BOB forest AND STREAM. tOci. u, i«6s. 
just reversed: the millions- arc expended in building 
dams to hold back the w.ater during winter and early 
spring, when there can be no fiood, and when no great 
damage would be done if there were; and turning it 
loose in late spring and early summer, when the ten- 
dency is toward fiood and when the growing crop can 
easily be destroyed. This- year the Government flood 
lasted all summer. The reason for this was that several 
yeafs ago the largest lake^ .Mimebegashish, was drained 
off to rebuild the dam. When the dam was rebuilt, it 
took several years to fill it-^again. This spring the job 
was completed and the great guns were all loaded to the 
muzzle. On top of this came heavy rains and the con- 
sequence was that even the lumbermen got a shade too 
much water, while the settler simply let all hold go and 
floated out. Other settlers not flooded, to the number 
of- two thousand, were cut off from the railroad for 
two months, except as they went by boat. 
The reservoirs hold enough to keep the river bank- 
full for four months, while the rain has added as much 
more. The Army engineers who have matters in charge 
argue that the reservoirs 'have nothing to do with the 
floods; but I don’t think there is a reader of Forest 
AND Stream but knows that holding, water back six 
months must double the flow for the next six. Before 
the white man came, with his greed, the lakes were 
always at a low stage at the beginning of a wet season. 
When the river had risen a foot, there was several 
hundred square miles of lake surface that had risen a 
foot. By the time the wet season was past the lakes 
were several feet higher than at the beginning, and kept 
the river at an even flow" -for many months without 
stress at any time. The War Department fills the space 
in advance, and then when the stress comes, opens wide 
the gates to let the loot of the forest pass. Even if 
they did not let loose a drop of their advance store, 
they have usurped the space nature had provided. 
People representing $60,000 of losses by this year’s 
flood joined in laying the case before the army en- 
gineers sent here to examine into the matter. They 
did not ask that the reservoirs be discontinued; they 
simply asked for a reasonable regulation, with im- 
proved waterway, to meet the changed conditions. They 
might as well have tied their request to a stone and 
thrown it in a well as far as the results are concerned; 
the loot of the wilderness is too great for the welfare of 
two or three hundred cabin builders to interfere with it, 
even for an instant. That floods will one day be con- 
trolled by means of reservoirs and improved waterways, 
there can be no doubt; but so far in -this country, con- 
trolling the floods is only the -excuse, the loot of the 
wilds is the power behind the'.throne, and that power is 
wielded in a way that is rather disastrous, to other 
interests. - i E. P. Jaques. 
Aitkin, Minn. ;• .! 
-» r-- 
Adirondack State Lands. 
Editor Forest and Stream: - - 
On Feb. 6, 1883, the following law was passed: 
“An Act to prohibit the sales- of land belonging to the 
State (of New York) in the -counties of Clinton, Essex, 
Franklin, Fulton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, tSaratoga, 
St. Lawrence and Warren. ' k. 
“The people of the State of New York, represented in 
Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows: ' • 
“Section i. Hereafter and frpm the passage of this act 
no sales shall be made of. lands belonging to the State 
situated in the counties of Clinton, Essex, Eranklin, Ful- 
ton, Hamilton, Herkimer, Lewis, Saratoga, St. Lawrence 
and Warren.” ' . 
An exception was afterward made in favor of Clinton 
county State lands bought for prison purposes, and an- 
other exception in favor of the canal lands, which would 
apply perhaps to a little of the land the control of which 
seems to have passed out of the hands of the State since 
the sale of the land in the counties mentioned was for- 
bidden. 
I make the assertion that since that law was' passed the 
Adirondack forest preserve has lost more than 
117,050.61 1-3 acres of land which belonged_ to the people 
but whrdi is now squatted upon by individuals,, ..lumber 
companies, clubs and “private park makers.” ThL is to 
say, that since the sale of State land by the State officials 
was forbidden, more than 182.8 square miles of land have 
been lost to the people of the State. 
I realize that it is not enough to make the mere asser- 
tion but that I must prove it beyond doubt.' The proof 
is found in two State documents which anyone .can get. 
