Environmentalists Sue Over Floatplane Use

Received from the Adirondack Mountain Club and forwarded for your information, the following press release:

ALBANY, N.Y. -- The Adirondack Mountain Club (ADK), the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks, the Sierra Club and the Residents' Committee to Protect the Adirondacks filed a lawsuit in state Supreme Court in Albany on May 29. The suit asks the court to compel the state Department of Environmental Conservation to ban floatplanes on Lows Lake in the Adirondack Park.

The lawsuit was filed because DEC has failed to abide by legal commitments it made in 2003 to eliminate floatplanes on the wilderness lake. In January of that year, the DEC commissioner signed a unit management plan (UMP) for the area that committed DEC to phasing out floatplane use of Lows Lake over five years. The five-year window expired at the end of January, but DEC has not promulgated regulations to ban floatplanes. According to the Adirondack Park State Land Master Plan, which is part of the state Executive Law, "preservation of the wild character of this canoe route without motorboat or airplane usage … is the primary management goal for this primitive area."

"Lows Lake is a true wilderness within the 'forever wild' Forest Preserve," said David H. Gibson, executive director of the Association for the Protection of the Adirondacks. "Eighty-five percent of its shoreline is bounded by designated wilderness. It is the true eastern border of the Five Ponds Wilderness Area. The public expects DEC to manage wilderness according to well established principles and legal guidelines, among which is the key provision that there shall be no public motorized use."

"We take this action reluctantly and only after extensive discussions with DEC at the highest levels," said Roger F. Downs, conservation associate for the Sierra Club Atlantic Chapter. "From the moment these lands and waters were acquired for the public in 1985, the state's verbal and written intent was to treat this body of water as wilderness and to close Lows Lake to all public motorized use. Finally, in 2003, DEC committed in the UMP to doing just that over the ensuing five years, providing floatplane operators with a long time to adjust their business plans. Five years constitutes a very generous and lengthy public notice. We act today because DEC has failed to follow through on a very public commitment advertised far in advance and involving extensive public involvement and debate."

At 3,122 acres, Lows Lake, which straddles the St. Lawrence-Hamilton county line, is one of the larger lakes in the Adirondack Park. The lake stretches about 10 miles east to west and is the centerpiece of a roughly 20-milelong wilderness canoe route. Floatplanes were rare on Lows Lake until recently. Sometime before 1990, non-native bass were illegally introduced into the lake, and as public awareness of the bass fishery grew, floatplanes and motorboat use increased. Motorboats, except those for personal use by the few private landowners on the lake, are now prohibited on Lows Lake.

A recent analysis by the Residents' Committee shows that only 10 of the 100 largest lakes and ponds in the Adirondacks are "motorless," and three of these are in remote areas that are not easily accessible. The vast majority of lakes and ponds in the Adirondacks are overrun with floatplanes, motorboats and personal watercraft.

"Motorboats have already been prohibited on Lows Lake, making this decision by DEC inconsistent as well as illegal," said Michael P. Washburn, executive director of the Residents' Committee. "The park should be the place where people know they can find wilderness. That will only happen if New York state follows its own laws."

DEC's proposed permit system would limit flights into the lake and allow DEC to designate specific areas for take offs and landings, but the plan creates a number of problems. For one thing, floatplane operators would be allowed to store canoes for use by their clients on Forest Preserve land designated as wilderness, an inappropriate and unconstitutional commercial use of public land. Floatplanes would also have to beach on the wilderness shore to drop off and pick up clients at the canoe storage sites.

During the peak paddling season, July through September, floatplanes would be prohibited from landing on and taking off from Lows Lake on Fridays and Saturdays and on Sundays before 2 p.m. This would increase pressure on the area because visitors coming in by floatplane would have to camp for at least three nights on weekends during the busy season. Floatplane customers would also be coming in on Thursday, allowing them to quickly fill up camping sites before weekend paddlers have a chance to get there.

DEC attempts to justify the proposal by manipulating the results of a survey of paddlers who visited Lows Lake in 2007. Generally, the survey results do not support continued use of floatplanes on Lows Lake. For example, 68 percent of the paddlers surveyed said they believe it is inappropriate for floatplanes to use the lake and 85 percent said floatplanes diminished their wilderness experience. These figures are consistent with the hundreds of letters the state received in 2002 supporting a floatplane ban.

"Lows Lake provides a rare wilderness paddling experience, but that experience is greatly diminished by the intrusion of floatplanes," said Neil F. Woodworth, executive director of ADK. "It's frustrating, after a hard day canoeing or kayaking, to discover that your favorite campsite has already been grabbed by someone who can afford to hire a plane."

The suit is returnable on July 11 in Albany. Attorney John W. Caffry of Caffry & Flower of Glens Falls is representing the coalition in the case.

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Top 5 Things Visitors Get Wrong in The Adirondacks

5 - Over reliance on the automobile. Too often visitors spend hours driving around the Adirondacks from small town to small town (or big town to big town) without actually seeing anything. Stop. Get out of the car. Go hiking, take a train, boat, or ferry ride. Rent a boat, go swimming, ride a bike or rent a moped - even just getting out of the car at that scenic look-out will open new experiences.

4 - Expecting all the comforts of home. What's the point of coming to the Adirondacks if you're going to duplicate home life? Go camping, sleep outside in the yard of your mountain respite. Leave your cell phone home (or at least packed away for emergencies). If we had all the comforts of home you have, it would be your home, not ours.

3 - Not Getting beyond the big tourist traps. Leave Lake George, Lake Placid, Old Forge, and the other tourist trap towns and explore the wonders the Adirondacks has to offer. That doesn't mean head to the High Peaks either - if you want to get away, ask a local about their favorite spot and you'll be surprised what you discover. Some of the greatest places in the Adirondacks are virtually unknown to most travelers.

2 - Not learning about local history and ecology. You can't possibly get a real sense of the Adirondacks without doing some homework. Pick up a guide book before you get here, take a guided tour with a naturalist, or at one of the area's many museums. That thing you saw but wasn't sure what it was? You'd have known if you spent some time understanding the history and ecology of the Adirondacks before you got here.

1 - Looking down on locals. Just because you come from a big city, have 24-hour convenience stores, fancy restaurants and hotels, you wear fashionable clothes, drive a cool car or SUV, doesn't mean you are special. The odds are, you'd have just as tough a time dealing with living in the Adirondacks as we would living in yer big city suburbia. We are here because we want to be - don't assume we're some backwater hillbillies without a sense of culture, technology, or the latest celebrity gossip. Odds are, if we don't know about it, that's because we could care less.

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Prices Mean Adirondack Railroads' Time Has Come

The Adirondack Journal reported this week that Warren County supervisors "derailed" (pun apparently intended) a local tourist railroad development project by voting to pay a consultant for the design of two of the railroads train stations at Hadley and Thurman. Looking around the net, it's hard to pinpoint exactly what is going on, but it seems as though the county may be dragging its feet on the plan to improve the long neglected Delaware and Hudson RR tracks between Corinth in Saratoga County and North Creek, near the Gore Mountain Ski Area.

