We Page 192 have in Chapter X described the circumstances surrounding the granting of the Queensbury Patent in 1762 and the first attempts made towards the permanent settlement of the territory within the present limits of Warren county. While many of the early proprietors of the original Queensbury Patent retained their ownership and a few spent the greater part of their time on their possessions until the close of the Revolutionary War, by far the larger number were driven away to the more peaceful localities where they had previously dwelt, by the excitement and danger of conflict along the northern frontier. With all the details of the early settlements in what is now the town of Queensbury, as well as in the other towns of the county, the reader will be made familiar in the subsequent town histories.
With the dawn of peace following the Revolution the pioneers of the county again turned their faces towards the wilderness and were rapidly followed by many others, who resolutely began the task of making for themselves and their posterity attractive and valuable homes where had recently stood the primeval forest. We have seen in the preceding chapter how the inhabitants of Warren county sprang to arms for the last time in nearly half a century, in the War of 1812, to aid in convincing the mother country that the reign of liberty was to be permanent in the land.
Previous to this event occurred the subdivision of Albany county, by which Page 193 all that portion which included the colonial settlements to the west and southwest of Schenectady was set off and named Tryon county, in honor of William Tryon, then governor of the province. Charlotte county was formed on the 12th of March, 1772, and embraced the territory now comprised in Washington, Warren, Essex and Clinton counties in New York, and part of Bennington, Rutland, Addison, Chittenden and Franklin counties in Vermont. This county was named in honor of the Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburgh-Strelitz. After considerable strife the county seat of Charlotte county was located at Skenesborough (now Whitehall), provided Major Skene should furnish for public use a tract of land. On the 18th day March, 1772, the legislative council passed an act, "to enable the inhabitants of the county of Charlotte to raise and defray the public and necessary charges of the said county, and to choose county officers." In September, 1773, an ordinance was issued by the governor with the advice of the Council, "establishing a Court of Common Pleas and a Court of General Sessions of the Peace to be held annually in the county of Charlotte." The name of this county was changed in 1784 to Washington, and on the 10th of April, 1792, the town of Luzerne was set off from Queensbury under the name of "Fairfield," which name was changed April 6th, 1808; a strip one mile wide was taken from this town March 30th, 1802, and given to Queensbury. On the same date with the formation of Luzerne, the original town of Thurman was formed. On the 25th of March, 1799, the towns of Bolton and Chester were formed from Thurman and the town of Hague was set off from Bolton February 28th, 1807, under the name of "Rochester," which name was changed April 6th, 1808. Johnsburgh was formed from Thurman April 6th, 1805, and Caldwell from Queensbury, Bolton and Thurman March 2d, 1810. February 12th, 1813, just previous to the county organization, Warrensburgh was formed from Thurman. Settlements in all of these towns was begun long before their formation as civil divisions of the county, as detailed in the subsequent town histories. These settlements contributed a class of pioneers of exceptionally energetic, persevering and moral character; men who came into the wilderness thoroughly imbued with a determination to leave not only good homes to their children, but names untarnished by evil report. Log houses sprang up in the forests, to be followed at a date much earlier than was the case in many localities by neater frame cottages, the building of which was rendered possible by the early establishment of the numerous saw-mills.
The building of a log house in pioneer days was often a scene of neighborly gathering and festivity, intermingled with the most energetic and rapid work, to which the old inhabitants have always loved to turn their thoughts. It was the first earnest work of the pioneer. If he found a few neighbors within a circle of as many miles, he was generously and willingly aided in the task; if not, he must do the best he could with the aid of his brave-hearted Page 194 wife and his boy, if he had one. In such cases the dwelling often scarcely rose to the dignity of a house; it was more frequently a mere cabin. Where a few settlers formed what might, by a broad rendering of the term, be called a neighborhood, the incoming pioneer always received a warm welcome. His arrival meant the clearing of another farm; another social neighbor near at hand; another strong and willing pair of hands for all good work and another friend in case of adversity. Then the building of the log house became, not a tedious and toilsome task, but a mere occasion for a day's social gathering of neighbors, a scene of festivity, mingled with a little labor. For such an event the summons went out for a house-raising on a specified day, and when a dozen or more willing men had congregated, everyone of them unsurpassed in dexterity with the axe, down fell the tall, straight trees, the logs were cut and drawn together by the oxen; four of the most active and expert of the men, schooled by many a similar experience, were placed at the corners of the foundation to cut and shape the ends of the logs, and long before night the walls were raised to a height of six or eight feet, the rafters were put in place, and the dwelling was soon ready for its pioneer occupants. On these occasions the hard-working men were usually cheered in their labor by a passing whisky jug, for within a short time after the first settlement it was a cold day when a jug of whisky could not be found in almost any neighborhood. The finishing work was put on the house by the owner at his leisure; but there was no delay in beginning "to live" in those days; the house which was embodied in standing trees in the morning, sheltered the happy pioneer and his wife at the supper table in the evening on the same day.