The map of the Adirondack region, issued by the. Forest, 
Fish and Game Commission, shows the land which the 
State now claims in the Adirondacks. The red ink marks 
the State land. The plain white paper, the land alleged to 
be “private,” or owned by corporations, individuals, etc. 
In .Verplank Colvin’s report on the progress of the sur- 
vey of State lands, issued according to a, law passed on 
June 2, 1883, is found a complete list of State lands in 
the counties of the Adirondack region. This list was 
compiled from the deeds, conveyances, land titles and 
other documents found' in the comptroller’s office four 
months after the passage of the act forbidding the sale 
of State lands, and this list was rectified to the tax sales 
of 1881, presumably so that none of the lands sold for 
taxes and bought by the State could be taken away from 
the State by their redemption under the two-year law. 
Of about 573,000 acres of land owned in the Adiron- 
dacks by the State in 1883 the sale of any of which was 
forbidden, 117,050 acres have since slipped out of the 
State’s hands. More than one-fifth of the land which the 
State “reserved” has gone into the hands of whom? By 
what means? With the connivance of whom? That a 
large portion of this land was taken contrary to law, and 
is now held in spite of the manner in which it was taken. 
I think any man will believe when he reads the list of 
lands given in this article. The list that I am about to 
make is of lands which anyone can locate on the map in 
a half minute. Any man, having the Adirondack State 
map spread out before him, may follow the list from lot 
to lot. He should mark each lot. 
If anything will indicate fraud it is the location of the 
lands, control of which has been taken from the State by 
fair means or foul. (In justice to a small few, it should 
be stated that they own their lands because the courts 
have declared their claims to be better than the State’s — 
tW? 4°®® affect the general total in square miles 
fo any great exteht.) Let the location of these lands be 
observed carefully. On one of Rockefeller’s preserves 
(De Bar), on the Webb preserve, the William C. Whitney 
preserve and numerous others, on Lake Placid, around 
Long Lake, near, the Tupper Lakes, near Fulton Chain, 
on Plumadore Lake, along the roads, on streams, in the 
heart of the forests, around the outskirts of villages ; in 
fact, in every conceivable sort of Adirondack place, State 
lands have been wiped off the map to the extent of 182.8 
square miles. This would make a strip of land more 
than a mile wide from end to end o-f Long Island. It 
would make a strip of land sixteen rods wide across the 
continent. Its value, at the prevailing market rate in the 
Adirondacks, would not be far from $1,000,000, more, 
rather than less. ■ 
The list which I give makes no- account of State lands 
which have apparently been purchased by the State. I 
made the list by taking the Forest Commission’s map for 
1905, and finding on it every tract of land mentioned in 
Colvin’s report. If the map showed “red” or State land, 
I went on to the next. If it showed the tract formerly 
claimed by the State to be white or private, I noted the 
land on paper, its tract, township, or other number, the 
number of acres, according to the report, etc. In some 
cases, as around Morehouse Lake, in central Hamilton 
county, where parts of the State land lots have been 
taken, I made a moderate estimate of the amount taken 
from each lot, and added the totals into the sum total. 
Having gone over the map, land list in hand, and located 
the lost lands, I went over the whole list again seeking 
possible errors. Here is the list : 
In Essex county, Essex Tract, Henry’s survey, town of 
Keene, all of lot 228 and part of lot 128, land to the 
amount of 103 acres has gone from State control. Jay 
tract, town of Wilmington, parts of lots 5 and 57, all of 
lot 6, a loss of 558 acres. North River Head tract, towns 
of North Hudson and Elizabethtown, lots 13, 22, 23, 84, 
104 and part of 83, 1,040 acres. Old Military tract. 
Thorn’s survey. Township i, town of Keene, lot 115, 102 
acres. Richard’s survey, town of Wilmington, lot 13, 64 
acres. Townshin ii, towns of North Elba and St. 
Armand. Lots 117, 291 (Lake Placid), 317, 333, 600 acres. 
Township 12, town of North Elba, lot 35, 1,440 acres. 
Thorn’s survey, township 12, lot 57, 160 acres. Also- 2,400 
square feet near the forks of the road at Lake Plaicid. 
