ASCENT OF MT. SEWARD AND ITS BAROMETRICAL 



MEASUREMENT. 



Samuel B. Woolwoeth, LL.D., 



Secretary of the Board of Regents of the State of New YorTt: 



Dear Sir. — I berewitli respectfully submit to you tlie report of 

 my recent explorations in the Adirondack wilderness of Northern 

 New York. 



The main object of the expedition was the barometric measure- 

 ment of Mt. Seward, a lofty peak, of the ascent of which there is no 

 record, and the height of which remained in doubt. Prof. Emmons, 

 while engaged in the survey of the second geological district of the 

 State, estimated the elevation at 5,100 feet above tide ; but as he 

 neither ascended the mountain, nor attempted its measurement by 

 triangulation, there seems to have been no basis for such a conjecture. 



Mt. Seward — called by the Mohawk Indians Oic-lcor-lah^ or the 

 " big-eye " — is nearly upon the most southern boundary of the county 

 of Franklin, in Great tract ISTo. 1, township twenty-seven of Macomb's 

 purchase ; north latitude about 44° 10', and longitude, west from 

 Greenwich, 74° 0^ It is, with the numerous lesser peaks connected 

 with it, the most westwardly of the Adirondack, hyperite group. 

 East from it is Wallface mountain of the Indian Pass, and more dis- 

 tant, Mt. Tahawus or Marcy, the summit of the range and of the 

 State, raising its gray peak 5,467 feet above the sea. South of Mt. 

 Seward are the Preston ponds and their outlet, Cold river, which 

 empties into the Raquette just below Long lake. The Kaquette 

 river might, perhaps, be called its western boundary; its northern 

 limit, but for Moose mountain and Ampersand pond, would be the 

 well-known Saranac lakes.* 



In this expedition my route was from Albany, via Saratoga up the 

 Hudson, and to Indian lake in Hamilton county; thence crossing 



* In the accompanying plate the numerous lofty peaks forming the back-ground of the picture, 

 taken together constitute what is locally known as Mt. Seward. Some of the highest points are here 

 shown, but the summit, lying back, nearly eastward of them, is probably not visible from any point 

 on Long lake. The ascent was made from the right, up and along the range of minor peaks shown. 



Inca-pah-cho is the old Indian name for Long lake, and has heretofore been little used. It implies 

 lake-of-basswoods, or linden-water. 



