394 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



dam to between ten and eleven feet. The lake itself (before these constructions were 

 made) was about two miles in length and from 1,500 to 1,800 feet in width at the 

 widest portion. The effect of raising the water ten feet was to make a body of water 

 over nine miles in length, three-quarters of a mile wide at the widest portion, 

 there being extensive low swamp areas at the upper end of the lake, which 

 were flooded by the rise of ten feet. The present construction raises the water twenty- 

 three feet above the crest of the old timber dam, or between thirty-three and thirty- 

 four feet above the mean surface of the original lake, and overflows additional flat 

 areas at the upper end of the lake to such an extent as to make a body of water 14.3 

 miles in length, with two bays with lengths of two miles and three and three-quarter 

 miles, respectively. The drainage area tributary to the lake above the dam is 146 

 square miles. At the original raising of the water in 1845 the timber was left 

 standing on the flat areas flooded, as was also done when later on the original dam 

 was rebuilt and raised to an additional height. After two or three years this timber 

 died and remained standing for many years, a serious blot on the landscape. About 

 fifteen years ago the great bulk of it had fallen down, and since that time, aside from 

 a few scattering stubs here and there, the old reservoir when full has presented the 

 appearance of a fine, natural lake. Generally, the shores above the new flow line 

 created by the ten-foot rise are bold and rocky, so that aside from an arm about 7.5 

 miles in length extending up Jessups River, one of the main tributaries, there is 

 very little flat land to be flooded by the new construction. The new work has 

 included the cutting of all the timber around the margins up to the new flow line, 

 the total length, including Jessups River, being about thirty-five miles. 



The area of Indian Lake proper (the original lake) is about 1,000 acres. The area 

 at level of crest of old timber dam is 3,007 acres. The area at twenty-three feet above 

 the old timber dam, or at the new flow line, is 4,075 acres. 



The storage of the timber dam, which has been replaced by the new masonry dam, 

 is estimated at 800,000,000 cubic feet. 



THE ADIRONDACK PARK. 



For a number of years public opinion in the State of New York has been rapidly 



focusing upon State ownership of the wild Adirondack area as the proper place for a 



great State park. As bearing in this direction the Legislature, in 1893, passed an act 



erecting Adirondack Park and defining its limits. This act provided that the park 



so created — 



Shall be forever reserved, maintained and cared for as ground open for the free use of all the 

 people for their health and pleasure, and as forest lands necessary to the preservation of the 

 headwaters of the chief rivers of the State, and the future timber supply, and shall remain 

 part of the Forest Preserve. 