NY State Transportation Commissioner Astrid Glynn definitely is, when he announced $20 million in rail funding last week to go toward 15 projects statewide, extending the Adirondack Scenic Railroad from Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake was not on the list. In December 2006, former George Pataki had promised $5 million to make the 26 miles of track between the two villages passable.

Also last week, the North Creek News Enterprise (also owned by Adirondack Journal publisher Denton Publications) ran a story - "Depot Museum Faces Uncertain Future" - pointing out that the North Creek Depot Museum (rebuilt in 1993) is, in the words of museum President Helen Miner, in "a crisis situation." Apparently, the Depot Museum is not a part of the Upper Hudson River Railroad and does not receive a share of its ticket sales. The Depot survives on the proceeds of a contract with the Railroad to provide station services. They brought 13,000 people through the station last year, but may now close at the end of this season.

That's probably good news for Glens Falls Fifth Ward Supervisor William Kenny. Kenny was the only Warren County supervisor to vote against funding the new rail stations in Hadley and Thurman. Kenny has been a virulent opponent of the tourist line - a man who still lives in the 1960s when our political leaders allowed the nations railroads to be abandoned in favor of superhighways and bypasses like I-87 (the Northway) and Route 28 which bypasses North Creek.

The damage to local Adirondack economies has been dramatic and tragic - just look at any of the small towns, places like Warrensburg, Chestertown, Pottersville, Schroon Lake, and North Hudson, that have been driven to the economic brink when all the Route 9 traffic was routed out of town.

Scenic railroads like the Upper Hudson Railroad and the Adirondack Scenic Railroad, need the support of our political leaders, yes - but they also need to be conceived of in a new economic light. Once a trolley ran from Glens Falls to Warrensbug and connected local residents with cheap public transportation. By 1906, the Hudson Valley Railway which began operations between Glens Falls and Fort Edward, had 130 miles of track, 100 cars, 500 employees, and ran once an hour in winter and every half-hour to a quarter-hour in the summer.

Now is the time to revive the old rail beds like the Lake George-Warrensburg rail bed, which is still largely in tact, though the rails have been torn up for scrap. We need to stop turning them into bike and snowmobile trails and return them to their proper use. We need to move beyond the scenic railroad to a real light rail system that can serve us all, locals and tourists alike, and provide local employment.

When gas reaches 6, 8, and then 10 dollars a gallon, the tourists we depend on will have significant reason to take public transportation to reach their summer vacations. As gas prices rise, locals should be asking themselves why we can't hope the train to shop in Queensbury, Tupper Lake, Lake Placid, North Creek, Saratoga, or any of the other spots on the lines. Once, not that long ago, we could.

If politicians like William Kenny have their way, we never will.

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The Biggest Threats to Adirondack Water Resources

The Adirondack Council has released a report that outlines eight major threats to Adirondack water resources. Titled Adirondack Waters: Resource at Risk [pdf], the 32-page booklet describes the threats and what can be done about them. The eight risks include: Acid Rain, Mercury Pollution, Global Climate Change, Aquatic Invasive Species, Inadequate Sewage Treatment, Suburban Sprawl, Diverting Adirondack Waters, and Road Salt. You can read more on the flip side -



Acid Rain - More than 700 bodies of water in the Adirondack Park have been damaged and native fish, amphibians, and other aquatic life are threatened. Although they may look clear and pristine, the appearance of water bodies damaged by acid rain is actually due to a lack of native life in the water. Recently, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) finalized the Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR), which provides for the largest reductions in the pollutants that cause acid rain since the passage of the original Clean Air Act in 1963. Congress needs to put these new rules into law.

Mercury Pollution - Mercury is spewed out the stacks of coal plants and some industrial facilities. It's a neurotoxin that can harm the brain and nervous system function and is taken up by plants, fish, and other animals. Mercury moves up the food chain and is passed on to us - a situation that requires strict limits on the amount of local fish we can eat. High levels of mercury have also been found in fish-eating birds, such as loons (now a “species of special concern”), egrets, eagles, ducks, and kingfishers, as well as in many forest songbirds (who eat mercury contaminated insects). George W. Bush's EPA created mercury rules that because of the time lines for improvement and trading of mercury emission credits would do nothing to solve the problem. After New York successfully sued the federal government for allowing mercury to be traded, the EPA simply hasn't bothered to come up with new rules. In 2006 the commissioner of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Pete Grannis announced that New York will regulate emissions of mercury from in-state coal-fired power plants to require a 50 percent cut by 2010 and a 90 percent cut by 2015.

Global Climate Change - Various models suggest that precipitation in the Adirondack Park could increase by 10–30 percent. Higher water levels could endanger dams, alter stream flow, compromise fisheries, and increase sedimentation, runoff, and may decrease water quality if wastewater treatment systems are compromised. Warmer temperatures may mean a decrease in snow pack and threaten local economic engines like snowmobiling and skiing. Brook, brown, and rainbow trout could drastically decline or be lost altogether if climate change is severe. We need to force local, regional, and national politicians, media, and public leaders to take these threats seriously.

Aquatic Invasive Species - Eurasian milfoil, water chestnut, zebra mussels, alewives, and gobis, are just a few of the non-natives that displace native species and threaten biodiversity; they interfere with fishing and swimming, reduce property values, and are expensive to control. The main culprits are boaters and fishermen who don't take the threat seriously and bring invasive species into our waters combined with high phosphorous from sewage effluent and agricultural run-off that creates a nutrient-rich habitat for invasive aquatic plants. In 2003, the Departments of Agriculture and Environmental Conservation organized the New York State Invasive Species Task Force, which included in its final report in 2005 the Adirondack Park Aquatic Nuisance Species Management Plan. The 2006 state budget included a new
category within the Environmental Protection Fund for invasive species work and the funding was increased to $5 million in the 2007–08 budget.

Inadequate Sewage Treatment - Wastewater pollution is a threat to human health, drinking water, and recreational opportunities. Many local sewage and individual septic systems are aging or inadequate and the cost of their improvement may exceed $100 million. In 2003, Lake Everest in Wilmington was closed to swimming requiring Lake Placid to spend $14 million for a new treatment plant. The AuSable River and Lake Champlain are noticeably affected by wastewater. We need federal and state funding to municipalities and homeowners to improve our wastewater systems and protect our recreation industry.

Suburban Sprawl - New development means increased run-off and erosion, which increases water sedimentation and pollutes water bodies. Studies suggest that about 95 percent of rain water runs directly off a road or parking lot, compared with only 5 percent from a wooded area. Water quality can be harmed when as little as 2 percent of a watershed is converted from natural vegetation to artificial hard surfaces. Water being drawn from streams, ponds, and aquifers can also have deleterious consequences, even in the relatively well-watered Adirondacks - particularly if developments include snow-making for commercial ski slopes. More broadly, development increases per capita fuel consumption, and thus acid rain, climate change, and the many other associated problems.