In these dwellings, although "house-keeping" was begun under many adverse circumstances, who shall say that there were not as warm hearts, as true domestic devotion and sympathy and as pure contentment and peace as ever existed in the palaces of the world. Here the pioneer and his family began life with faith in their Creator and faith in themselves - a life that was to carry them from their present condition of trials and privations onward to the comforts of civilization. His house once built, the early settler found ample work for his hands in felling the forest trees, in the" logging bees" by which fields were cleared in a day by the union of many hands, in planting a little corn or wheat, in sugar-making in the spring, in caring for his limited stock and in supplying his household with venison and other game from the forest.
The forests in the region of which this work treats abounded, not only with game that was a heaven-sent boon to early settlers, but with wild beasts which ravenously preyed upon the scanty flocks and sometimes imperiled the lives of the people. Long after they ceased to cause any apprehensions to the settlers themselves, these wild beasts, especially the wolves, were a constant source of annoyance, and every man's hand was raised against them for their extermination. This work was encouraged by the offer of generous public Page 195 bounties. Under such efforts, and the gradually increasing population, the forests were cleared of these foes to man and his civilizing work.
One of the brightest features of pioneer life and one to which the writer may always turn with gratification, was the general spirit of fraternity and sociability and mutual helpfulness which pervaded the young communities. Most of the early settlers stood upon the same plane of life, held the same hopes and aspirations, born of poverty and nurtured in privation, which were common to all. Each felt an impulse, dictated by the humanity that was sure to develop amid such surroundings, to assist his neighbor whenever and wherever assistance was needed, realizing that he might any day become the grateful recipient of similar service. That social ostracism engendered by caste, a relic alike of ignorance and barbarism, which it is the mission of the genius of American institutions to eradicate, and which inexorably separates the individual members of a community at the present day, was then unknown. They mingled freely with each other, and shared each other's joys and sorrows.
On the 12th of March, 1813, Warren county was set off from Washington county, receiving its name in honor of General Joseph Warren, of the Revolutionary army. The boundaries of the new county were thus defined: -
"All that part of the State bounded northerly by a line running a due west course from the northwest corner of the county of Washington so as to strike the most northerly point of the rock commonly called Rogers's Rock, on the west side of Lake George, and continued west until intersecting a line drawn from the Mohawk River, where the northeast corner of the tract of land granted by letters patent to George Ingoldsby and others touches the Mohawk, north one degree and twenty-five minutes west; westerly by the line just mentioned intersecting a west line drawn from Fort George, near Lake George; by that line until it strikes the north branch of the Hudson River, and by the middle of said branch and of the main stream to the southeast corner of Queensbury; north along the east line of that town to Lake George; thence north along the west line of the towns of Fort Ann and Putnam to the north bounds of the county."
William Robards was elected the first judge of the new county and held the office until 1820. Robert Wilkinson was the first surrogate; Henry Spencer, sheriff; John Beebe, county clerk; and Michael Harris, treasurer. The county seat was established at Caldwell, where it has ever since remained, in spite of numerous energetic attempts to secure its removal to Glens Falls, as narrated in a later chapter. An act passed March 12th, 1813, established a Court of Common Pleas and General Sessions of the Peace to meet three times a year. The courts, meetings of the supervisors and other public gatherings were, for a few years, held in the old Lake George Coffee-House, on the site of the present Lake House in the village of Caldwell. On the first of March, 1816, an act was passed providing that the county clerk's office was to Page 196 be kept within one-half mile of the Lake George Coffee-House, and the mileage to be computed from there. The new county buildings were erected and ready for occupation by the county officials in 1817, in which year the supervisors' meeting was held in the court-house. The details of the construction of these and other county buildings are given in later pages.
