Beaver River, New York | |
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Coordinates: 43°54′13″N74°54′36″W / 43.90361°N 74.91000°W Coordinates: 43°54′13″N74°54′36″W / 43.90361°N 74.91000°W | |
Country | United States |
State | New York |
County | Herkimer |
Town | Webb |
Beaver River is a hamlet that is six-tenths of a mile square, at the east end of Stillwater Reservoir, in the town of Webb in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The hamlet is surrounded by the Adirondack Park. The hamlet has a year-round population of eight that increases during the summer, as many people have camps in this wilderness area. There are 125 private properties and three commercial businesses. No roads lead to the hamlet; it is accessible only by hiking, small self-propelled private track speeder or boat in the summer and by snowmobile, snowshoes or cross country skis in the winter. There is no electrical service. The town is named for the Beaver River, which was impounded to form the Stillwater Reservoir. The Beaver River is a west-flowing tributary of the Black River and part of the Lake Ontario watershed. The former New York Central Railroad right of way, on the National Register of Historic Places, passes through the hamlet; an existing bunkhouse is a part of the historic property. The Adirondack Railroad will resume tourist passenger service from Utica to Tupper Lake, via Beaver River, in 2023: 42 years since the last passenger train ran on its trackage. The last New York Central Railroad passenger train left Beaver River on April 24, 1965. [1]
Beaver River was created in 1892 by railroad builder Dr. William Seward Webb as a stop on his newly completed Adirondack and St. Lawrence Railway, which became the Mohawk and Malone Railway and ultimately, the New York Central. Webb owned some 200,000 acres (810 km2) in the area, which was popular with hunters and fishermen. Extensive logging began at the turn of the century. In 1902, the Norridgewock Hotel was built, which became the social hub of the community. A school house was built in 1912 by early settler Ben Bullock; the school continued to operate until 1965.
Long Lake is a town in Hamilton County, New York, United States. The population was 791 at the 2020 census.
Webb is the northernmost town in Herkimer County, New York, United States. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,807.
Cornwall is a town in Orange County, New York, United States, approximately 50 miles (80 km) north of New York City on the western shore of the Hudson River. As of the 2020 census, the population was at 12,884. Cornwall has become a bedroom community for area towns and cities including New York City. Commuter rail service to North Jersey and New York City is available via the Salisbury Mills–Cornwall train station, operated by NJ Transit on behalf of Metro-North Railroad. The town is located less than an hour from the George Washington Bridge with access to major commuter routes such as the New York State Thruway and the Palisades Parkway.
Saranac Lake is a village in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406, making it the largest community by population in the Adirondack Park. The village is named after Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac lakes, which are nearby.
The Adirondack Park is a part of New York's Forest Preserve in northeastern New York, United States. The park was established in 1892 for “the free use of all the people for their health and pleasure”, and for watershed protection. The park's boundary roughly corresponds with the Adirondack Mountains. Unlike most state parks, about 52 percent of the land is privately owned inholdings. State lands within the park are known as Forest Preserve. Land use on public and private lands in the park is regulated by the Adirondack Park Agency. This area contains 102 towns and villages, as well as numerous farms, businesses and an active timber-harvesting industry. The year-round population is 132,000, with 200,000 seasonal residents. The inclusion of human communities makes the park one of the great experiments in conservation in the industrialized world. The Forest Preserve was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963.
The Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad (P&LE), also known as the "Little Giant", was formed on May 11, 1875. Company headquarters were located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The line connected Pittsburgh in the east with Youngstown, Ohio in the Haselton neighborhood in the west and Connellsville, Pennsylvania to the east. It did not reach Lake Erie until the formation of Conrail in 1976. The P&LE was known as the "Little Giant" since the tonnage that it moved was out of proportion to its route mileage. While it operated around one tenth of one percent of the nation's railroad miles, it hauled around one percent of its tonnage. This was largely because the P&LE served the steel mills of the greater Pittsburgh area, which consumed and shipped vast amounts of materials. It was a specialized railroad deriving much of its revenue from coal, coke, iron ore, limestone, and steel. The eventual closure of the steel mills led to the end of the P&LE as an independent line in 1992.
The Beaver River is a small mountain stream which flows from the Adirondack Mountains to the Black River at Naumburg, north of Lowville in northwestern New York. The Beaver flows through parts of Hamilton, Herkimer, and Lewis counties. Its source is Lake Lila in Long Lake.
The New York and Ottawa Railway was a railway connecting Tupper Lake in northeastern New York to Ottawa, Ontario, via Ramsayville, Russell, Embrun, Finch and Cornwall. It became part of the New York Central Railroad system in 1913, although it was under the larger company's possession since the end of 1904. It had started-out as the Northern Adirondack Railroad and evolved into the Northern New York Railroad, the New York and Ottawa Railroad, and was last known as the New York and Ottawa Railway before being merged into the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad. Other lines that were a part of this route are described below.
The Adirondack Railroad is a tourist railway serving the Adirondack Park, which plans to operate over trackage of the former New York Central Railroad between Utica and Tupper Lake. The railroad is operated by the not-for-profit Adirondack Railroad Preservation Society, with train crews composed largely of volunteers.
