The year was 1775. The revolt by Americans to win their independence from Britain had begun. Two years later, one of the major battles of that war took place in Northern New York. We know it today as the Battle of Saratoga.
Benedict Arnold, who had not yet turned traitor, was a leader of the American offensive that forced the surrender of the British troops. It became a turning point of the war because it increased the confidence of the French government in the American forces. They sent French ships and troops under the leadership of nobleman and soldier, the Marquis de La Fayette, which greatly aided the Americans’ cause, and the war ended in 1783. The crown lands were now in American hands.
With the war over, the state decided to make an effort to dispose of the great tracts of unsurveyed and, to a large extent, unexplored lands in this area. There was a reason behind this. There was no certainty of continued peace with England. Feelings still remained intense. The British still hung on stubbornly, under one pretense or another, to many of their posts. The smallest spark could set the whole St. Lawrence border aflame once more.
According to historian Harry F. Landon, “It was probably with is in mind the State of New York decided to establish the first line of defense along the trails leading from Canada in the form of study settlers, who might be dependent upon to fight at the drop of a hat when their homes were threatened.” Consequently, Landon has noted, “The Board of Land Commissioners of the state directed the survey general to lay out 10 townships in the hope people would settle there – there were few prospects and practically all 10 townships were later sold to Alexander Macomb of New York, who had made a fortune in the fur trade with John Jacob Astor. Soon after this sale, the Indians ceded a large portion of their lands in this area to the state. The same Macomb, with two others (Constable and McCormack) purchased a large tract near here of nearly 4 million acres at a price of eight pence (cents) an acre. The purchase was divided into six great tracts: Tract #1, being in general, the present Franklin County; Tracts #2 and #3 being in St. Lawrence County.”
The first order of business for these new landholders was to get their purchases surveyed so they could attract buyers. Thus, in 1791, Macomb hired two men, Medad Mitchell and a man named Tupper, to run the south line of Tract #2 of the Macomb Purchase. The two surveyed about 30 miles of that 50-mile line ending just short of the summit of what today is called Coney Mountain near Tupper Lake’s south bay.
Their work completed, they set their course by the compass and started through trackless woods, hoping to reach Rome, N.Y. (Note: you may ask, why Rome? The explanation is that one of the earliest routes by canoe and trail to the North Country, first used by the Algonquins, later by the Iroquois and, finally, by the white man – guided by the Indians – started on the Mohawk River near Rome. It went over the divide to the St. Lawrence and Canada. Later, surveyors used this route to the Raquette River, setting up supply camps as far up the river as Hanawa Falls as early as 1779.)
Instead of reaching Rome, they emerged at the High Falls on Black River – now Lyons Falls – and were forced to cross the river and proceed to the present Oswego County before they could locate themselves. These were excellent woodsmen, resourceful men accustomed to life in the woods – but what an ordeal that must have been. Yes, that surveyor named Tupper was allowed to name Tupper Lake after himself when they happened upon it near the place where they finished their survey. I bet most readers will agree that the christening was most fitting and deserving, and it gives our beautiful lake a certain distinction of great historical importance.
That south boundary remains today (after four subsequent surveys) to establish its accuracy, as it was laid out 207 years ago.
Benjamin Wright, an engineer, later carried the line the remaining portion of 20-some miles to its corner at Preston Ponds. That line today crosses the road to Long Lake on Rte. 30 (there was no road there until 1918), where there is a parking space and snowplow turn-around (caution: this is a zoned tow-away from October to April). For an interesting short hike, you can follow this historical line east for a little over two miles distance. This easterly line is today part of the popular trail to Coney Mountain. Hikers using this trail will notice a steel girder embedded in the ground, splotched with yellow and red surveyor paint and an attached plate with the year 1903 inscribed on it. This survey marker, or monument, is #158 at 27.75 miles, one of almost 300 such girders, or I-beams, in the 50-mile distance of the original Macomb south property line. The designated trail to Coney’s summit bears left a short distance above this marker, but if you continue east about 10 minutes to a saddle in the spiny ridge of Coney’s painted blazes, you will find monument #159. Descend steeply here, still going east, and you will discover a double beam monument, #160. Before the county line was moved 7/10 mile west beyond Rte. 30 for funding purposes to build a new highway, this was the tri-country corner of St. Lawrence, Hamilton and Franklin counties and is the southwest corner of Mr. Litchfield’s property.
Here, a large beech stub has the word “CORNER” spelled out along its length with surveyor paint. This is known as a witness tree in survey terms to mark the boundary between Macomb’s Great Lots #1 and #2 and might be the original tree used in the early surveys, so it is of great historical significance. Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines it as “something serving as evidence or proof: sign.”
Beyond this point, it is private, but if you could follow it along successive girders, #161, #162, etc., you would arrive at the line’s terminus (after crossing the Raquette River and going close to Noah John’s old camp). You are now at Preston Ponds and the corner of Essex and Franklin counties. You won’t find an original monument here, however, because the line ended in the pond. Preston Ponds are the source of the Cold River and have received much notice recently as part of the Open Space Institute’s purchase of the so-called Newcomb Tract, with plans in place to make it part of the state’s public land holdings.
This is Cold River country, where the Tupper Lake firm known as The Santa Clara Company once owned 400,000 acres. Here, for over 30 years, lumbermen from this community and associated with Santa Clara, timbered the steep mountain ranges and drove its rivers. It is a place rich in the history of Tupper Lake. Exciting, dramatic, phenomenal, even – it is an epic story of courage, skill and great dramas in the development of Tupper Lake, when lumbering was king.
More on Preston Ponds in the next Transitions.