It was the month of June, 1813, that saw the issue of the initial number of the first newspaper published in Warren county - an event always of much significance in any locality. The young pioneer journal bore the name of the Warren Republican, and was published at Glens Falls. Of course it was a. small affair, but its birth marked an era in the growth of the county. (See chapter on the county press).
Much of the attention of pioneers in any locality and of early public officials has always been devoted to the laying out and opening of highways. One of the most important of the early thoroughfares in this section of the State is what is still known as the old State Road. Its opening was authorized early in the century and it runs from Sandy Hill northward through the present towns of Queensbury, Caldwell, Warrensburgh and Chester, and on northward across Essex and Clinton counties to the Canada line. Platt Rogers was conspicuous in opening this highway and received large grants of public land in Essex county for his services in this capacity. The State Road involved a heavy outlay in its construction and large sums have since been expended in its maintenance; but it has always been kept in very good repair and was, from the first, of great utility to the inhabitants of the territory contiguous to its course. Another prominent highway, which was opened at an early day, was that running from the State Road near the foot of Schroon Lake northwesterly across the town of Chester and the southwest corner of Essex county and into Hamilton county.
The inhabitants of Warren county suffered considerably from the effects of what is remembered as the cold summer, in the year 1816, although its effects were not so deplorable as those of the succeeding summer, when the scarcity caused by the failure of the crops of the preceding year was most seriously felt. Perhaps the cases of actual suffering in this county were less numerous than in many other localities, as the inhabitants were a little less dependent upon the actual products of the land from year to year; but there were many in the rural districts who felt the pinch of want and were hard pressed to provide actual necessities for their families. The season was a most remarkable one and has not had a parallel since. The sun seemed bereft of his power to give out heat to the freezing earth; ice formed in many localities every month in the year; snow fell in this county in June and crops could not grow and ripen except in the most favored localities. Those who were successful in raising crops to any considerable extent, felt the extreme need of saving them for the next year's seed time, while many who possessed the means of relieving the Page 197 less fortunate, declined to do so except at such exorbitant rates as to practically shut out the poor. A season of this character might occur at the present day without causing even a scarcity in the thickly populated communities of the country. If crops fail in one section they succeed in another, and even if it is remote, even if the ocean roll between the favored and unfavored localities, modern rapid transportation is adequate to adapt the supply to the demand in all sections; while the wealth of one region rarely rests idle in these later days, another one wants. Hence, it is difficult for the reader of to-day to realize and appreciate the fact that their ancestors of only two or three generations ago saw "the wolf at their doors" in the great Empire State, because a cold season cut off most of the crops. But the fact remains, and is vividly remembered by old residents of the county.
But the privations and hardships of the pioneers of the county soon began to be mitigated by the advancing march of civilization, the introduction of public improvements, the influx of settlers, the opening of roads, the establishment of schools and churches and the increasing productiveness of the farms.
In the early days of the settlement of the county the productions of the soil were limited almost exclusively to the necessities of the inhabitants. If a surplus was raised there was little market for it, except at a great distance. Money was scarce, very scarce, and most exchanges were made by bartering one commodity for another. Almost every dwelling had its loom; boots and shoe were made largely by itinerant mechanics; while the actual food necessities were raised from the ground. Had it been otherwise in these respects, the scarcity of money would have been felt in a much greater degree than it was.
The early settlers of the county, in common with those of most other localities in the country, no sooner became located in their humble homes, than they set about providing means for the education of their children, and rustic school-houses were soon scattered - often very widely scattered, to be sure through the wilderness. But in these pioneer schools and under the most discouraging circumstances were laid the foundation of education and character which enabled the growing youth to enter upon life as they found it, armed with all the necessary elements of success. Churches, too, were organized, the primitive school-houses commonly sufficing for some years as places for religious worship, and the spread of the gospel was none the less rapid and permanent because the prayers of the people went up from very humble temples.
