ESSEX COUNTY 



Essex County lies in the northeastern part of the state, just 

 below the northern tier of counties, Lake Champlain separating it 

 from the state of Vermont on the east. The area is 1,175,040 

 acres. From north to south the county extends approximately 

 47 miles, and from east to west 40 miles. Population is dis- 

 tributed as follows: 





1 , 865 



Crown Point 



1,605 



Elizabethtown * 



1,205 



Essex 



1,193 



Jay 



2, 382 



Keene 



1,138 



Lewis 



844 



Minerva 



705 





G, 007 



Newcomb 



511 



North Elba 



3,933 



Population* by Townships 

 (Census of 1915) 



Xorth Hudson 

 St. Armand . . 



Schroon 



Tieonderoga . 

 Westport .... 

 Willsboro . . . 

 Wilmington .. 



Total 



477 



952 



967 



4,746 



1,686 



1,052 



593 



32,461 



* Elizabethtown. in the town of Elizabethtown. i:; the county seat. 



HISTORICAL ASSOCIATIONS 



Essex County was formed from Clinton in 1799, when it 

 included also a section that was added to Franklin on the organi- 

 zation of that county. The name was derived from Essex County, 

 England. 



Few authentic traces of permanent Indian occupation of tibia 

 territory have been discovered. Its history properly begins in 

 1609, the year in which Hudson first sailed up to the present site 

 of Albany, when Samuel Champlain, inspired with a love of 

 adventure and the desire to explore a new country, allied himself 

 with a band of Canadian Indians, who were about to start on an 

 expedition against their enemies, the Iroquois. Landing within 

 the present limits of Essex County, on the shore of the lake that 

 now bears his name, they came on a band of Mohawks. Hostilities 

 opened at once, and Champlain fired a shot, killing one of their 



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