 The
Town of Tupper Lake comprises 76,168 acres of rolling upland, originally covered
with a magnificent forest of mixed softwood, sprinkled liberally with palatial
lakes, winding rivers and sparkling brooks. Before the settlement of the
village, one of the more literate early visitors to Tupper Lake was S.H.
Hammond, editor of the Albany State Register. He talked about the beauty
of the lake and the plentiful wildlife and described the area known as
Moody Marsh, as he saw it in the summer of 1849, "a beautiful prairie stretching
away, skirted by tall trees. As you look upon it you can hardly believe
that it is not a pleasant meadow and you wonder where the farmhouse and
all the cattle are". |
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Adirondack Guides and their Sports |
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| The first scattering of white men were hunters, anglers and
trappers. These hearty souls penetrated to the Tupper Lake area soon after the
end of the American Revolution. In 1850 a Maine outfit, called the Pomeroy
Lumber Company, was the first logging operation of record. They began logging
off the virgin pine and left as a souvenir the clearing that over looked Raquette Pond. They also left behind its foreman William McLaughlin, who
did very well selling off building lots during the boom years of 1890 from
the very same clearing. (See Tupper History Timeline) |
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Around
midnight on July 29, 1899 the most devastating fire to ever sweep through
an Adirondack community burnt 169 buildings to the ground. Undaunted by
the loss, the spirited pioneers rebuilt the village. Within a few years
after the big fire (http://www.tupperlake.net/fire1899.jpg),
the village was restored and back in business as usual. |
| Tupper Lake House
at Bog River Falls in 1878 |
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With
the first logging ventures came the rush of settlers. Other sawmills were
erected and dams were built along the Raquette River. Soon Tupper Lake logs
were feeding hungry mills as far away as Potsdam. For the next century,
logging would be the signature industry of Tupper Lake. The most famous
mill was the big Hurd Mill and it once sawed over a million board feet
of lumber in one day, a world record for that time period. It once stood at the
Village's municipal park. A monument now marks the spot. |
|
The Big Hurd Mill on Raquette Pond |
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As
the logging industry grew the railroad arrived. As the junction point for
Hurdís and Webbís railroad, downtown Tupper Lake became the Adirondacks
leading rail center with a sprawling freight shed and offices, extensive
yard facilities, water towers, coal chute and a roundhouse where upward
of 40 men were kept busy on maintenance work on the locomotives operating
over the Utica- Montreal and Tupper-Ottawa line. Today efforts are being
made to bring the railroad back to Tupper Lake. |
| The Tupper Lake RR
Station in the late 1920s |
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 Probably
no single factor ever contributed more significantly to the growth and
economic stability of Tupper Lake than the Sunmount Veterans Hospital.
With an amazing display of community spirit the growing village raised
$20,000 dollars to purchase the 160 acre Hosley farm and then offered it
to the Federal Government for a $1. The offer was accepted on June 26,
1922. Ground was broken that summer with Tupper Lake's first mayor, Joe
Gokey, wielding the spade that turned the first sod. On August 15, 1924
the new hospital was dedicated with a fitting ceremony. An estimated 2,500
people attended. Today Sunmount exist as a development center and is still
lifeblood for the community. |
|
Sunmount as it looked in 1950 |
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