The region of Northern New York of which this county forms an important part, was vastly benefited in its material interests by the opening of the Champlain canal in 1823, and to a greater degree, particularly the locality of which we are writing, by the completion of the Glens Falls feeder which was made navigable for boats in 1832. The lumber interest, the manufacture of Page 198 lime and, in short, every branch of industry in the county was given an impetus by these improvements, the effects of which are still felt. Railroad agitation also began as early as 1831-'32, in which year the Warren County Railroad Company was organized and incorporated for the avowed purpose of building a road from Glens Falls to Caldwell, with the privilege of extending the line to Warrensburgh. Application was made to the Legislature early in 1831 for the incorporation of a company comprising John Baird, Peter D. Threehouse and associates, as a company to build a railroad from Saratoga to Glens Falls; but it was many years before these projects were consummated. The details of the internal improvements in the county are given in a later chapter.
On the 26th of May, 1836, the towns of Chester, Johnsburgh, Warrensburgh, Athol, Caldwell and Queensbury were taxed $3,000 for the improvement of the State road, with John Richards, Allen Nelson and Ezra B. Smith as commissioners. In March of the following year another sum was taxed for a similar purpose.
The memorable financial crisis of 1837-'38, from which the entire country suffered, was severely felt in this county. The newspapers of the period teem with accounts of failures, losses and suffering which have since been without a parallel. Money was extremely scarce and the ordinary necessaries of life were difficult to obtain without ready pay. One item in a local paper states that "a man floated a raft of lumber worth $5,000 into the port of Bangor, Me., for which he was unable to obtain a single barrel of flour. The lumber would not sell and the flour could not be bought except for cash." Many in this county lost their all in the general panic; but the energy of the people and the advantages of the locality in a business sense, enabled them to quickly recover from the blow.
We have before in this work alluded to the prevalence of wild animals in this region and the part they played in the food supply of the pioneers. Down to even comparatively recent times, the remote parts of the county have been the home of several varieties of the early forest denizens. It is not very many years since the larger wild animals were quite frequently killed in the county and were even viewed as a public nuisance. In the Spectator of August 11, 1837, appears the following item: "Destruction among panthers. - There was an old panther and two young ones killed by a party of hunters one day last week in the town of Johnsburgh, in the northern part of the county. The old one measured eight feet in length; the others were some somewhat smaller." It was not far from the same date that Samson Paul killed a large panther with a fishing spear on the shore of Lake George in the town of Bolton. Still later, according to Dr. Holden, one of the grandsons of Sabele, the Indian, killed one with a pitchfork in a barn in Johnsburgh. These animals, with bears, deer and wolves, have been known to frequent the county at much later times than those referred to, and bounties were offered in most of the towns for their extermination.Page 199
State legislation having direct reference to this county has not been extensive nor very important in character, having for its chief objects the authorization of roads, bridges, the improvement of the streams, and kindred topics. On the 20th of April, 1836, an act was passed appropriating $4,000 to build a bridge at the junction of the Schroon and middle branches of the Hudson River, between the towns of Athol and Warrensburgh, George Pattison and Stephen Griffin, of Warrensburgh, and Richard Cameron of Athol, were the commissioners. On the 27th of April, 1841, John Richards, jr., of Warren county, and Ezra Thompson and George Parburt, of Hamilton county, were by law appointed a commission to layout and make a road four rods wide, "commencing on the State road near the mills of Elias P. Gilman, town of Gilman, Hamilton county, and thence in the most direct line to Johnsburgh." On the 26th of May of the same year $4,000 was appropriated for the repair of the State road from Glens Falls to Chesterfield, in Essex county. On the 2d of May, 1844, an act was passed appointing James D. Weston, of Luzerne, John J. Harris and Abraham Wing, of Queensbury, commissioners to locate and superintend the building of a bridge over the Hudson River at Johnsburgh. They were authorized to borrow $2,500 on the credit of the county for that purpose. May 12th, 1846, Abraham Wing and Cyrus Burnham, of Warren county, and Clark Rawson, of Essex county, were appointed by law as commissioners to layout roads and expend the highway moneys in the counties of Warren, Essex and Hamilton. On the 31st of January, 1849, an act was passed authorizing the purchase of the toll bridge at Jessup's Little Falls, the comptroller being allowed to loan $1,200 to the counties of Saratoga and Warren, out of the common school fund. The purchase to be made of George T. Rockwell, Jeremy Rockwell and Betsey Rockwell, executors of the estate of Jeremy Rockwell. In the year 1849 considerable appropriations were made for the improvement of the channels of streams in the county, for the facilitating of the rafting business. Ten thousand dollars were appropriated towards improving the upper waters of the Hudson, with Jacob Parmeter, of Essex, Daniel Stewart, of Warren, and Jeremy Rockwell, of Saratoga county, as commissioners. Two thousand dollars appropriated "to clear the rafting channel from the foot of the rapids at the head of the Glens Falls feeder pond to Hadley's Falls." Fifteen hundred dollars appropriated for clearing the rafting channel between Phelps Bay to Barber mill dam. Four thousand dollars appropriated for clearing the rafting channel at and above Jessup's Little Falls, including the Schroon and the west branches of the said river. April 9th, 1853, William Hotchkins, of Chester, Jonas Ordway, of Johnsburgh, Thomas Barnes, of Minerva, Essex county, were by law appointed a commission to superintend the construction of a bridge in Johnsburgh three-fourths of a mile from North Creek; the State appropriated $2,000. On the 25th of April, 1866, Henry Crandell, Joel Green and Benjamin C. Butler were appointed commissioners Page 200 to "layout a road for wagons from Hudson River near Roblee's Hotel in Johnsburgh, up through the town of Indian Lake to the Carthage road near the head of Long Lake, Hamilton county."
