The Adirondacks is an incredible success for human coexistence with nature, though this achievement arrives on the backs of countless failures. The Adirondacks today owes much of its existence to the failures of others. Because of many individuals’ difficulties in settling land in the Adirondack region, much of the land has been left undeveloped. Moreover, several instances of failure to sustainably harvest the Adirondacks’ resources has led to some of the most stringent protection in the United States. Without the personal failures to develop land that led to natural territories and the collective failures of industries that triggered strict environmental conservation efforts, the Adirondacks would certainly not be Forever Wild.
For many reasons, those who ventured into the Adirondacks failed. Some failures may be attributed to misleading down-state investors selling lands that they assured had rich soils. More common, however, is the harsh climate and lack of access that discouraged economic growth. Poor soils could not sustain profitable crops and the variable climate shortened the growing season. Moreover, the lack of railroads and large rivers limited access for viable methods of transportation of resources such as timber and ore. Many mines, such as the MacIntyre contained large amounts of ore, but the lack of access eventually spelled doom for the site. It certainly did not help that “prospect fever” took hold, possessing many men to explore the Adirondacks in hopes of finding veins of profitable metals or minerals. In The Adirondacks: A History of America’s First Wilderness, Paul Schneider shares the story of Charles Herreshoff, a wealthy aristocrat who married into the Brown family. Schneider shows that even the most advantaged Adirondackers had failed; “...it was mining that eroded [Herreshoff’s] will to live” (119).
Although many individuals struggled to settle in the Adirondacks, certain industries, such as the logging industry, experienced booms. Loggers were more than happy to sacrifice the environment for economic gain. However, in 1880, the industry’s failure to sustainably log sparked the establishment of the Forest Preserve, protected by the state constitution. With the introduction of mechanized logging, further environmental destruction took place, which led to even stricter environmental protection of the Forest Preserve.
The most beneficial failure, the failure to pay taxes, granted New York state a significant portion of state land in the Adirondacks. New York state would buy land from owners who could not afford to pay their property tax. In The Adirondack Atlas, Jerry Jenkins observes that the state “thought it was helping the towns out by taking unsellable lands off their hands” (104). This policy led to the preservation of 1.3 million acres of virgin or lightly cut land. Thanks to New York state’s willingness to purchase Adirondack property from those who could not pay taxes, large parts of the Adirondacks’ pristine environment may be enjoyed by the public.
Reynolds Bros Mill Logs on the banks of the Deer River
Source:
Schneider, Paul. The Adirondacks. New York: Henry Holt and Company, LLC 1997. Print.
Jenkins, Jerry. The Adirondack Atlas: A Geographic Portrait of the Adirondack Park. New York: Syracuse University & The Adirondack Museum, 2004. Print.
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