It Happened Here -- The Man who Measured 

                     (and Saved !) the Mountains--Continued

The height of the mountains and ridges was another physical feature Verplank Colvin sought for his survey maps.  Surprisingly good estimates could be made comparing barometric readings at a known altitude with those at a nearby mountaintop or other feature if taken at the same time. Colvin's crews became accustomed to lugging meter-long mercury filled glass barometers up and down trail-less peaks. But a more accurate measure was also available. "Levelling" was a method in which the surveyor aimed his transit, set level, at zero degrees at a measuring rod held some distance away, below him. The distance from the aiming point to the ground was counted off. The rod was moved to the transit's location, then the transit set further up the mountainside where a  second measure was taken, and so forth until the mountaintop was reached. In this fashion Colvin determined the exact height of Mount Marcy from the known elevation of Lake Champlain, a distance of 40 miles, requiring 800 sets of measuring rod data!

For twenty eight years  the meticulous Colvin worked to map the Adirondacks.   When  generous legislatures  funded his project he would field multiple survey teams and his payroll would include upwards of 100 men. In the leanest times he would continue his work with as few as half a dozen men, paying expenses out of his own pocket.  Finally in 1900, Governor Teddy Roosevelt sought closure for the project. The two strong willed men clashed and Roosevelt turned the mapping of the Adirondacks over to the State Engineer, abolishing the office of Superintendent of Adirondack Survey. Though his life's work would be finished by others it would be his reports and his early work that would have the greatest influence.

Building on the notion of George Perkins Marsh that the unrestricted deforestation of lands around the Mediterranean had resulted in those lands becoming deserts,  Colvin applied that idea to the Adirondacks and the extensive clear cutting he witnessed there. His first survey report expanded on the idea that the vegetation of the Adirondack forests acted like a gigantic sponge, absorbing great quantities of water and releasing it steadily, feeding the streams and rivers and canals of New York State. Clear cutting of the Adirondacks destroyed this natural reservoir and would, he said, lead periods of flooding and increasing periods of prolonged drought. Colvin stressed the economic impact this would have on State commerce as increasing money would have to be spent on dredging rivers to keep shipping channels open, and eventually the state's canals would become inoperable do to lack of water. These arguments got the legislators attention where other appeals for conservation would not have. He was joined in his campaign by the editors of the New York Times and several early sportsman' s magazines. 

 His reports brought the issue to the legislature year after year until in 1885 when the legislature created the Adirondack and Catskill Preserves. Before the creation of the Preserves the State had acquired land through the failure of owners to pay back taxes.  Land acquired this way would be auctioned off at public auctions. Timber companies would buy the land for next to nothing, clear cut it or take all the useable timber, then abandon it, to be taken over by the State, again. The new law protected state own lands in eleven Adirondack and three Catskill counties from being sold or leased.

Seven years later another statute strengthened the original law, creating the Adirondack Park. Six counties considered most critical to the protection of "forested lands necessary to the preservation of the headwaters of the chief rivers of state" were singled out. All future state acquisitions would become part of this park.  Colvin was asked to delineate this area. Taking his most complete survey map he drew a line in blue pencil around the area, creating the boundary of the Adirondack Park, known as "the Blue Line" to this day.

A final protection was given the Adirondack and Catskill Parks when they became protected in a new state constitution. As provisions in the state constitution the law could only be changed if two consecutive state legislatures voted to hold a constitutional convention, and if the convention then decided to enact changes that then would have to be ratified by the people.  In 1894 a constitutional convention was held to remedy other issues in state government, but popular concerns about several years of drought forced legislators to enact greater protections for the Adirondack and Catskill Park. State lands in the Parks were declared to be kept "forever wild",  never to be "leased, sold or exchanged" and the timber on them never to be "sold, removed or destroyed."

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 One of the early Forest Preserve Markers that marked roads entering state lands. 

This one is part of the N.Y.S. Museum's Adirondack Exhibit in Albany.

Marker of the  Week:  "Repurposed" -- Ver. 3.0 

Warren Street, Hudson

I wonder if patrons of the Warren Inn feel any greater desire to eat Raisinets, Jujubes, or buttered popcorn in bed.

(If you can't make history, you can always write history.  If you can't write history you can always write  parody, at least if you have a few hundred bucks to spare and know the address of Catskill Castings or the other  one or two casting companies that make NYSHM type signs. )

                                         

E-Mail Me: If you have comments about Verplanck Colvin, "Repurposed" Buildings, this blog or any other thing having to do with NYSHM's I would be delighted to hear from you. I would be especially interested if you know of any new or interesting markers or can report on any efforts to restore old markers. My email is

tba998@gmail.com