Land acquisition records?

[Chris I]

I'm always curious to see how long ago areas were logged. My logic tells me that prior to someone selling/"gifting" land to the "park" they would more than likely have it logged one last time to get the last money out of the land.

Is there a source of when tracts were acquired by the state? I'm interested in the Ferris Lake Wilderness right now, we were back at Waters Millpond and I can't seem to find any history on that area.

[Tick Magnet]

What a neat area to explore. I try to make it up there at least once a year and poke around. It's definitely impacted by man, but the only history I've found is what's been published in "Discover the Southern Adirondacks" by Bill Ingersoll.

Bill's primary source info for the area came from "Gazetteer of Montgomery and Fulton Counties, NY, 1869-70" He mentions William Waters, Joseph Conklin and William Potter. All those names are represented in the area lakes and landmarks.

He talks about the area around the North Creek Lakes as being acquired in 1913 by the Dodge Manufacturing Company to use the lumber for making clothespins. The land was then bought by another individual in 1924 and logged by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company in the mid-1940's. The timbermen dammed up several of the ponds and floated logs down North Creek to Knappville. All the trails in the area are remnants of the old logging roads. There are several other logging roads around that aren't on the map, as well as remains of logging camps.

There's some other Forum members who live in that area and maybe they'll chime in with more details.

[Chris I]

Originally Posted by Tick Magnet

What a neat area to explore. I try to make it up there at least once a year and poke around. It's definitely impacted by man, but the only history I've found is what's been published in "Discover the Southern Adirondacks" by Bill Ingersoll.

Bill's primary source info for the area came from "Gazetteer of Montgomery and Fulton Counties, NY, 1869-70" He mentions William Waters, Joseph Conklin and William Potter. All those names are represented in the area lakes and landmarks.

He talks about the area around the North Creek Lakes as being acquired in 1913 by the Dodge Manufacturing Company to use the lumber for making clothespins. The land was then bought by another individual in 1924 and logged by the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company in the mid-1940's. The timbermen dammed up several of the ponds and floated logs down North Creek to Knappville. All the trails in the area are remnants of the old logging roads. There are several other logging roads around that aren't on the map, as well as remains of logging camps.

There's some other Forum members who live in that area and maybe they'll chime in with more details.

Thanks for the reply, Tick. Good information! We do a lot of snowmobiling in the area and it's nice getting back there in a different season.

[DSettahr]

The information you're looking for would likely be available via the county tax assessor's office. If you're lucky, the most recent sale date will be included in that county's online GIS database. More likely, you'll need to figure out the parcel ID # and then pay an in person visit to the tax assessor who can look up that information for you (although expect that there may be an associated fee).

A few links that may be of interest:

http://www.hamcomaps.net/

https://hamilton.sdgnys.com/search.aspx