FISHERIES, GAME AND FORESTS. 419 



there were present: Charles T. Saxton, Lieutenant-Governor; John Palmer, Secretary 

 of State; James A. Roberts, Comptroller; Addison B. Colvin, Treasurer; Theodore E. 

 Hancock, Attorney-General; Campbell W. Adams, State Engineer and Surveyor. 

 The Secretary of State in the chair. 



Pursuant to the resolution of this Board adopted December 6, 1895, the following 

 detailed contract and deed were presented for action : 



This Agreement, made in duplicate this sixteenth day of December, in the year of our Lord one 

 thousand eight hundred and ninety-five, between William Seward Webb, of the City, County and 

 State of New York, and the Ne-ha-sa-ne Park Association, a domestic corporation, created and 

 organized under the laws of the State of New York, parties of the first part, and the People of the 

 State of New York by Barnet H. Davis, Henry H. Lyman, William R. Weed, Charles H. Babcock 

 and Edward Thompson, in their official capacity as Commissioners of the Board of Fisheries, Game 

 and Forests of the State of New York, acting by and with the approval of the Commissioners of the 

 Land Office of the State of New York : Witnesseth, 



Whereas, The parties of the first part are the owners of the land and premises hereinafter 

 described situate on the watersheds of the Moose, Beaver, Oswegatchie and Bog Rivers, the same all 

 being within the Adirondack Park so-called ; and 



Whereas, The Superintendent of Public Works of the State of New York for the purpose of 

 restoring waters taken for the uses of canals of this State claiming to act under and in pursuance of 

 Laws 1881, Chapter 336, and Laws 1892, Chapter 469, and the acts supplemental and amendatory 

 thereof, constructed a dam across the Beaver River at Stillwater, in the Town of Wilmurt, Herkimer 

 County, New York, creating thereby a large reservoir which has flooded a large tract of land now 

 belonging to the parties of the first part, such flooded lands being a part of the lands hereinafter 

 described ; and 



Whereas, The said Superintendent of Public Works of the State of New York, did also 

 construct and build a reservoir on the middle branch of the Moose River at Old Forge, in the 

 Town of Wilmurt, Herkimer County, New York, which said reservoir has also flooded some of the 

 lands on the shores of the Fulton Chain of Lakes, in Township eight (8) of John Brown's Tract; and 



Whereas, The said William Seward Webb of the first part has filed his claim with the Board of 

 Claims of the State of New York to recover damages occasioned by the construction of said reservoir 

 on the Beaver River (the said Webb as between the parties of the first part being the owner and 

 holder of said claim) ; and 



Where.\S, The evidence in support of said claim has been given in said Board of Claims of the 

 State of New York on behalf of said claimant, and it being desirable that said claim be settled and 

 adjusted ; and 



Whereas, It is desirable that the State of New York should own sufficient lands around said 

 Beaver River reservoir so as to permit of the same being materially increased in capacity, which 

 increase seems to be made necessary by the canal enlargements directed by the people of the State 

 of New York at the last annual election ; and 



Whereas, By an Act of the Legislature of the State of New York entitled " An act to authorize 

 the Forest Commission to purchase lands within the boundaries of the forest preserve," which became 

 a law May 8, 1895, with the approval of the Governor, being Chapter 561 of the Laws of 1896, the 

 Forest Commission or such department of the State government as might thereafter be charged with 

 the care of the forest preserve, was authorized, with the approval of the Commissioners of the Land 

 Office, to purchase for the uses and purposes of the Adirondack Park, the whole or any portion of 

 any township or great lot within the boundaries of the Forest Preserve, the owners of which have 

 sustained damage by the construction of reservoirs by the State for canal purposes or to restore water 

 taken for the canals not exceeding in all eighty thousand acres, at a reasonable and fair valuation, 

 taking into account the damages necessarily sustained by any such owner in consequence of the acts 

 of the State in constructing and maintaining such reservoirs, but that every such purchase "-hould be 



