THE ADIRONDACK MOUNTAINS 



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their wigwams into the forest M'hen dreaming of the dreadful 

 Iroquois. They were truly the conquerors of the New World, and 

 were justly styled ' the Romans of the West.' " ^ 



In 1715 the Tuscaroras of the Carolinas joined the Iroquois who 

 then were known as the " Six Nations." 



The Adirondack wilderness was one of the greatest of the Indian 

 hunting grounds and called by the Iroquois " Couch-sach-ra-ge. ' 

 On Pownal's map of the northern British colonies in 1776, the fol- 

 lowing explanation is written across that portion representing the 

 Great Northern \\'ilderness : " This Vast Tract of Land, which is 

 the x\ntient Couchsachrage, one of the Four Beaver Hunting 

 Countries of the Six Nations, is not yet Surveyed." The northern 

 portion of the wilderness was much resorted to by hunting bands of 

 the Adirondack tribes. Old maps show two Indian villages there, 

 probably mostly occupied only during the summer season. One of 

 these was in the vicinity of North Elba just south of Lake Placid, 

 and the other near the Indian carry between Upper Saranac lake and 

 the Raquette river. Traces of this latter village may yet be seen. 



Early White Settlers 



John Brown's tract. In 1794, James Greenleaf of New York 

 purchased a tract of land containing 210,000 acres on the western 

 slope of the Adirondacks extending from northwestern Hamilton 

 county across northern Herkimer county and into Lewis county. 

 Greenleaf soon mortgaged the property, and in 1798 John Brown 

 [not the John Brown of Harper's Ferry fame] bought the whole 

 tract for $33,000 at a mortgage sale. In 1799 Brown went to his 

 possessions, made some improvements and established the family 

 of one of his agents on the property. But in 1803 Brown died and 

 the tract was deserted. 



About 1 81 2 Herresholf, who married John Brown's daughter, 

 began a settlement on the tract. " He cleared over two thousand 

 acres, built thirty or forty new buildings, drove in cattle and a 

 flock of three hundred merino sheep. He built a forge and worked 

 a mine of iron ore. He spent his own fortune there and all the 

 money that he could borrow from his friends. But the rugged 

 old wilderness would not be subdued. \\'hen he entered the forest 

 he made this declaration to a friend : ' I will settle the tract or settle 

 mvself.' He settled himself" (N. B. Sylvester). In 1819, utterly 



1 X. B. Sylvester. Northern New York and the Adirondack Wilderness, 187^, 

 p. 17-18. 



