Monthly Archives: January 2007

Aside from a traditional recount of the important white guys who did everything, Mr. Schneider captures the essence of the people throughout the modern eras. His time with modern trappers, loggers and bureaucrats capture the sense of urgency for anybody involved in the Park. Initially sought as a farming area after the strategic significance of the French and Revolutionary Wars, lumber and mining interests drove the Park after the attempt to cultivate a place with only 10 percent of its land arable. Mining was sort of disaster at first with many tragic elements. The descriptions of the old facilities as they sit or stand now was a pretty neat journalistic trick.
The historical portrayal of notables like Sir William Johnson and John Brown were real page turners. I’ve seen the signs just outside Lake Placid to John Brown’s house and always thought it was the John Brown involved in the early 19th Century, not the infamous abolitionist. The tragic story of Mr. Henderson and his death in front of his eleven year old son was a real gut wrencher for any tough guy. It seems like there were at least half a dozen fellows who spawned the model for Fenimore’s Natty Bumppo. Roger’s Rangers, famous guides, French Aristocracy’s designs and numerous other affairs and plans sets up a lot of good story telling.
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