Diverting Adirondack Waters - The newest threat to Adirondack water resources is out-of-basin water diversions, exports, or expropriations. Some of the biggest conservation battles in the Park’s history were over ill-conceived dams proposed on the region's rivers. As water resources across the globe are threatened, battles in the future could be over attempts by outside corporations or governments to gain control over Adirondack waters for private profit or to meet demands in drier or more populated areas. The Adirondack Park presently has no law or authority to prevent underground waters from being tapped and exported from private lands and the authority to prevent diversions is limited even for public lands and surface waters.

Road Salt - Road salt threatens ecosystems and public health. Private wells and the water supplies of entire communities in New York have been contaminated. In 2003, for example, research by the Adirondack Council found that 52 municipalities across the state had reported high levels of sodium in their public water supplies to the Department of Health. In each case, sodium levels were above 20 milligrams per liter—a concentration at which people on salt-restricted diets are advised not to drink the water. The storage of deicing compounds is currently unregulated, and road salt is left exposed to rain, snow, and wind, leading to environmental degradation when dissolved salt leaches into aquifers and ground water. In many places, updated equipment would allow road crews to reduce the amount of salt they apply and use more modern deicing compounds.

Here are some interesting water facts from the Adirondack Council:

The Great Sacandaga Lake, created in 1930 to prevent the Hudson River from flooding Cohoes, Albany and Troy, is 29 miles long and holds back an average of 283,000,000,000 (283 billion) gallons of water from the Hudson and Sacandaga River watersheds. It is not the Park’s largest lake.

In 1883, New York City’s mayor appointed a committee to investigate the construction of a canal from the Adirondacks to the city to supply up to 300,000,000,000 (300 billion) gallons of drinking water per day. [See photo above].

The Beech-Nut baby food plant proposed for Montgomery County (a replacement for the Canajoharie plant) plans to purchase one million gallons of water per day from the City of Amsterdam, whose supply is located inside the Adirondack Park at Ireland Vly and Steele Reservoir, Saratoga County.

The combined volume of just four Adirondack Park lakes (Lake George, Great Sacandaga, Tupper Lake and Raquette Lake) exceeds 1,000,000,000,000 (1 trillion) gallons.

The Adirondack Park encompasses nearly six million acres of land, an area of more than 9,000 square miles. The Park contains the state’s highest mountain peaks and the headwaters of five major drainage basins: Lake Champlain and the Hudson, Black, St. Lawrence, and Mohawk Rivers. In all, the waters of the Adirondack region include 2,800 lakes and ponds, 1,500 miles of rivers, and an estimated 30,000 miles of brooks and streams.

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The Dangers of Americade Revisited

Springtime means a lot of motorcycles on the road. It also means Americade, the annual motorcycle fest in Lake George that draws some 60 or 70 thousand riders to what is considered the World's Largest Touring Rally.

According to their website, this year:

You can enjoy 5 new MiniTours, 3 Poker Runs (with a new route), a new scavenger hunt, 2 TourExpo tradeshows (bigger than ever), a new Moonlight boat cruise as well as a dozen daylight ones, 2 rodeos, 50+ seminars, 2 parades, parties, nearly $100,000 in door prizes!

Also: 17 manufacturers offering demo rides on the latest bikes and trikes, and on Saturday, World Champ Chris Pfeiffer will demonstrate his amazing riding skills. And... a whole lot more.

I wholeheartedly support Americade, but increasingly every year the rally draws criticism from our friends and neighbors. Among the chief complaints are the role tax money plays in supporting the event (which brings thousands of dollars to private businesses) and the sometimes caustic attitude of event organizers (who have repeatedly threatened to take Americade elsewhere if they don't get their way).

Last year, I wrote a piece called The Dangers of Americade that questioned the deafening silence of organizers on the issue of safety. I pointed out that according to an Associated Press report, Americade founder Bill Dutcher stated that he was "aware of only one death among the hundreds of thousands of bikers who have registered for Americade over the years."

My argument was simple, Dutcher assertion was blatantly false - many folks are killed coming and going to Americade. I argued that Americade organizers should stop obfuscating the facts and show some leadership on the issue of safety and in particular, on the continued cultural sense that automobile drivers own the road. Not even on their website, loaded with corporate logos and tips for attending the event, do they bother to even mention safety. They do take time to try to keep out the the folks they think are riff-raff, however, as I noted last year:

While the Americade website offers no safety advice or links, it does take pains to remind a certain class of riders that:

Americade... [is] a convention of riders and passengers who enjoy riding tourers, sport-tourers and cruising motorcycles.

Americade is a gathering of friendly, fun-loving folks, for whom motorcycling is a social hobby, but not some form of rebellion. It's NOT the place for shows of speed, hostile attitudes, or illegally loud motorcycles. Americade supports the AMA position that "Loud Pipes Risk Rights."

Nowhere does it remind riders that, unfortunately, riding a motorcycle is dangerous in our car-centered, self-absorbed world. It's one of the most important issues facing bikers (as well as pedestrians, joggers, and bicyclists) today. It's probably safe to say that every bike club in America has a memorial to one of their riders killed by a car or truck.

That recently drew some discussion on the original post from a long time rider who took offense with my call for Americade organizers to show some leadership. One of the arguments the commenter made was that:

Americade is run by motorcyclist for motorcyclists and the overwhelming majority of the attendees are very experienced motorcyclists. Very few of the attendees are newcomers to the sport. When they are newcomers they usually are in the company of experienced riders who are introducing them to the fun of Americade. Americade does not pose any dangers for riders that don't exist every other time they throw a leg across the seat of their ride.

Motorcycling is all about freedom and the responsibility that goes along with it. Anyone who expect someone else to be responsible for their safety on a motorcycle has no business being on one. All riders learn very quickly that they are responsible or managing the risks when riding. No one can do it for them.

That's sounds great, but it's not the truth. A new study by Gannett News Service reporters John Yaukey and Robert Benincasa called Risky Ride looked at data from the federal government's Fatality Analysis Reporting System:

Nearly half of the riders killed in 2006 were age 40 and older, and nearly a quarter were 50 or older. The average age of motorcyclists killed in accidents was about 38.

Half of motorcyclists killed between 2002 and 2006 lost control and crashed without colliding with another vehicle... Motorcyclists account for about 2 percent of vehicles on the road but 10 percent of all traffic fatalities, according to federal statistics.

The main point of the study is that the trend toward fewer helmet laws has led to an increase in fatalities. According to Yaukey and Benincasa:

Death rates from motorcycle crashes have risen steadily since states began weakening helmet laws about a decade ago, according to a Gannett News Service analysis of federal accident reports.

I don't agree with helmet laws, though I think you'd be stupid to ride without one for any distance (yeah, I know, and even down the block... blah, blah, blah).

I do however, still think it's long past time for Americade organizers to take a leadership role in rider safety - something - anything - to show a commitment to rider safety for bikers young and old. It makes even more sense now, that their is a rise in rider deaths with loosening of helmet laws to show the world that riders care about safety and don't need the nanny state to keep them safe.