In the year 1848 the plank road was built from Glens Falls to the village of Caldwell, an improvement that was of much benefit to the northern part of the county; this utility was still further enhanced when the road was continued to Warrensburgh a few years later.
The formation of the town of Horicon took place March 29th, 1838, when it was set off from Bolton and Hague; and November 13th, 1852, the town of "Athol," which had been formed from the original town of Thurman at the time of the formation of Warrensburgh, February 12th, 1813, was divided into the present town of Thurman and Stony Creek, completing the town organization of the county.
There have been several notably exciting political campaigns in Warren county, although as a general rule political antagonism and animosity cannot be said to have run as high as in many localities. During the anti-Masonic period much feeling was awakened and considerable excitement followed. In 1826-'27, also, when William Hay and Norman Fox were the opposing candidates for the Assembly, a very stirring campaign was carried on. Joseph W. Paddock came into the field as a "Jackson man," and by the aid of influential political friends was run as an "independent" candidate. Hay was elected on the then so-called "Republican" side, and his victory was celebrated in political campaign songs, etc. Personal rivalry ran so high as to lead to libel suits, which, however, did not result seriously to anyone. The campaign of 1844 was one of unusual interest in this section. The Glens Falls Republican, started the year previous, espoused the cause of the Democracy and made its influence felt from the first. That party was then largely in the ascendant in the county. Since the organization of the Republican party Warren county has uniformly given majorities for the candidates of that political faith, although many Democrats have been elected to offices of importance, through their individual popularity and worth.
The growth of Warren county, after its organization, has been rapid and healthful. It presented to settlers attractions in its water power, its vast and valuable forests and its other natural advantages not offered by many other sections, and a sturdy and energetic population sought its borders, secured the lands and many of them entered largely into the lumber business when it was about the only means, or at least the most available one, of securing a livelihood and ready return for labor. There were many mills within the present limits of the county before the beginning of the present century, and the number rapidly multiplied after that date, until they were scattered over all parts of the region, many of them erected in later years of enormous capacity, and the lumber interest became and long continued of paramount importance. In the year Page 201 1877 Dr. A. W. Holden furnished to Franklin B. Hough the following details and statistics of the lumber interest as applicable to Warren county, which we are amply justified in placing in these pages: -
"The lumber business on the Hudson River dates back to an early period in the history of the country. Mrs. Grant in her Memoirs of an American Lady, speaks of timber rafts being floated down to Albany as far back as 1758. Saw-mills were erected at Glens Falls in 1770, and from that time to the present the manufacture and export of timber has constituted one of the most important industries. But the once heavily-timbered pine forests have receded before the axe of the lumberman, until far away among the sources of the mountain rivulets at the north there is only left here and there a scattered remnant of those towering and stately ornaments of the woods. Since 1850 the manufacture of pine timber has formed but an inconsiderable item in the product of the Hudson River mills. In addition to the destructive fires which, from time to time, have devastated the mountains and cleared the forests along the line of the border settlements, the death of the spruces from some mysterious cause has stripped the forest of its evergreens and in many instances necessitated the in-gathering of thousands of logs to save them from becoming a loss through natural decay. Nevertheless, as fifty spruce trees to the acre is considered a liberal estimate and the surrounding woods are often so heavily timbered with other growths as to make it difficult to fall the spruces without lodgement, the clearing away of the dead-wood makes but little difference in the general aspect or density of the forest. On the southeast side of the great Adirondack plateau the hemlock-producing belt extends but little if any north of the Warren county line. A few isolated clumps, a gnarled and dwarfed specimen at widely recurring intervals are but the exceptions which establish the rule. The consumption of the deciduous forest trees within the lumber district proper has not yet entered as a factor in the lumber product. The relatively few dock-sticks, spars and pieces of round timber which find their way to market down the river, or by the Glens Falls feeder, are nearly or quite all obtained at points within the range of settlements and south of the wilderness border. The lumber region tapped by the Hudson and its affiuents is relatively small, as compared with the vast water-shed drained by the Raquette and its tributaries, to say nothing of the Black, the Oswegatchie, the Grass and the St. Regis Rivers, all of which contribute to swell the majestic flood of the St. Lawrence. And yet along the ponds and marshes and headwaters of the Schroon, the Sacandaga, the North, Boreas, Indian, Cedar and Rock Rivers are to be found extensive and untouched tracts of timber of as good quality as any ever brought to market.
