NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



1 



mother bear with cubs is Hkely to put up a fight if really molested 

 or cornered. Thousands of deer roam the " Great North Woods " 

 and they are very frequently seen. During the open season in the 

 fall hundreds of hunters go to the woods and many deer are killed. 

 Red foxes are fairly common, while a silver fox is rarely seen. 

 Squirrels, rabbits and porcupines (hedgehogs) are common. 

 Partridges are very abundant in nearly all parts of the Adirondacks. 

 Hawks are common and American bald eagles rare. Many of the 

 lakes and streams afford good trout and bass fishing, especially 

 early in the season. 



Much of the Adirondack area is now owned by the State of New 

 York, and gradually more of the land is being acquired. Camping 

 privileges are free to all on state land. All but the borders of the 

 " Great North Woods " lies within the boundaries of the so-called 

 " Adirondack Park," it being the purpose of the State to gain 

 possession of more and more of the land within the confines of 

 the park. Too much can not be said in favor of this project to 

 control the great, wild, mountainous region as a recreation park and 

 watershed for the benefit of the people. 



Surrounding Valleys 



With a single slight exception on the southwestern border, the 

 Adirondacks are completely surrounded by prominent valleys whose 

 bottoms are nowhere more than a few hundred feet above sea level. 

 These are the St Lawrence, Champlain, Mohawk and Black River 

 valleys. 



The St Lawrence valley, bounding the Adirondacks on the north, 

 is a great open depression of comparatively simple structure and 

 near sea level. Where the river leaves Lake Ontario the altitude is 

 only 247 feet, while points more than a few hundred feet above the 

 sea are comparatively rare. The Thousand Islands form a remark- 

 able feature of the valley where the wide, clear, slow-moving St 

 Lawrence river does not occupy any very distinct channel, but 

 rather flows across a broad, low, hilly region of very moderate 

 relief, thus allowing many of the rocky hills to stand out as islands. 

 The rocks of the valley are chiefly sandstones and limestones of 

 early Paleozoic age, though in the vicinity of the Thousand Islands 

 numerous patches of older (underlying) and much harder pre- 

 Paleozoic rocks are exposed as on many of the islands themselves. 

 The Paleozoic strata form a comparatively thin mantle of nearly 

 horizontal layers over the pre-Paleozoic rocks. 