Don't you think?

BTW: Last year's post was prompted in part by the news that Alan Gregory, author of Alan Gregory's Conservation News was hit by an 85-year old driver while bicycling near is home. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and was in long term hospital care - the good news is, one year later, he is getting back to blogging. We missed his insights and are glad to hear of his return to the blogosphere.

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Hybrid Cars and the Adirondacks

In December of 2007 the old Subaru went down for the count and it was time for a new car. We got lucky (likely because it was December, not exactly a banner month for car sales) and found the Honda Civic hybrid we were looking for in Schenectady - it was the only one they had and we bought it on the spot.

At first, many of our friends, relatives, and neighbors showed some skepticism. They asked whether we thought we were jumping in to a new, unproven, technology. Some congratulated us for being ahead of the curve. Others wondered about the pick-up, asked if the batteries would hold-up for long drives in the mountains, questioned the costs of repairs, how it would handle in the ice and snow -you name it, they asked it.

So on the flip are some observations about our Hybrid experience so far.



The four-door Honda Civic that we bought doesn't look funny - aside from the hybrid label on the back and the more streamlined look, it appears generally like most other current sedans.

Most folks who ride along have no idea it's a hybrid unless we tell them. The car has the same pick-up as comparable automatics of its size. The only clue it's a hybrid from the inside are the gauges and the fact that it shuts off when you come to a stop. Once you lift your foot off the brake, it starts right up again and you're off. If the stereo is on, and you don't know it's happening, you can't tell. On a related note - if we got rid of all the unnecessary stop signs in America and replaced them with yield signs we would save a LOT of gas.

Overall the mileage could be better. Although it's rated for 45 mpg, we've gotten only 36 on average so far. Even so, I'm sure the old Subaru got a lot less then it was rated for - the bottom line is we've cut our monthly gas bill about 35 percent. Every car should have a current mpg gauge - just seeing how our driving is wasting gas has offered us as much savings as the hybrid technology.

As we've learned to drive the hybrid, we've gotten better mileage. We stared with about 32 on average, but since there's a gauge showing the current mpg and a trip setting, we've been making a contest to see who can get the best mileage - I recently got an even 42 mpg on a trip to Albany and back. The trick we've learned is to keep the speed down on the highway (69 instead of 72), keep the cruise-control on, and keep the rpms below 3,000 when climbing large hills. We could probably make the 45 mpg average if we drove only 55 on the highway, which is not going to happen. It's true that the mileage is considerably better in the city, primarily because the speeds are in the 20s, 30s, or 40s.

The way gas prices are rising (our theory is $4 by Labor Day, then it falls off again just before the election and rises considerably afterward) - we're counting on our hybrid keeping its value enough to allow us to upgrade in two years when hopefully electric cars will be available at a reasonable price - that may be wishful thinking.

As far as the Adirondack conditions, the car climbs hills normally but it's front wheel drive and does not even closely compare with the Subaru - that's why we've kept our older Legacy wagon. When the weather is bad - like it's been lately (and the Suuby has made legendary trips lately!) - we take the wagon. When the roads are dry, we take the hybrid. Since we live on a fairly main road, we could probably manage with only the hybrid, otherwise it would have to be one of the four-wheel drive models that naturally get much worse mileage. The combination we have now makes a lot more economic sense.

There you have it - I'd be interested in others comments on the hybrid experiences in the mountains.

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Adirondack Snowmobile History, Part Five

In Part One of Adirondack Snowmobile History, we traced the emergence of snow machines in the early 1900s, in Part Two we looked at the development of the personal sled that is so familiar today. Part Three followed the explosion of makes and models and the spread of snowmobiling throughout the Adirondack region with races, clubs, and dealers taking advantage of the boon in snowmobile sales that occurred from 1965 to 1970. Part Four covered the emerging conflicts over snowmobiles in the Adirondack Region, a topic we'll conclude this series with today.

As the the 1970s began, new snowmobile clubs and riders argued for more trails and Adirondack locals increased their investment in the industry. The New York Times, noted in an piece tilted “Snowmobiles in the Adirondacks” in 1972:

An economic boom is putt-putting into the remote fringes of the Adirondack Forest Preserve these days on the rubber tracks and diminutive skis of the snowmobile. Some restaurants, banks, gasoline stations, and grocery stores, long accustomed to depressingly quiet winters in this snowfast region, now are doing a volume of business that reminds them of days in July and August. Each weekend, some 11,000 snowmobilists fan out from . . . downstate areas for a day or two of picnicking and racing on the lakes and mountains.

The local residents of such villages as Speculator are happy to see the winter weekenders trundling along the highways with their snowmobiles cradled on trailers behind their cars. “Most winters we used not to make expenses,” said Howard Romaine, a restaurant proprietor here. “But with these snowmobile people coming in, the millennium has arrived.”

As snowmobilers talked about the economic impacts of their sport in the Adirondacks, the number of snowmobile being sold every year boomed to unprecedented levels. In the early 1970s there just over a hundred snowmobile makers. The most profitable were the big three - Bombardier / Ski Doo, Polaris, and Artic Cat - but motorcycle and outboard motor companies also branched out to take advantage of the increasing popularity in the sport.

From 1970 to 1973 more than 2 million sleds were sold but the popularity of the sport was at its peak. Never again would sled sales equal those golden years. The recession of 1973 and a declining economy throughout the 1970s helped slow outdoor sports sales at a time when other opportunities to ride - namely ATVs - were beginning to emerge.

Additionally, and perhaps most importantly, a new environmental awareness made it less desirable among many to run the trails on a noisy motor powered machine. Noise was a major factor in the first attempts to seriously regulate snowmobiles. The reason was explained by snowmobile historian Leonard Reich:

Snowmobiles were noisy for technical, economic, and social reasons. Technically, it was difficult to quiet their two-stroke engines without compromising power output. Baffled mufflers that worked well on four-stroke engines disrupted the two-stroke's exhaust flow and robbed it of power. To be effective a muffler had to contain substantial quantities of sound-absorbing materials, which made it large, bulky, and expensive. Even if the exhaust could be quieted, the engine's air intake created noise, and the entire drive system of clutches, gearing or chains, and track added even more. Shrouds and other enclosures helped, but they too added weight, bulk, and expense.

Even though noisy snowmobiles could have an adverse impact on riders' hearing, many wanted loud machines. An article in Snow-Mobile Times commented, "For some snowmobilers, noise is a large part of the fun of the sport. The sound of that loud motor means power, speed, the thrill of being in control of a revved-up machine." Snowmobile dealers knew their market. As one commented, "If it's noisy and goes like hell, it will sell."