Paradox tract, Ticonderoga town, lot 24, 100 acres. Roar- 
ing Brook tract, town of Keene, lots 14, 15, 50, 51, all 
gone, and parts of lots 48, 52, 59,. all told 1,490 acres. 
Totten & Crossfield’s purchase. Township 14, N. 
S.E. Minerva town, lot 32 (on Hudson River), 160 
acres. 
In Franklin county, McComb’s purchase. Great tract i, 
township 12, town of Duane. This list of lost lots is a 
very significant one. William Rockefeller, the Forest 
Commission in its report for 1902 says, has a park called 
“De Bar Mountain Park” in townships 12 and 15. It is 
in Duane town. The lots are Nos. 10, 17, 25 (sub 3), 26, 
33, 34,_ 35, 42, 43, 46, 47, 48, 50, 54, 55 and 56, in all 8,496 
acres in the same region where Rockefeller claims 11,675 
acres of land. Lots 46, 47 and 54 take in practically all 
of De Bar Mountain, and lot 48 all of De Bar Pond, from 
which Rockefeller names _his preserve. The State at one 
time had claims in forty-three lots in this vicinity — town- 
ships 12 and 15— which claims are not made now by the 
State map, as has been and shall be seen. In township 
14 were other claims, on lots 8, ii, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 
19, 20, 23, 24, 25, 27, 28, 29, 34, 35, 41, 42, 45, 46, 47, 48, 
51, 52, 54, 55, 57, 58, 61, 62, 64, 66, 69, 70, 71, 72, 81, 82, 
8a 90, 92, 96, 99, loi, 103, 104. In a few instances the 
claim too-k in all of the lot, but in most of them only part, 
as lot 23, N. LL, ,‘29 N. 1-3, 42 N. 2-5, etc. The smallest 
claim was for thirty-three acres and the largest for 169 
acres. This is in -the' Rice Mountain country, and Wolf 
Pond and Quebec Brook are involved. In township 14 
the State has lost 3,885.41 2-3 acres of land. In township 
15, lots I, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 16 have 
been wiped off the State map. In the N.E. Fi and m the 
S.W. 14 , lots 4, 5, 6, 33 , SL 52, S 3 , 61, 62, 63, 71 and 72. 
These lands, in private control, make the “preserving” of 
Rice Pond not too difficult. In township 15, towns of 
Duane and Brighton, the public have lost 7,516 acres of 
land — this is the De Bar Park region just mentioned. 
In township 18, the State claimed lots 2, 12, 56, 57, 66, 
97, and parts of 49 and 78, which it does not claim now. 
This loses 2,212 acres to- the public. 
In township 20 the State owned 30,010 acres out _ of 
30,650 acres. The Tipper Saranac Association, according 
to the Forest Commission’s report for 1902, ; has 2,751 
acres in that township, a net loss to the public- of 2,101 
acres. The lost land is at the foot of. Upper: Saranac 
Lake, and includes ponds, islands and other things con- 
venient for private park camp sites. 
Out of township 25, on the shores of Big Tupper Lake, 
and in that vicinity, where no State land is claimed now, 
2,3992-3 acres at one time belonged to the State, and now 
if the public hunts there it is because of the good nature 
of the present claimants. 
In the Old Military Tract, Franklin county, in town- 
ship 8, town of Bellmont, the State has relinquished its 
claim to lots 65 and 66 (Ragged Lake) and parts of lots 
86 and 87, once preserved to the public’s health, pleasure 
and profit ; 2,080 acres of land have been lost here. 
In' township 9, Bellmont town, lots 28, 99, 127, 147, 150,. 
152, 171, 174, 214, 228, 241, 242, 246, 263, 264, 279, 283, 
296, 329, 331, 355 and 358, once the property of the State, 
are no longer claimed. This makes the preservation to 
private individuals of Plumadore, Glass and Other ponds 
and Trout River possible. In this instance the public loses 
3,788.56 acres. It also- loses the use of parts of lots 30, 
97, 102, 173, 176, 177, 182, 184, 186, 191, 206, 213, 225, 249, 
278, 316, 339, 350, 356 and 357— a total of 1,723 acres, and 
a grand total of 5,511.50 acres in township 9. . 