"It is worthy of mention that while of the second growth of white pine the quality is greatly inferior to that of 'the forest primeval,' the same is not true of either the spruce or the hemlock, the younger and newer trees being preferable as Page 202 producing the strongest, soundest and most desirable grades of lumber. Another interesting fact in this connection is that considerable tracts of territory on the borders of, and within, the great wilderness which have been cleared by the axe of the settler, or denuded by destructive fires, are again covered with a dense second-growth of trees; and it is confidently asserted by those whose judgment should be competent, that there is to-day a larger area of forest in 'the great North Woods' than there was twenty-five years ago; and that this condition is relatively increasing, notwithstanding the enormous consumption of the lumber-producing evergreens. It is a mistake to suppose that the Adirondack wilderness is being cleared up.
"River-driving is a feature in the lumber business which came in vogue about fifty years ago. Previous to that time the practice prevailed of erecting small mills of feeble capacity and primitive machinery on brooks, rivulets, or by the aid of wing dams, on the banks of rivers near the sources of supply. This system was attended with great waste of labor and material. As the growth of our cities and the demands of commerce increased, mechanical inventions multiplied, the economies of manufacture were studied, extensive mills with all the adjuncts of machinery were constructed at central points, and logs were drawn or floated to the mills from the ponds above. As the cost of production increased and material receded, combinations of operators were organized, river-driving became systematized and manufacturing at the great centers of the lumbering business steadily increased.
"This mode of operating necessitated the accumulation at seasons of high water of large quantities of logs for the year's supply. At this day the points of supply and consumption are so remote that one and often part of two years' stocks, representing from three-fourths to a million of dollars, are constantly afloat. A system of booms was devised in order to retain and convey the logs to the points where they were to be sawed. But it was found that enormous losses frequently resulted from freshets. Once in four or five years, sometimes oftener, a tremendous spring flood would occur, which no amount of precaution or care could (or did) prevent from bearing off on its resistless, turbulent and turbid waters, the gathered harvest of an entire year's work in the woods, leaving the mills idle for the want of stock; and the employees, thus thrown out of their regular work, were forced to seek in other fields of industry a scanty and precarious employment.
"To remedy these evils, 'the Hudson River Boom Association' was formed about the year 1849. This combination included all the mill owners below the great falls on the Hudson River (Jessup's Falls), together with many log owners who had their lumber made at their mills. At great expense a substantial series of piers and system of chain booms was constructed at the foot of the Big Bend, about four miles above Glens Falls, which, strengthened and improved from time to time, has never failed to accomplish the work for which it Page 203 was designed and to withstand the pressure of the heaviest freshets. In order to equalize the annual expenses attendant upon the management of the boom and the reception and discharge of the logs, a record of the number delivered and sworn to by each contributor to the drive had to be kept by the Boom Association, and thus we are enabled through the courtesy of its secretary, Mr. William McEachron, of Glens Falls, to present in a tabulated form the number of logs received for the last twenty-five years, with the exception of three years, which are estimated. It is premised that each unit of the count here given is a market log, viz.: a log thirteen feet long and nineteen inches in diameter in the clear at the smaller end. Such a log, calculated as a cylinder, contains 25.6 cubic feet and practically represents about two hundred feet of lumber, board-measure. As the average of stock runs in the boom, including logs of all sorts, each market log will represent two pieces .by count and the actual number of logs delivered to the various drives is obtained by multiplying the numbers of the table by two.