By 1972, a number of state legislatures had acted to curb snowmobile noise, setting decibel limits for a full-throttle machine heard from 50 feet. When the maker of the Johnson Skee-Horse and Evinrude Skeeter committed itself to achieving 73 decibels within six years, the ISIA [International Snowmobile Industry Association, formed in 1965 by Bombardier] grudgingly went along, and several states wrote that limit into their legislation. It was not long, however, before the industry "recognized that it had spoken too quickly and had to backtrack when subsequent engineering and marketing analyses led most industry members to conclude that they could not produce a marketable machine meeting this noise standard." What that statement meant, of course, was that the added expense and reduced "vroom" would significantly cut into sales.

In 1971 efforts to increase the miles of trails as a hedge to the rampant trespassing and misuse of cross-country ski trails began in earnest. By 1973 more than 40,000 miles of snowmobile trails had been built in North America. By the end of the 1970s the number had more than doubled. In 1980, an ad-hoc DEC survey of snowmobile trails in the Adirondacks estimated that there were about 850 miles of snowmobile trails in the region. When the DEC announced it 2006 Snowmobile Plan for the Adirondacks it noted that there were about 850 miles of snowmobile trails in Wild Forest and Primitive Areas alone and another 1,172 miles of funded snowmobile trails in the park as a whole not including perhaps more than a thousand additional miles maintained through lease agreements with private landowners by towns (particularly Webb and Inlet) and local clubs. The entire 2006 Snowmobile Report can be found here.

While the number of snowmobile trails in the Adirondacks has increased dramatically since the sled boom of the late 1960s and early 1970s, the number of sleds sold each year continues to slump.

According to Leonard Reich:

For the 1968 model year, an unpleasant statistic, called "carryover," crept into the industry's production and sales figures. That year, 170,000 machines were produced but only 165,000 sold to consumers. The remaining 5,000 awaited the following year in dealers' hands. The next year carryover increased to 35,000, then shot up to 100,000 in 1971 on a sales volume of just under 500,000.

In 1971, snowmobile sales for the first time failed to increase substantially over the previous season, thus exacerbating the carryover problem. Whereas 1968's 165,000 sales had become 1969's 250,000 and 1970's 460,000, sales fell short of 500,000 in 1971. In an industry accustomed to rapid growth, many producers soon faced bankruptcy, and the shakeout began. Sales remained in the 400,000-500,000 range through 1974, while carryover increased from 125,000 in 1972 to 315,000 in 1973, and to 500,000 in 1974, a colossal drag on the industry.

By 1997, sales had reached 260,000 sleds and have continued to drop ever since. With the advent of ATVs (which evolved in the 1960s and spread in the 1970s and 1980s) and the reduction of annual snow cover due to global warming, the snowmobile may be on its way to becoming a relic of the past.

Return to Part One. Read the entire series here.

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Adirondack Snowmobile History, Part Four

In Part One of Adirondack Snowmobile History, we traced the emergence of snow machines in the early 1900s. In Part Two we looked at the development of the personal sled that is so familiar today. Part Three followed the explosion of makes and models and the spread of snowmobiling throughout the Adirondack region with races, clubs, and dealers taking advantage of the boon in snowmobile sales that occurred from 1965 to 1970.

From the beginning some snowmobile riders and some folks concerned about the impacts of snowmobiles on the rural and wilderness environments began to debate the new outdoor sport. With 200,000 snowmobiles already traveling American lakes, fields, and trails in the 1966-1967 season and many more apparently on the way, government and environmental advocates began to address the possible impacts and attempt to responsibly manage them.

Snowmobile historian Leonard Reich noted that:

During the mid-1960s, snowmobile enthusiasts began to organize clubs whose activities were oriented toward safety, social events, and group activities such as festivals ("snodeos"), clearing, marking, and grooming trails, and trail rides ("snofaris" and "sno-mo-cades") that could include as many as fifty sleds. One observer of a large nighttime ride recalled that "from a distance, their bobbing head-lights resembled a religious procession," and in a way it was. Some clubs shipped their snowmobiles to distant sites, then flew or bussed members there for group touring.

In 1970, New York State began requiring riders to register their sleds with the Parks and Recreation Department’s Division of Marine and Recreational Vehicles. Registration forms could be had a local dealers, county clerks, Sheriff’s offices, and regional offices of the Department of Conservation. Registration cost just $5, although some sled riders complained at the cost despite the fact that events organized by local clubs often cost as much as $1 to $2 per sled. The 1970 regulations also required young riders to take a Young Snowmobile Operator’s safety course before riding alone.

Beginning in 1971, a number of governments across the United States and Canada began investigating the boom in snowmobiles in order to asses and mitigate their impacts. In 1971 Congressional testimony, Sno Goer magazine publisher Susie Scholwin voiced the freedom snowmobilers felt on their new machines:

Before snowmobiles, in northern Wisconsin] winters were something just "to be lived through." Nice winter days on weekends brought the sleds, skis, toboggans, and general fun-in-the-snow. Nights were long and lonely. As were the weekends as a whole. Ice fishing on the lake was good, but the best spot was over a mile away. . . .

The winter of 1964 and early 1965 took on a different tone than those before [with our family's purchase of a snowmobile]. Mom and dad loved it--the kids loved it. Winter was not the gloomy thing it had been--but each day was an adventure of its own. It was much easier to get "over to the other side of the lake" fishing. . . .

There were races held, but they were something minor. . . . The important thing . . . was that more and more of the neighbors in the area were buying these fantastic little machines and, lo and behold--winter was turning into FUN! The little snowmobile had become a funmobile--one that made winter something to look forward to! Everyone in the area looked forward to weekends, with their picnics, trail-riding, exploring, scavenger hunts, and social gatherings. . . . Many in their fifties and sixties, who were not enthused about the muscular sport of skiing, found that the snowmobile was the answer to their dreams.

For their part of the debate, the dozens of snowmobile clubs in the Adirondack region began exercising their muscle. For example, the President of the Keeseville Trail Riders wrote to local papers in 1972 to remind riders that a $1.15 billion bond issue coming before voters in November would include $44 million for land acquisition in the Adirondacks, but he “doubts very much if any of this money would be used to acquire land for snowmobile trails.” In opposing the bond issue, the Trail Riders noted that their $5 registration fee was being used to build boating services in the Adirondacks.

Take your neighbor or friend or the fellow down the street who owns a boat, the fee to register it for three years is $3.00 and the state has built parking lots and boat launching ramps.

The economic argument was also put forward early:

Take a minute to think how much money this sport has brought to the North Country. We have Boonville over in the western part of the state where thousands come to view races on weekends. Then closer to our community we have our friendly neighbors, Schroon Lake, where the Chamber of Commerce is in the process of putting out our their winter brochure.

So you see everyone stands to gain either enjoyment, money or employment from this sport.

True or not (and their was some question about the actual impact of snowmobilers on the Adirondack economy, even in the boom years), the economic arguments of the clubs and their supporters found important allies in the local press and among the property rights and anti-government crowd. We’ll explore those conflicts in Part Five.

Return to Part One. Read the entire series here.

