396 



REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS OF 



growth along the shore has adjusted itself to the changed conditions, leaving nothing in sight to 

 indicate that the present boundaries of this beautiful lake were not the original ones. But if the 

 dam, which was a wooden one, should be allowed to decay and fall to pieces, the water would 

 be drawn down to its former level, reducing the lake to one-third its present size, and leaving 

 miles of devastated flats. In 1893, the Forest Commission, in its annual report said : 



" The beauty of this lake and its present area is dependent on the dam at its outlet. The 

 damage and unsightly views once caused by it are matters of the past. If the dam were 

 destroyed and the water allowed to fall, the upper portion of the lake would be changed into a 

 dismal swamp, interspersed with slimy pools and rotting stumps. Now that the dam has been 

 built, and the scenery has recovered from its fleets, it should be maintained at its present 

 height. If this can be done in no other way, the State should do it at public expense. It 

 would furnish an immense reservoir for the Hudson, and any variation in depth incidental to 

 reservoir purposes would in no way affect the beauty of the steep banks." 



At the time the Board purchased this tract of land, a contract had been made by the owners 

 for the construction of a permanent stone dam to replace the decaying wooden one, and the 

 price finally agreed upon was based upon a consideration of the advantages gained in thus not 

 only preventing the destruction of Indian Lake in all its beauty, but also in preserving it as a 

 vast reservoir for supplying the Champlain Canal, and improving the navigation of the Hudson 

 River. 



It is to be noted in this connection that the control of the flow of the waters has been thus 

 secured to the State rather than left in the hands of private parties. 



The permanent stone dam referred to by Forest Preserve Board in the foregoing 

 quotation as the one for the construction of which a contract had been made, is the 

 new dam herewith described, the Board's authority for such purchase being derived 

 from Section 3 of the act creating Forest Preserve Board, which empowers them to 

 enter on and take possession of any land, structures and waters in the territory 

 embraced in the Adirondack Park, etc. It will be patent to any person giving the 

 subject even casual consideration that the portion of Adirondack region included in 

 Adirondack Park is, aside from forestry, of value for only two purposes, viz. : For a 

 State park worthy of the great Commonwealth of New York, and for the conservation 

 of the issuing streams by the construction of large storage reservoirs. It is highly 

 creditable to Forest Preserve Board that it has been possible for it to inaugurate these 

 two great enterprises, both of which are certain to be of the greatest possible value to 

 the citizens of New York. The park and storage reservoirs are in the line of fully 

 utilizing this region for the only things, aside from forestry, for which it is really useful. 



CLEARING THE RESERVOIR MARGIN. 



The specifications for clearing the reservoir margin provide: 



That all timber and brush of every sort, kind and description now standing on the banks of 

 the Indian River or Lake, above the site of the proposed dam. and between the present margins 

 of the said river and lake and a line * * vertically above the new flow line, 



shall be cut to within two or three feet of the ground and thoroughly burned or 