In township 10, parts of lots 22, 223, 335, 359 and all of 
lots 185, 186, 187, 189, 213, 214, 215, 218, 219, 221, 222, 
224, 227, 228, 252, 253, 254, 255, 266, 268, 269, 292, 295, 
296, 307, 308, 309, 310, 311, 331, 333, 349, 350 and 351— a 
total of 10,060 acres — are closed to the free use of the 
public. The public’s share in Loon Lake, Square Pond, 
Lake Kushaqua and other portions of fishing as well as 
hunting territory have been taken away by, some means or 
other. 
In Fulton county, not far north of -the Mohawk River, 
and not in the central Adirondack region, but in ,a wild, 
wooded and fine fish and game country, much land has 
fallen out of the public’s possession. In Chase’s patent, 
in the towns of Bleecker and Mayfield, lots 53, 71, 72 , 73, 
74 - 75 , 77, 78, 81, 83 and 115 and parts of lots 37, 44, 48, 
70, HI and 116 the State claims no land, though it owned 
1,405 acres there twenty years ago, and the sale of land 
in the Adirondacks since then has been illegal. 
In-’fhe Glen, Bleecker , and Lansing patent, towns of 
Bleecker, Mayfield, Caroga and Stratford one finds that ‘ 
the State claim is held back from lots 25 (sub 2), 34 (sub 
4), 35, 41 (sub 6), 41 (sub 10), 45 (sub 4), 52 (subs 3 
and 7), 59 (sub I-), 82 (part), 90. (part of sub i) which 
means the loss of 1,497.662-3 acres to public use. , 
From the Jerseyfield patent, 200 acres in the towp of ■ 
Stratford (part of lot 61) formerly State land, is npw 
claimed as private property. - • 
In Hamilton county one finds further significant ab- . 
sences of claims by the State for certain land tracts. 
Hamilton county is the “forest county of the State.”- If 
State lands should have been retained anywhere those in 
Hamilton county ought to have been kept inviolate. All . 
State, land in this county should have been kept for the 
public, and lumber men, land hogs and park makers ; 
should, long since, have been held back, lest they over- 
reach their rights and rob the public of that which was , 
meant for. the pleasure of mankind. 
In the Arthurboro patent, lots 93, 88 and 89 (600 acres 
in the, -town of Morehouse) are not claimed on the State 
map, which closes Pine Lake. In the 8,000-acre tract, - 
same town, parts of lots 8, 9, ii, 26 and all of lots ip, 22, 
23, 24 and 25 — 1,400 acres — are not now regarded by 
Albany as public domain. Lots 24, 25, 26 and 8, 9, 10 and 
II are- on and around Morehouse Lake, now claimed to .- 
be the private property of a club. 
In Benson townshin, in the towns of Wells and Ben- , 
son, lots' 64 (part), iiv (part) and 381, a matter of 275 
acres, are gone. , | 
In Bergen’s purchase, on the west side of the Sacandaga | 
River, 250 acres appear to be missing from the State’s 
claims. 
The curious piece of land, the gore between township 
I, Totten & Crossfield’s purchase, and Bergen’s purchase, 
and the Oxbow tract, called Jones’ gore on the modern i 
map, is not claimed now, although the State used to claim 
lots 2, 3,. 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 14 and 15—1,617.9 acres. 
The: Lewis (Morgan) Small tract, lot 2 — 100 acres — is 
also out of the public’s care apparently. 
From township 9, Moose River tract, town of Arietta 
(lot 120), 78 acres of State land has “gone somewhere.” 
From the Oxbow tract, lot 214 (Sheriff Lake), and lot , 
280 are no longer claimed. This is a matter of 403 acres, 
or, say, the size of a hun-dred city blocks, or more. 