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Adirondack Snowmobile History, Part Three

In Parts One and Two we traced the emergence of snow vehicles from their earlier cousins, the automobile, the tractor, and motorcycle, and the development of the smaller more versatile nowmobiles popular today. That development led to some forty snowmobile manufacturers in the late 1960s and, eventually, an explosion in interest.

To help build a customer base, sled makers began traveling to winter events and showing their machines. Beginning in January of 1964, snowmobilers in Lake Placid organized one of the first annual “power sled meets.” The event was followed by Artic Cat’s first snowmobile derby in February 1964 in Eagle River, Wisconsin. The company invited all known snowmobile makers, and held dozens of races in front of a couple thousand attendees.

Snowmobile historian Leonard Reich noted:

Drag races, obstacle courses, and hill climbs provided thrills, and a "marathon" event of 22 miles demonstrated the reliability of the machines over long distances and difficult terrain. Soon, race derbies organized by towns, manufacturers, and distributors were taking place all over the winter landscape. Like its automotive precursors, the snowmobile industry used racing and other organized events to generate excitement, attract attention, and demonstrate the capability and reliability of its product. As the early automakers had said, "Race on Sunday, Sell on Monday."

The first International Diamond Trophy Snowmobile Championship held on Mirror Lake in Lake Placid in January 1967 was one of the first major snowmobile meets at a time when, as the Essex County Republican, reported: “At least three major power sled meets are scheduled for the Adirondack Park area, and a dozen or so lesser meets, although no sanctioning unit has yet organized the sport, and there is no official record keeping or planning.” Nonetheless, the Mirror Lake meet offered $1,000 in cash prizes and included a hill climb and downhill slalom. By the 1969-1970 season major races around the country could see purses as high as $25,000.

Other area meets in 1966-1967 included the Eastern New York Races at Lake George (about 125 registered sleds and a new Schaefer Cup trophy race), and another at Boonville where the New York State Snowmobile Championship was held (more than 100 sleds and the emblematic Adirondack Cup). Lesser races were held at Malone, Tupper Lake, Speculator, Schroon Lake, Chazy Lake, and Old Forge.

For the 1966-1967 season 100,000 copies of Johnson Motors’ “Fun Guide to Snowmobiling” were distributed to various dealers around the country which included facts about the sport and sources for trail information. By the end of the 1966-67 season there were about 200,000 snowmobiles in America and even the first magazine devoted to the new sport - Sno Goer, was published by an advocate for snowmobiling on public lands named Susie Scholwin. According to industry sources, the snowmobile industry rose from $3 million in sales in 1965 to $30 million in 1967.

With the boon in snowmobilers, came a local boon in snowmobile clubs. The Central Adirondack Association was organized before the 1966-67 season. By 1973, the Essex County Association of Snowmobile Clubs (ECASCO) included nine clubs from the county’s twelve towns: the “Keeseville Trail Riders,” “Bouquet Valley Snow-Drifters” of Essex Willsboro, “Crown Point RR&R Snowmobile Club,” “Lake Placid Snowmobile Club,” “Moriah Snowmobile Club,” Schroon-North Hudson Snowmobilie Club,” the “Adirondack Snowmobile Club” of Ticonderoga, “Mt. Valley Snogoers,” the Wesport area “Bessboro Ski-ters” and the “Lewis-E’Town Snow Machine Club.” Even "North Country Squares," a dance group, was getting into the action by organizing weekly races at the Clinton County Fairgrounds in Plattsburgh.

Snowmobile dealers were spreading throughout the region by 1970 when the Essex County Republican newspaper saw fit to publish a special snowmobiling section. In Peru, auto dealer Truman Davis sold Ski Doos based at the Stanley-Lincoln-Mercury dealership in Plattsburgh. Also in Plattsburgh, Jim Manley’s Welding and Repairs sold Skiroule; in Jarvis Falls, Jarvis Auto Parts sold Polaris; Ray’s Mobile Service in Keeseville usually sold chainsaws, but now also sold Allouette sleds; in Elizabethtown Dick Burpee’s Outdoor Power Equipment sold Artic Cat, Elizabethtown Builders sold Sno Jet and Artic Cat, and Norton Insurance Agency advertised snowmobile insurance.

Along with the spread of snowmobiles in the late 1960s there also emerged the first rumblings of those concerned that the noise, new trails, and detrimental effects to the environment were something to be concerned about. But as we’ll see in Part Four, just as it appeared that snowmobiles would conquer the Adirondack environment the bottom fell out.

Return to Part One or Part Two or Read the entire series here.

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Adirondack Snowmobile History, Part Two

In Part One of Adirondack Snowmobile History, we looked at the emergence of the “motor sleigh” in the early 1900s with experimental models that included half-tracks, airplane props, and converted Model A Fords. As snow machines became more widely known and began being used by government agencies, utilities and lumber companies, local experimenters began building their own variations. The 64 snow mobiles (by then already being called by that generic name) registered in New York State in 1935 were all large vehicles that held several passengers.

Joseph-Armand Bombardier, who had been experimenting with rear engine designs since he was teenager, came forward in 1935 with the B7, a seven passenger enclosed snow vehicle. It's sucess was short-lived. When snow removal on roads became widespread in the late 1940s, Bombardier turned primarily to more general overland tracked vehicles. But while Bombardier and others were focused on making bigger snow machines, others had also been making independent progress on smaller, more versatile, auto sleighs using increasingly available small motors on more traditional (though now steerable) sleigh and bobsled runners.

In 1920, Lewis Newton, the owner of a Hudson Falls bicycle shop, announced that he had “perfected and auto-sleigh which attains nearly fifty miles per hour and can be operated with absolute safety.” Newton mounted two Thompson motors on a specially constructed bobsleigh and rigged a motorcycle wheel with a skid chain; the crank was kick-started. Some of the several he made may still be hiding out in Warren or Washington county barns.

In the late 1920s, Wisconsin outboard-motor dealer Carl Eliason hand-built about forty smaller snow machines (his patent is shown below). It was these that were copied by agricultural machinery manufacturer Polaris Industries’ when they developed the “Pol-Cat,” which was introduced in 1954. The Pol-Cat was followed closely by Bombadier’s “Ski-Doo,” which went on sale in 1959. Then when Edgar Hetteen (founder and president of Polaris Industries) had a falling out with his partners in 1960 he left to create the Polar Manufacturing Company which produced the “Artic Cat” in 1961. Although thirteen American patents were issued between 1927 and 1962, and by 1970 there were several dozen snowmobile companies, the still relatively small snowmobile market was dominated by these three companies: Polaris, Bombardier / Ski Doo, and Artic Cat.

