In Chapter 2 of Contested Terrain, Terrie addresses settlement into the Adirondacks. He appropriately titles this chapter: "Long Lake Was a Hard Place to Live." This chapter first stood out to me because it reminded me of one of the days during the 90 miler. I found this title captivating because long lake was personally one of the hardest lakes for me to get across that weekend. Despite the fact that there was a tailwind, the fetch that built up along the lake was so large that by the end, the waves were big enough that we were able to surf a couple all the way through. In terms of steering, however, it was a captains nightmare. This memory of that weekend segwayed into the hardships of living in the Adirondacks in the 18th century.
Terrie starts the chapter off by mentioning that people who settled in the Adirondacks were mostly "looking for a chance for a better life for themselves and their children" (20). This brought to the surface the question of who settled there and why. I learned that for the most part, the first settlers of the Adirondacks were very poor and escaped there to start new. It seemed as if these people had nothing to lose in moving to completely new land.
The ironic part to this whole story of new settlers in the Adirondacks were the difficulties that these settlers faced in actually trying to secure plots of land. On page 24, Terrie writes: "One observer of the difficulties facing Adirondack settlers trying to buy land noted that high prices were a major obstacle to "poor men," the only people who "can be induced to go in at first and endure the hardships of pioneer life."" Unfortunately, it seemed like the only people hardworking enough to volunteer themselves to move out into these wild lands weren't even able to afford a plot of land to begin with. As we found out later in the chapter though, many people got around this issue by simply moving into abandoned lots, ignoring the "technicalities of ownership" (25).
Reading this chapter opened my eyes to the physical and mental toughness that these first settlers exhibited. Not only did they persevere and work through any obstacle they faced, they also seemed to do so with "cheerfulness...and energy worthy of commendation" (27). The settlers didn't just get by on the land - they thrived and worked it to their every advantage. I think a lot of the time its these people that go by unnoticed, overshadowed by the wealthier ones who controlled the larger business deals in the Adirondacks. But if any credit is given, it should go to these people who came in with nothing and acquired the knowledge and willpower to conquer these unruly lands.
I agree that the Adirondacks must not have been an easy place to live during the initial stages of it being settled. Terrie’s description of early settlers’ life in the Adirondacks reminded me of the book “Little House on the Prairie” by Laura Ingalls Wilder that I read all the time as a child. Wilder tells the story of her family’s struggle on the plains of Kansas. Although vastly different landscapes, one on the plains and one in the forest, both types of settlers had to work with their environments in order to survive. Just as Ally pointed out, these early pioneers preserved through the hardships of living in the wild by working with the landscape they were given.
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