"The amount of lumber carried to market by rail is very inconsiderable and scarcely worth mentioning. By estimates it would not exceed one per cent. The number of market logs manufactured at points above the Big Boom is roughly estimated at twenty-five thousand, representing 5,000,000 feet of lumber per annum: -
Market Logs Received at the Big Boom from the time of its Construction in 1851 to the Present Time.
1. No report; estimated.
2. Equal to 2,461,800,000 feet of lumber in twenty-seven years; or 91,180,741 feet on general average per annum.Page 204
The conditions of the lumber interest in the county have not materially changed from those above described in 1877. It is still the leading industry; but must soon decline with the gradual disappearance of the great forests upon which it has fed and grown. The great mills, principally located in the town of Queensbury, the lumber companies, and other features of the business are treated in the history of that town, as also is the manufacture of lime, one of the prominent industries of the county.
Assemblymen. - 1786-'87-'88-'89, Peter B. Tearse, Queensbury; 1800-'02, Micajah Pettit; 1800, John Thurman, Johnsburgh; 1800-'01, Seth Alden, Queensbury; 1805, James Starbuck, Chester; 1807, William Robards, Queensbury; 1812, Halsey Rogers, Caldwell; 1812-'13, John Beebe, Caldwell; 1814, Charles Starbuck, Chester; 1814-'15, John Richards, Johnsburgh; 1816, Michael Harris, Caldwell; 1817, William Cook, Hague; 1818, Duncan Cameron, Thurman; 1819-'20, Norman Fox, Chester; 1821, James L. Thurman, Warrensburgh; 1822, Duncan Cameron, Thurman.
Prior to the erection of Warren county, and until 1822, this portion of the Assembly District, which embraced Warren county, was frequently represented. The district sent from three to six members, according to the ratio of representation. The above names are among the list. Since 1822 the county has formed a separate Assembly District, entitled to send only one member.
Assemblymen. - 1822, William McDonald; 1823, William McDonald; 1824, Dudley Farlin; 1825, William Cook; 1826, Norman Fox; 1827, William Hay, jr.; 1828, Truman B. Hicks; 1829, William McDonald; 1830, Norman Fox; 1831, Samuel Stackhouse; 1832, Allen Anderson; 1833, Page 205 Nicholas Roosevelt, jr.; 1834, Thomas Archibald; 1835, Truman B. Hicks; 1836, William Griffin; 1837, Walter Geer, jr.; 1838, Thomas A. Leggett; 1839, William Griffin; 1840, Joseph Russell; 1841, George Sanford; 1842, Benjamin P. Burhans; 1843, Pelatiah Richards; 1844, John F. Sherrill; 1845, James Cameron; 1846, Winfield S. Sherwood; 1847, John Hodgson, 2d ; 1848, Albert N. Cheney; 1849, Reuben Wells; 1850, Cyrus Burnham; 1851, David Noble, 2d ; 1852, George Richards; 1853, Richard P. Smith; 1854, David Noble, 2d; 1855, Reuben Wells; 1856, Thomas S. Gray; 1857, Samuel Somerville. jr.; 1858, Alexander Robertson; 1859, Elisha Pendell; 1860, Benjamin C. Butler; 1861, Walter A. Faxon; 1862, Thomas S. Gray; 1863, Newton Aldrich; 1864, Robert Waddell; 1865, Jerome Lapham; 1866, David Aldrich; 1867, Columbus Gill; 1868, Nicholas B. La Bau; 1869, Nicholas B. La Bau; 1870, Godfrey R. Martine; 1871, Duncan Griffin; 1872, Joseph Woodward ; 1873, James G. Porteous; 1874, Austin W. Holden; 1875, Stephen Griffin, 2d; 1876, Robert Waddell; 1877, Robert Waddell; 1878, Alson B. Abbott; 1879, Barclay Thomas; 1880, Henry P. Gwinup; 1881, Benjamin C. Butler; 1882, Nelson W. Van Dusen; 1883, Lorenzo R. Locke; 1884-'85, Frank Byrne.
