New York's Adirondack Park -- a protected mix of public and private lands -- exceeds the acreage of Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon and the Everglades combined. New York created the park in 1892 and it encompasses 6 million acres. Of that, some 3 million is public park land; the remainder includes settlements, farms, timber lands and summer camps. Brant Lake -- one of the park's 3,000 lakes -- started life as a canal used exclusively to transport logs until a man with the unlikely name of Abel Crook stepped in.
Modern Brant Lake
Brant Lake is a thin, long, recreational lake surrounded by glacial mountains. Historic houses line its shores and a bike path runs around the 16.4-mile circumference. You can boat, swim or water ski in the summer, and ice-fish or snowmobile in the winter. The backcountry roads make the area a mountain bikers' paradise. The hamlet of Brant Lake -- built on Brant Lake shores -- has attracted wealthy visitors for fishing and hunting since the beginning of the 20th century.
Brant Lake barely deserved the title of "lake" in the early 1900s. It was more like a canal, and used almost exclusively as a method of transporting logs to the sawmill. New York passed a law in 1899 declaring various waterways, including Brant Lake and Brant Lake Creek to be public highways for floating timber and lumber. Specially constructed steamers herded the logs along their way. Residents found little pleasure in the "lake," which resembled a shallow, dirty canal with rocks, lumber and debris along its banks.
Residents Decide to Act
One of the regular summer visitors to the hamlet of Brant Lake in the early 1900s was attorney Abel Crook. He found the condition of the lake deplorable, especially in dry weather, and decided to do something about it. In August 1907, he called a meeting in the town of Brant Lake to solicit donations from lakeside businesses to improve the quality of the lake. The group of residents that attended the meeting resolved to repair and fortify dams on either side of the lake to control the level of the water.
Brant Lake Dam
The townsmen began work on the dam that fall. When the project was completed, they hired a dam keeper whose responsibilities included adjusting the water level to keep the lake at an appropriate level while permitting enough water to pass downstream to keep mill owners happy. He was also charged with stocking the lake with fish.
Brant Lake Fishing
The fish-stocking initiated in the early 1900s continues, and fishing remains popular in Brant Lake. According to the Brant Lake Association, area fishermen land largemouth and smallmouth bass, brown trout, pickerel, panfish and bullheads. Trout fishing remains open all year at the lake, while state fishing regulations control the seasons for other species.