96 Roosevelt Wild Life Bulletin 



THE PALISADES PARK AND ITS LAKES 



The Palisades Interstate Park, under the joint supervision of the 

 States of New York and Xew Jersey, is not comprehended in a 

 single area but consists of four tracts of land on the west shore of 

 the Hudson River. The largest of these, the Bear ^Mountain and 

 Harriman tract, comprises more than 25,000 acres of mountain and 

 forest lands in the Highlands of the Hvidson just below West Point, 

 New York, and extends back through Rockland and Orange Counties 

 to Tuxedo (Map i). It is this section that the Commissioners are de- 

 veloping for recreational purposes on a large scale and with which the 

 present report deals. 1 his investigation was made in July and 

 August, 1918. 



The general physical conditions of the Park have been described 

 b}- Silloway ('20J, while Brown ("20J has given the administrative 

 ideals of the Park management in developing the Park as a recrea- 

 tional center. The general geological aspects of the region ha^-e been 

 discussed by Ries ("95 J and Darton ('90J. 



Within the boundaries of the Park are natural bodies of \^rater, 

 lakes that are wholl}- artificial, and natural lakes whose volume has 

 been considerably increased by artificial means. Since all of the 

 artificial lakes, and all dams raising the level of the water, have 

 been constructed within the past five years, the survey was extended 

 beyond the Park boundaries in order to include several old artificial 

 lakes that have existed, in certain cases, for over a hundred years. 

 The history of these various bodies of water has been compiled from 

 county histories and old atlases,* but in several instances the informa- 

 tion is ver}' fragmentary. Sufficient information was obtained to 

 show, however, that there are several artificial lakes in the neighbor- 

 hood of the Park that are over fifty years old, and their importance 

 in furnishing a forecast on the future algal succession in artificial 

 lakes within the Park cannot be overestimated. .Soundings were also 

 made in lakes within the Park to determine the volume of these bodies 

 of water. In a few instances soundings were made in lakes outside 

 the Park, and in others data were supplied by people familiar with 

 the different bodies of water, but in the use of such data the tendency 

 towards exaggeration is recognized. 



* The following publications have been utilized in determining the history 



and origin of the dififerent bodies of water : 



AxoxYMOUS. The Country West of Hudson's or Xorth River Occupied by 

 the American Armies Under Washington. From a Manuscript Map 

 Drawn by Lord Sterling in 1779 [referred to as the Sterling Map]. 



Burr, D. S. An Atlas of the State of New York. Xew York. 1829. 



Cole. D. History of Rockland County. Xew York. X'ew York. 1884. 



E.A.GER, S. W. An Outline History of Orange County, New York. New- 

 burgh, N. Y. 1846-7. 



HoPKixs, G. M. Combined Atlas of the State of New Jersey and the 

 County of Hudson. Philadelphia. 1873. 



RuTTENBER. E. M. and Cl.ark, L. H. Historv of Orange Countv. Xew York. 

 Philadelphia. 1881. 



Smock, J. C. First Report on the Iron Mines and Ore Deposits in the State 

 of X^'ew York. Bull. N. Y. State Mus. of Nat. Hist., Vol. 7, pp. 1-70. 

 1889. 



Sterlixg — see Anonvmous. 