Old Forge is a hamlet on New York State Route 28 in the town of Webb in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 756 at the 2010 census. Old Forge was formerly a village but dissolved its incorporation in 1936, but it remains the principal community in the region. As one of the western gateway communities of the Adirondack Park, Old Forge forms an extensive business district, primarily directed at tourism especially during the summer months. The local school is the Town of Webb UFSD, a K–12 institution with the Eskimo as their mascot. Old Forge often records the lowest winter temperatures in New York. On February 17, 1979, the record low temperature for New York was set in Old Forge at −52 °F (−47 °C).
Thendara is a hamlet and census-designated place (CDP) in Herkimer County, New York, United States. Thendara is located in the Adirondack Park, in the southern part of the town of Webb, west of Old Forge on Route 28.
The Boehlert Transportation Center at Union Station is a train station served by Amtrak and the Adirondack Railroad in Utica, New York. It is owned by Oneida County, and named for retired U.S. Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, R-New Hartford.
Huletts Landing is a hamlet in the town of Dresden in northern Washington County, New York, United States. A lakeside community on the eastern shore of Lake George in the Adirondack Mountains, Huletts Landing is located entirely within the Adirondack Park. There is only one roadway access to the hamlet, County Route 6 and its suffixed routes, which head north–south. Huletts Landing is geographically located at 43°38′21″N73°30′25″W and has approximately two centuries of written history.
Lake Clear is a hamlet and a lake in Franklin County, New York, United States. The area is named for 940-acre (3.8 km2) Lake Clear, part of the original Seven Carries canoe route. It is located in the town of Harrietstown.
The Pigeon Lake Wilderness Area, an Adirondack Park unit of the forest preserve, lies in the town of Webb, Herkimer County, and the towns of Long Lake and Inlet in Hamilton County. It is bounded on the north by Stillwater Reservoir and large blocks of private land in the vicinity of Rose Pond, Shingle Shanty Pond and Upper Sister Lake; on the east by a private road from Brandreth Lake to North Point and by Raquette Lake; on the south by private lands along the Uncas Road; and on the west by the Big Moose Road, private lands near Big Moose Lake, Thirsty Pond, Twitchell Lake, Razorback Pond, and the Remsen to Lake Placid railroad tracks.
The Mohawk and Malone Railway was a railroad that ran from the New York Central Railroad's main line at Herkimer north to Malone, crossing the northern Adirondacks at Tupper Lake Junction, just north of Tupper Lake. The road's founder, Dr. William Seward Webb, was president of the Wagner Palace Car Company and a Vanderbilt in-law. He began by purchasing the 3 ft narrow gauge Herkimer, Newport and Poland Railway, which ran 16 miles (26 km) from Herkimer to Poland, converting its trackage to 4 ft 8+1⁄2 instandard gauge, and straightening it to avoid multiple crossings of the West Canada Creek. He then had track built from Tupper Lake to Moira and thence to Malone. A separate company, the St. Lawrence and Adirondack Railway, completed the line to Montreal, Quebec.
Lake Lila is a remote 1,436 acres (5.81 km2) lake in the William C. Whitney Wilderness Area, in the west-central portion of the Adirondack Park. It is accessed via a 6-mile (9.7 km) dirt road. Boat access to the lake is by hand-launch only, after a 0.3-mile (0.48 km) portage from the parking lot.
The Fonda, Johnstown and Gloversville Railroad (FJ&G) was formerly a 132-mile steam engine and electric interurban railroad that connected its namesake towns in east central New York State to Schenectady, New York. It had a successful and profitable transportation business from 1870 until the 1980s carrying workers, salesmen, and executives of the very large number of glove manufacturing companies in the area to the New York Central (NYC) station at Schenectady. From here they could catch trains south to New York City (NYC) or west to Chicago. It also handled freight and had freight interchange with both the New York Central and the Delaware and Hudson railroads. Passenger business declined starting before the Great Depression and particularly during it. Following a determined and expensive effort to recapture passenger business by acquiring five ultra modern high-speed Brill Bullet interurban cars in 1932, the FJ&G abandoned passenger service in 1938. Freight business continued on for a few more decades, was later taken over by the Delaware and Otsego Railroad management and then eventually abandoned.
Saranac Lake Union Depot is a former New York Central Railroad station in Saranac Lake, New York. It was built in 1904 by the Delaware and Hudson Railway. In its heyday, the station served several daily trains going north to Malone, New York, on to Montreal, Quebec, and south to Utica, New York and Grand Central Terminal in New York City. Passenger coaches went direct from New York City to Saranac Lake until late 1952 or early 1953. Direct sleeping cars from trains such as North Star and then Iroquois continued as late as 1964 to the station. Tourist trains were operated on the 8-mile sector between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid by the Adirondack Railroad between 2000 and 2016. The tracks were removed in 2022 to enable construction of a rail-trail between Lake Placid and Tupper Lake, to be completed in 2024.
Stillwater Reservoir is a man-made lake located by Beaver River, New York within the Western Adirondacks. The lake has a large amount of recreational uses including camping, canoeing, boating, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, and cross-country skiing. The lake has undeveloped edges with remote camping on both the islands and the shoreline. Camping permits and lake information may be obtained from the hamlet of Stillwater at the Forest Ranger Headquarters. Fish species present in the reservoir are smallmouth bass, splake, rock bass, yellow perch, sunfish and brown trout. There is a state owned hard surface ramp on Stillwater Road, 28 miles east of Lowville, New York. the record low temperature for the state of New York of −52 °F (−47 °C) took place at Stillwater Reservoir, and was later tied by Old Forge on February 17, 1979.