Leonard Reich, who has written on early snowmobile history in the journal Technology and Culture, noted that what happened next depended largely on the role of motor boat dealers:

Northern marine outlets were an obvious place to sell snowmobiles, and many early dealers came from the ranks of boating businesses looking for a line to carry them through the fall and winter. In fact, outboard- motorboating served as a model for the developing snowmobile industry. The first outboard motor was manufactured in 1911 by Ole Evinrude, and the industry progressed slowly until after the Second World War. Outboards were usually installed on rowboats or on hulls originally designed for inboard power, which limited their capabilities and constrained the market. With the introduction of inexpensive fiberglass boat construction and light planing hull designs during the 1950s, at a time of national prosperity, rapid population growth, and television marketing, outboard-motorboating became extremely popular and dramatically changed summertime recreation patterns on lakes and rivers. Now, a mechanical whine split the summer's natural sounds, transforming in its wake the search for relaxation to a powered pursuit of recreation. Many snowmobile dealers and buyers had their first introduction to motorized recreation through motorboating, and snowmobile salesmen often used the analogy in making the sale. Snowmobile purchasers were more than twice as likely as the general population to own motorboats.

The ready made market notwithstanding, snowmobile purchases were limited by the number of sleds produced and more importantly, by the number of people who thought they were worthwhile. Arctic Cat sold just 20 sleds in their first year (1961), and 700 the second. Bombardier produced 225 the first year (model year 1960); 700 in 1961; 2,100 in 1962; 5,300 in 1963; 8,500 in 1964; and just 13,300 for all of the United States and Canada in 1965. Advertising at first targeted fish and game officers, foresters, trappers, missionaries, prospectors and utility companies, but by 1965 had began to serious shift to the outdoor thrills market. The number of makers also multiplied with, according to historian Leonard Reich, “Trail-A-Sled in 1961, Moto-Ski and Skiroule in 1963, Sno-Jet and Johnson Skee Horse in 1964, Rupp, Fox-Trac, Hus-Ski, and Polaris (with a Ski-Doo-like model) in 1965. By the end of 1967 approximately forty makes had come to market.”

Among the early snowmobile dealers in the Adirondacks were George Moore Truck and Equipment Corp., in Keeseville whose first advertisement in 1965 claimed that their Ski-Doos “provide entertainment for all ages as it bounces over snow drifts, climbing and descending hills with ease. It has also proved its worth as a traveler on ice for fishermen and into the dense forests for hunters.” By the 1967-68 season they had secured the statewide distribution and were advertising for new dealers to join the ranks. “Snowmobiles, fast moving, profitable,” their advertisement read, “the snowmobile boom is underway… here is the opportunity to get in on this money-making fun market…to sell the nation’s hottest recreation machine.” Artic Cat, whose nearest sales room was Rochester, had to wait until 1970 before it would see an Adirondack shop.

In Part Three we’ll investigate the explosion in the snowmobile market in the Adirondacks, the organization of the area’s first clubs and races and their impact on the marketing and wider distribution of modern snowmobile.

Return to part one here. Read the entire series here.

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Adirondack Snowmobile History, Part One

The snowmobile (or more generally, motorized snow travel) owes it existence to early developments in the motorized tractor, automobile, and motorcycle industries. In 1907, the year the future father of the modern snowmobile Joseph-Armand Bombardier was born, a “high speed motor sleigh” was featured in Popular Mechanics magazine. It had the body of touring car on skis but was propelled by a spiked wheel. “The motor sleigh is making slow progress,” the articles’ author noted, “but will some day become a very popular form of sport.”

By 1912, a plethora of motorized sleigh prototypes appeared in the magazines pages. They included a half track, and a converted motorcycle. Among the most popular were those that used a large propeller for propulsion. Although dangerous and useful only on wide trails or open ground, the areo-sleighs avoided many of the problems spiked wheels and skis had with deep or wet snow. (As a side note, Adgate Schemerhorn of Ausable Chasm was rescued by an areo-sleigh after spending nearly two weeks in a snow-covered Idaho wilderness in 1943).

Ray Muscott of Michigan was issued a Canadian patent for his motor sleigh – “traineau automobile” in 1915 and the following year received the first American patent for an early snow vehicle design that included a tread belt and steerable skis mounted on a stock truck chassis.

Several others produced copies of a similar design, but the first snow vehicles that were produced in any numbers were Model A Fords converted by New Hampshire garage owner and auto dealer Virgil White. He started selling his “snow mobiles” to the general public in 1923 and sold some 25,000 before his factory burned in 1928. Although the new snowmobiles were used primarily for business – by mail carriers, doctors, logging and utility companies, farmers – as early as 1926 there was a race on a frozen Wisconsin lake attesting to the fun they could be put to. One of the first owners of a snow mobile in the Adirondack region was W.J. Dickinson, who was giving rides to his Willsboro neighbors as early as February, 1925.

In the 40 years from the birth of motor-sleighs until the advent of modern snowmobiles around 1960, snow vehicle design generally stuck to the large unwieldy halftrack type, and there were few of them. While there were more than 64,000 automobiles registered in New York in 1935, there were just 64 snow mobiles. Presumably several of these found homes in the Adirondacks – the New York State Conservation Department had some in the 1940s - but they were generally ignored by the local press. One notable exception was in 1932 when a snowmobile owned by the Gould Paper Company was sent in a blinding snowstorm to retrieve a lumberjack who had fallen from his sleigh while trying to get a runaway team of horses under control. Edward Hines, 65, was caught under the runners of the log filled sled and seriously wounded about 28 miles into the backcountry from McKeever. It took three hours to reach the lumber camp and another three to bring Hines into McKeever – unfortunately, he didn’t survive.

Another snowmobile milestone was met in 1938 when Olympic bobsledder J. Hubert Stevens, of the Whiteface Mountain Memorial Commission announced that he was “experimenting with a snowmobile with which to negotiate the mountain in winter.” According to press reports of the time, Stevens hoped to use the homemade snowmobile to carry sightseers and skiers to the top of the Whiteface Mountain Memorial Highway during the winter. The Ticonderoga Sentinel described the vehicle:

The machine is minus wheels in front, large skis with eight inch blades being used instead. A tractor device gives it impetus… Stevens said that the machine will do 10 miles per hour in the accent and 35 miles coming down.

In January, after a few attempts to break the trail which made it up two of the eight miles to the top, Stevens abandoned the attempt and return to his workshop to make repairs. Figuring that the rear track was not wide enough he added eight inches to each side and headed back to the mountain three weeks later. This time, with local policeman Lester Beane onboard (the cab could hold eight) the made the top.

In Part Two we’ll explore the development of the snowmobile we know today and the role played by the burgeoning motorboat industry in bringing it to market.

Read the entire series here.

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Bridge Collapse Recalls Historic Adirondack Disaster

The recent collapse of the bridge spanning the Mississippi River at Minneapolis brought to mind the tragic history of similar events in the Adirondacks.

Workers building the historic Stone Arch Bridge (photo above from the late 1800s) over the Ausable River in Keeseville had a close call in 1842. The bridge of native stone, believed at the time to be the largest such bridge in the country, was being built to replace the original wooden structure erected in 1805. The men had completed the first course of stone including the keystones and had nearly finished the second course when a violent storm blew in. Just as more then 30 men fled the storm's heavy rain to a wooden shed on the bank of the river the entire bridge collapsed into the Ausable with a thunderous crash. The tremendous crash was said to have shaken buildings as far away as Port Kent.