Other lands missing are: Totten & Crossfield’s pur- 
chase in Township i, town of Lake Pleasant, the Spier & 
Brown' lot, 400 acres. In township 3, parts of lots 49, 50, : 
75, that is 222.5 acres. From township 6, town of Arietta, 
lot 37, or 200 acres. From the Elm Lake road tract, in 
Lake Pleasant town, lots 12, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 — another 
300 acres. Township 22, lots 26, 27, 28, 39, 47, 50 — 820 
acres, or considerably over a square mile of land. From 
township 33, in the heart of the wild country, lots 5, 19, 
29, 30, 43, 44, 45,. 48, 49, 52, 53, and 54, a matter of 960 
acres. In township 35, from the Northeast Fourth, 2,765 
acres of- land. This is the Forked Lake township. 
From township 37 the State’s claim to lots 48, 50, 52, 
54, 56, -58 and "loo, that is 1,140 acres, is gone, and this is : 
within a day’s hunt of Bog Lake Railroad station. In 
township 40 the region is practically all State land, ac- 
. cording to the map, but the shores of the lake are lined 
with camps, boarding houses and hotels, all of whom 
claim mjpre or less land, and when the ragged woodsman 
wishes to put up his little brush shelter thereabouts he 
must be; prepared to receive frowns from the summer 
people..- It will be remembered that the railroad was 
sneaked across State land to Raquette Lake by a subter- 
fuge Over an alleged public highway, which does not now 
exist, it is said by those who have looked at the rails. 
Lob. 30, township 50 — sixty acres — of fine camp site on 
Long Lake, isn’t State land any more. 
The northern part of Herkimer county is like most of ’ 
Hamilton county, a splendid wilderness, which is growr 
ing more and more ragged owing to the swift and relent- 
less work of the pulp and lumbermen. These figures will 
show how much the State lands have shrunk in that i 
region of late years — not counting any State lands that 
may have been sold to the State. 
In the Jerseyfield patent (southern part of the county) : 
lot 79, town of Ohio, has passed out of the State’s pos- 
session, “Sold,” the secretary of the Forest Commission i 
wrote to me. This has happened within two years, and 
a hundred acres have gone into the clutches of wood 
alcohol makers. - ' . . 
From the Moose River tract, township 3, lots 76, 77, 88, 
89, 90, 100, loi, 102, 1 12, 1 13, 1 14, 124, 125, 126, 136 and 
137 have been wiped off the State map — sixteen lots of ; 
160 acres — ^2,524 acres — each in a rectangle three lots wide 
and five long, crossed by a fine trout stream, no part of 
which is three miles south of Fourth Lake, of the Fulton 
Chain. Fancy the feelings of a man, a mere member of : 
the public, when he is thrown off this land by the collar. 
In Lewis county, towns of Grieg and Lyonsdale, on the 
Brantingham tract, lots 118, 208, 312 are gone. Lot ii8 is 
o-n Brantingham Lake; 380 acres. 
In Saratoga county, from the Glen and Yates patent, 
lot 48, 105 acres,- has been taken. From the Glen and 
forty-four others’ patent, lots 6 (town of Day), 59, 60, 65, 
(town of Edinburgh)— just a thousand acres. From the 
Sanders patent, the west half of lot 12, lots 38 and 39, 
and small lots i, 2, 3 — 307 acres. 
In St. Lawrence county, McComb’s purchase. Great i 
tract II., township 7, “S. P.’t.,” or southern part, the land ' 
lost to the State amounts to 9,092 acres. In the northern ; 
part, land from the lots i, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 ap- ■ 
pears to have been rearranged to suit people who wanted 
a single large block of land containing the valuable lakes 
found there. In this township is found a block of 2,100 
acres of State land. It is in the southwest portion of the - 
township, and, judging from the map, in the worst part 
of the township. As shown by the map, and by the Col- 
vin report, the State has exchanged 10,464 acres for 2,100 ; 
acres — a net loss of 8,364 to the public. 
In township 2, Great tract II._, the southwest is ’ 
gone — 1,885 acre's, and in township 4 about 1,115 acres ' 
haye apparently been “sold.” 
It may be that these lands, which are in the Cranberry > 
Lake country, were sold . under authority given by the 
law, chapter 470, which gives the State Land Commission- 
ers permission to sell canal lands. The “mortgage lands,” ' 
few in number and acreage, could also be sold before the J 
