development interests. Further, the language of the article, and decades of legal experience in its defense, are widely recognized as having laid the foundation for the U.S. National Wilderness Act of 1964. As a result of the legal protections, many pieces of the original forest of the Adirondacks have never been logged: they are old growth.
See also
- Adirondack Canoe ClassicAdirondack Canoe Classic__notoc__The Adirondack Canoe Classic, also known as the 90-miler, is a three-day, canoe race from Old Forge to Saranac Lake in the Adirondacks of New York, USA. The race has drawn as many as 500 competitors from California to Florida, New Zealand and Canada paddling 250 canoes, kayaks and...
- Adirondack LifeAdirondack LifeAdirondack Life is a bi-monthly magazine based in Jay, New York that covers the Adirondack region of the state. It has been published since 1969, when it began as a supplement to a Warrensburg, New York newspaper....
- Adirondack Great Camp
- Adirondack Mountain ClubAdirondack Mountain ClubThe Adirondack Mountain Club is a nonprofit organization founded in 1922. It has approximately 35,000 members. The ADK is dedicated to the protection and responsible recreational use of the New York State Forest Preserve, parks, wild lands, and waters; it conducts extensive conservation, and...
- Adirondack MuseumAdirondack MuseumThe Adirondack Museum, located on NY-30 in the hamlet of Blue Mountain Lake in Hamilton County, New York, is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the Adirondacks...
- Adirondack Park
- Adirondack Park AgencyAdirondack Park AgencyThe Adirondack Park Agency was created in 1971 by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller as a governmental agency that performs long-range planning for the future of the Adirondack Park. It oversees development plans of private land-owners as well as activities within the Adirondack Forest Preserve...
- Adirondack Park Visitor Information CenterAdirondack Park Visitor Information CenterThe Adirondack Park Agency created two Visitor Interpretive Centers in the late 80s and early 90s. Due to state fiscal and budgetary constraints Gov. David Paterson marked them for closure effective Dec...
- Natural History Museum of the AdirondacksNatural History Museum of the AdirondacksThe Natural History Museum of the Adirondacks is a natural history museum that opened July 4, 2006 in New York state's Adirondack Park. The museum and the exhibits were designed by The Office of Charles P. Reay with the St. Louis architectural firm HOK...
- Reynoldston, New YorkReynoldston, New York-Location of Reynoldston:Reynoldston is a former settlement in Upstate New York or sometimes referred to as Northern New York . Located in the Township of Brandon in Franklin County, Reynoldston was about 1400 feet above the St. Lawrence River Valley. It is in the northern foothills of the...
Sources
- Graham, Jr., F., The Adirondack Park: A Political History. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1984.
- Donaldson, A. L., A History of the Adirondacks, 2 vols., Mamaroneck, NY: Harbor Hill Books, 1989; reprint of 1921 edition.
- Haynes, Wesley. "Adirondack Camps National Historic Landmark Theme Study."
- McKibben, B. (1995), Hope, Human and Wild: true stories of living lightly on the earth. Little, Brown, and Co., Boston, Massachusetts.
- Schaeffer, P. (1989), Defending the Wilderness: the Adirondack Writings of Paul Schaefer. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York.
- Schneider, P. (1997), The Adirondacks: A History of America's First Wilderness. Henry Hold and Co., Inc., New York, N.Y.
- Terrie, P.G. (1994), Forever Wild: A Cultural History of Wilderness in the Adirondacks. Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York.
- Terrie, P.G. (1997), Contested Terrain: A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks. The Adirondack Museum/Syracuse University Press, Syracuse, New York.
State agencies
Museums
History
- Adirondack History
- Adirondack History - Guides and Guiding
- Geological history
- Adirondack Research Consortium
- Santanoni Preserve
- Lake George Historical Association
- Adirondack Architectural Heritage
- Oral History of Franklin County Listen to and read the history of Franklin County NY in the late 19th and early 20th Centuries