Delays in the construction of the bridge caused by the collapse inadvertently caused a more tragic accident that same year. On local militia “muster day,” September 13, 1842, the unfinished bridge caused the Essex County militia to cross a smaller swinging bridge (supported by chains) nearby. The bridge was filled with bystanders as they marched across in lock step. It’s believed the overloaded bridge combined with the stamping feet of the marchers caused the bridge to collapse into the churning river below. Local newspapers reported that nine people were drowned, and four later died of exposure. Two boys, Richard Pope and Richard Peabody, were swept over a nearby dam with their arms around each other and were among those drowned.

A similar accident twice befell the men building what was then longest bridge in the world (3,239 feet) over the St. Lawrence River at Quebec. As one of the enormous spans was being raised from pontoons, it gave way and crashed into the river taking with it fifty men. Observers said the central span, weighing more than 5,000 tons, buckled at the center before it fell. At least five were killed. The accident occurred in 1916, but just nine years before a similar accident on the same bridge killed 70.

In the spring of 1931 the Whallonsburg bridge, which carried much of the Albany-Montreal traffic over the Bouquet River in Essex County, collapsed while Robert O’Neil of Willsboro was crossing. O’Neil’s car fell nearly twelve feet but he escaped uninjured. The bridge’s steel trusses slipped from one of its abutments. The next day four boys were sitting on the railing of the wrecked bridge when it gave way and they went into the water. Kenneth McDougall was knocked unconscious from a serious head injury but the others escaped relatively unharmed. The photo at right shows the new abutments, made of rough quartzite from Champlain Stone.

The 1842 Chain Bridge Collapse ranks among the deadliest accidents ever in the Adirondack region. Read more about the others here.

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The Dangers of Americade

This past week marked the 25th Anniversary of Americade, one of Lake George's premier tourist events. The motorcycle rally, billed as the world's largest for touring bikes, brings bikers of all stripes to pack Lake George streets and bars. It also brings locals from nearby towns into the village on what, for some, is one of the only trips they'll make there all year.

There's an excellent article on Americade and its founder Bill Dutcher by Associated Press sports writer John Kekis. It gives a nice history of the rally's founding, touches on the boon in trike riders (that's good for Chestertown's Adirondack Ural) and the event's economic impact. It also, makes some pretty crazy claims about how safe the event is.

Here are some highlights:

Upward of 60,000 motorcycle enthusiasts - most on two wheels, but many now on three - will ride into town this week and transform this village of fewer than 1,000 full-time residents into a motorcycle heaven.

The rally, which once filled the economic void between Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, is now the mainstay of the whole year. Past estimates of Americade's economic impact have been pegged at anywhere from $20 million to $40 million, though Dutcher hopes to get a more accurate figure this year from research to be conducted by the Technical Assistance Center at Plattsburgh State University.

"It is our largest single week economically," longtime Lake George Mayor Robert M. Blais said. "It takes up every road and byway. People have come to accept it."

Indeed we have. In fact they are still rolling by our house 20 minutes north of the village right now, days after the rally officially ended.

Blais was in office when Dutcher originally came to the village board with his idea. The moment remains etched in his mind.

"I thought it was a great idea," Blais said. "I understood fully it was the touring folks that would be coming, but when I brought it to the attention of the village board, they were apprehensive. They didn't want another Sturgis. They were concerned it was going to be loud, troublesome, boisterous."

It wasn't. Americade is about as peaceful as a motorcycle rally can be. And it certainly is no Sturgis, the massive South Dakota rally where 11 of the 300,000 people who showed up at the ride's 50th anniversary in 1990 died. Dutcher said he is aware of only one death among the hundreds of thousands of bikers who have registered for Americade over the years.

That's stretching the truth to say the least. Any local you ask will tell you about the riders killed every year at Americade time. They may not all have been officially registered for the rally - which costs anywhere from $57 to $95 per rider, depending on the package - but many visitors to Americade have been killed coming and going, and in tooling around locally in the days before and after the event.

But while the Americade website offers no safety advice or links, it does take pains to remind a certain class of riders that:

Americade... [is] a convention of riders and passengers who enjoy riding tourers, sport-tourers and cruising motorcycles.

Americade is a gathering of friendly, fun-loving folks, for whom motorcycling is a social hobby, but not some form of rebellion. It's NOT the place for shows of speed, hostile attitudes, or illegally loud motorcycles. Americade supports the AMA position that "Loud Pipes Risk Rights."

Nowhere does it remind riders that, unfortunately, riding a motorcycle is dangerous in our car-centered, self-absorbed world. It's one of the most important issues facing bikers (as well as pedestrians, joggers, and bicyclists) today. It's probably safe to say that every bike club in America has a memorial to one of their riders killed by a car or truck.

New York has the highest number of pedestrian and cyclist deaths and injuries in the U.S. What's more, pedestrian and cyclist deaths make up a majority of traffic deaths in the state.

Just this past week a car-bike collision hit close to home when we learned the news that Alan Gregory, author of Alan Gregory's Conservation News was hit by an 85-year old driver while bicycling near is home. He suffered a traumatic brain injury and is in long term hospital care.

Although Alan's home is in Conyngham, Pennsylvania, until he was run-down in the street by a car, he was a regular writer on topics Adirondack and a staunch and intelligent defender of the Adirondack wilderness. His concern for the Adirondack environment is the kind of concern that has helped make Lake George such a great place to have a touring rally. The natural beauty of the Adirondacks is, in fact, one of Americade's main features.

The promoters of Americade need to be reminded that it isn't the rebellious who are the danger at Americade. The danger is that Americaders, and others, have to share our common roadways with highway hogs.

Americade's promoters and participants have the perfect opportunity to engage us in serious ideas about sharing the roadway with people using other forms of transportation - bikes, cars, trains, buses, and feet.

Denying that there is a danger to Americaders, is not the first step.

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Black History Month: Adirondack Stories

For Black History Month, the Adirondack Almanack presents a list of stories of African-American history in the Adirondacks.

Adirondack Slaves
The first slaves arrived in New Netherlands in the 1620s and before slavery was finally, albeit gradually, abolished in New York in 1827, we have numerous examples of slaves in the Adirondacks. Several were taken captive by French and Indian raiders who attacked the Schuyler plantation (then Old Saratoga, now present day Schuylerville) in 1745. They were transported along the Lake George, Lake Champlain corridor to Canada. Black slaves (and some free blacks) were at the siege of Fort William Henry by Montcalm in 1757 and at the Fort George in 1780. At Whitehall, slaves owned by Philip Skene (who had a daughter that was half African American) probably mined the iron for cannonballs used by Benedict Arnold at Valcour Island in 1776. William Gilliland's diary frequently mentioned "my negro Ireland" who cleared Gilliland's land and planted his crops. Census records of the poor house in Warrensburgh noted two former female slaves were residents in 1850.