Justices of the Supreme Court. -1855, Enoch H. Rosekranz; 1863, Enoch H. Rosekranz.
County Judges. - 1813, William Robards; 1820, Halsey Rogers; 1823, Silas Hopkins; 1827, Joseph W. Paddock; 1829, Horatio Buell; 1832, Seth C. Baldwin; 1837, Hiram Barber; 1845, Halsey R. Wing; 1847, Enoch H. Rosekranz; 1851, Orange Ferris; 1863, Stephen Brown; 1871, Isaac J. Davis; 1882, Andrew J. Cherritree.
Surrogates. - 1813, Robert Wilkinson; 1815, Thomas Pattison; 1819, Joseph W. Paddock; 1820, John Beebe; 1823, Allen Anderson; 1827, Abraham Wing; 1832, Stephen Pratt; 1835, Seth C. Baldwin; 1840, Orange Ferris; 1845, Thomas S. Gray; County Judge since 1847.
District Attorneys. - 1818, Ashael Clark; 1821, Horatio Buell; 1823, Seth C. Baldwin; 1825, William Hay, jr.; 1827, Seth C. Baldwin; 1835, Enoch H. Rosekranz; 1845, Alfred C. Farlin; 1847, George Richards; 1850, Levi H. Baldwin; 1853, Stephen Brown; 1856-'59-'62-'65, Isaac Mott; 1868; Freedom G. Dudley; 1871, Andrew J. Cherritree; 1873, Isaac Mott; 1873, Melville A. Sheldon; 1876, Charles M. Mott; 1879, Henry A. Howard; 1882, Henry A. Howard; 1884, Henry A. Howard.
Sheriffs. - 1813, Henry Spencer; 1815, Joseph Tefft; 1817, Artemus Aldrich; 1818, James L. Thurman; 1820, Pelatiah Richards; 1821, Dudley Farlin; 1822, Dudley Farlin; 1825, Henry Spencer; 1828, Dudley Farlin; 1831, James T. Cameron; 1834, Joseph Russell; 1837, Timothy Bowman; 1840, Steven Griffin; 1843, Timothy Bowen; 1846, James Lawrence; 1849, Luther Brown; 1852, King Allen; 1855, Lewis Pierson; 1855, Daniel Ferguson; Page 206 1858, Stephen Starbuck; 1861, Daniel V. Brown; 1864, Lewis Pierson; 1867, Westel W. Hicks; 1870, John Loveland; 1873, Gideon Towsley; 1876, John Loveland; 1879, Richard P. Smith; 1882, Truman N. Thomas.
County Clerks. - 1813, John Beebe; 1815, William Smith; 1817, Myron Beach; 1820, Seth C. Baldwin, jr.; 1821, Thomas Archibald; 1822, Thomas Archibald, served forty years; 1861, Westel W. Hicks; 1864, George P. Wait; 1873, Albert F. Ransom; 1876, W. Scott Whitney; 1879, Daniel V. Brown; 1882, Daniel V. Brown.
County Treasurers. - 1813-'20, Michael Harris; 1820-'32, Thomas Pattison; 1832-'45, Charles Roberts; 1848, Frederick A. Farlin; 1851, Westel W. Hicks; 1857, Samuel T. Richards; 1869, Daniel Peck; 1873, Miles Thomas; 1879, Emerson S. Crandall; 1882, Emerson S. Crandall.
School Commissioners. - 1856, Andrew J. Cherritree; 1858, M. Nelson Dickinson; 1861-'64, Luther A. Arnold; 1867, Theodore Welch; Adam Armstrong, jr.; Daniel B. Ketchum; Randolph McNutt; Adam Armstrong, jr.
County Superintendents of Common Schools. - By an act passed April 17, 1843, the Boards of Supervisors of the several counties were directed to appoint county superintendents of common schools. The office was abolished March 13th, 1847. During the existence of the law the following were appointed: 1843, Seth C. Baldwin; 1843-'44, Halsey R. Wing; 1844-'45, Lemon Thompson; 1846-'47, Austin W. Holden.