forest, fish and game commission, 217 



Recommendations for a Dam at the Foot of Raouette Lake. 

 A permanent dam should be consti'ucted at the foot of Raquette Lake, 

 with suitable sluices for logs and properly constructed waste gates for keep- 

 ing the water at a uniform height on the lake during the summer season, 

 and also for driving logs from this lake into Forked Lake in the spring, 

 if desired. The dam should be built at a point about 500 feet below the 

 present combined dam and bridge, at or near the point shown on Map 

 in. The existing dam should be removed entirely, and the highway 

 which at present crosses on top of it should be made to cross over the 

 proposed dam. If it be built of wood, the work should be done at once, 

 before the Pine timber on Township 35 is removed, since this is the most 

 accessible for the purpose, and there is a heavy stand near the proposed 

 location which could probably be secured now at a reasonable price. As 

 the timber rights were reserved when the south half of Township 35 was 

 sold to the State, it is quite probable that this timber will be removed 

 within two or three years. 



The control of the water in Raquette Lake should be placed entirely 

 in the hands of a State official, since rmless tliis is done there are many 

 interests which will conflict. Such a conflict would be lessened by the 

 building of a properly constructed dam and the regulation of the flow of 

 the water with impartiality and discretion. There have already been many 

 thousand dollars appropriated by the State at various times for the pur- 

 pose of improving the Raquette River from Potsdam to its source in Ham- 

 ilton County (see Report of the New York State Forest Commission, 1893, 

 Volume II), but so far as has been learned none of the money has ever 

 been expended upon the stream above Long Lake. The stream between 

 Long Lake and Forked Lake has been improved by private lumbermen, 

 so that it is now possible to drive logs north from Forked Lake. There 

 are still some rapids between Forked and Raquette lakes in which there 

 are many large boulders which would have to be removed, and there should 

 also be some side piers built in the stream at different places, more espe- 

 cially one at the island midway between the two lakes, for the purpose of 

 confining the stream to one channel. There is also a large amount of 

 drift-wood jammed at different points on the rapids, the accumulation of 

 spring freshets for years, that would have to be removed before it would 

 be possible to drive any of the timber belonging to the State above this 

 point down to the natural water markets below. With a dam properly 

 constructed the water could be held overnight or until a certain heisfht 



