In 1933, this village was made the headquarters for a biological survey of the Racquette River Watershed, conducted by the State Conservation Department (D.E.C.). Offices and laboratory facilities were made available at the Tupper Lake High School.
A staff of 34 scientists and fish experts had been recruited, mainly from the educational institutions of the state. Many were professors from Cornell, Syracuse Buffalo and St. Lawrence universities. Specialists in the field of fisheries science from R.P.I., Wesleyan and John Hopkins universities were also drawn upon. Following a three-month investigation and study of the entire watershed, a detailed report, which I have in my files, was published. It includes maps of the entire stream system and other maps that carried the boundaries of privately owned and posted properties as well as other useful data. Included also is a group of 12 colored plates of fishes native to New York State and inventories and recommendations of the study area.
Originally, it was feared that if access were denied to lakes under private ownership, the study would suffer from not securing a satisfactory picture of the system as a whole. However, this did not occur and the team of scientists found only the best of cooperation from private owners as the caliber of the scientists involved manifested itself. In many instances, access to several of the private properties afforded means of studying waters typifying primitive fish associations with authentic records carrying back to a period before the introduction of nonnative species to the Adirondack waters!
One of those private lakes was Ampersand near Coreys. It had never been stocked nor never intensively fished, thus it had not been disturbed by introductions, and it represented a natural Adirondack association. Both lake trout and brook trout were present in considerable numbers.
Another of those private waters was Follensby Pond near this community, and perhaps the fishery report of that pond may be of some interest to readers of this column. At the time of this biological survey in 1933, Follensby Park was owned by J.E. Barbour, the nephew of Colonel Wm. Barbour, prominent Tupper Lake landowner. Mr. Barbour had acquired Follensby Pond and 4,000 surrounding acres in 1916 for $75,000. He later increased his holdings to over 15,000 acres, paying $450,000 for 11,805 acres to the Santa Clara Lumber Company.
Note: The Santa Clara Lumber Company had purchased the land from Dr. Thomas Durant and his son, W.W. Durant, for $1.50 per acre in 1890. Dr. Durant, a principal of the Union Pacific Railroad, had hoped to extend the Adirondack Railroad Company’s line from Saratoga, which ended at North Creek, to Canada, following, in part, the Racquette River Corridor, a dream that did not materialize.
Other owners of the Follensby Tract, which space doesn’t allow detailing, included over the years the Brooklyn Cooperage, which wanted to put in a railroad and was discouraged by Ferris Meigs of Santa Clara, and the O.W.D., which harvested its hardwood before being repurchased by Santa Clara and Elliot Hardwood.
Today, the Follensby Tract is owned by John McCormick of Manchester Depot, Vermont, who purchased it in 1952. The pond itself and its buffer zone remain protected and beautiful and are in the careful and loving stewardship of its owner. At least four hunting clubs lease land on the property: River Ridge, Adirondack Hunting Club, Gatehouse Club and the Inlet Club. Hopefully, if any transfer of title should take place in the future, these clubs can be allowed to retain privileges, at least during big game season. Such arrangements are more and more crafted into purchase agreements to ensure a long-standing tradition is not lost.
The tract has been extensively lumbered and is laced with miles of roads, some of which are “all-season roads,” as they are called. Many of the roads were constructed by local lumberman, Paul Mitchell, whose skill at road building is considered without equal by his peers. Unfortunately, one road crosses an unsightly, huge metal culvert, placed to provide a crossing over the famed outlet spitting the pond’s pristine waters in a profane manner into the outlet stream, which follows a circuitous but navigable course through a magical marsh and enters forest preserve land before joining the Racquette River.
In his poem, The Adirondacks, Emerson describes it much the way it is today:
… a small tortuous pass.
Winding through grassy shallows in and out.
Two creeping miles of rushes, pads and sponge.
Follensby Pond
Follensby Pond is an L-shaped lake with an area of 908.8 acres and a
maximum depth of 100 feet when at normal level. It lies at an elevation
of 1,548 feet and drains by way of a short outlet directly into the
Racquette River.
During the past 17 or 18 years, the lake has not been stocked, but excellent fishing has been maintained throughout this period. Early introductions included the small-mouthed bass, yellow perch, northern pike and whitefish, and following the establishment of these species, brook trout became extinct as a lake fish.
Lake trout are abundant, however, and grow to a large size, a 31-pound specimen having been taken a few years ago by trolling. The introduced whitefish is exceedingly abundant but averages rather small. Yellow perch, so often a menace in ponds and lakes, are present, but apparently due to the character of the lake, they have not gained ascendancy over other species. The common sunfish is infrequently taken. Bullheads, now rare, were reported to have been plentiful until recent years. Small-mouthed bass and northern pike are both abundant and grow to a large size.
In attempting to determine what elements have had a part in maintaining the fish population at such a high level over many years, consideration has been given to the fact that the lake is privately owned and not open to public fishing. It is obvious that this factor alone is not responsible, for many privately owned waters are so restricted but provide indifferent fishing. A partial explanation is to be found in the character of the water itself, for it is clear and white and contains more dissolved oxygen at the bottom than many lakes at the surface. The contour of the lake basin and the almost total absence of weed beds may account in part for the relative scarceness of the yellow perch, for the lake has few real shallows, and bass and pike can forage to the shoreline.
Examination of stomach contents indicates that perch and whitefish contribute to the diet of the lake trout. The whitefish in turn rely mostly on bottom foods, and perch on crayfish and insects.
Reference is frequently made to weed beds and plants in general as the ultimate source of food for fishes. The absence of any extensive beds in Follensby Pond would seem to indicate a dependence on the microscopic forms, almost to the exclusion of other types.