Part 28 (1/2)
In 1907 over fifty thousand ”Knights” gathered here and were hospitably entertained.
And such were Saratoga's victors--such The yeoman-brave, whose deeds and death have given A glory to her skies, A music to her name.
_Fitz-Greene Halleck._
=Saratoga to the Adirondacks.=
The _Adirondack Railway_ division of the _Delaware and Hudson_ furnishes one of the pleasantest excursions to the north woods. The traveler pa.s.ses along the romantic and picturesque valley of the upper Hudson--through King's, South Corinth, Jessup's Landing to Hadley (the railroad station for Luzerne, a charming village at the junction of the Hudson and the Sacandaga); then through Stony Creek, Thurman, thirty-six miles from Saratoga Springs, at the junction of the Schroon and the Hudson; the Glen, forty-four miles; Riverside, fifty miles (for Schroon Lake), pleasurable throughout, to North Creek, where ”Concord coaches” and patent-covered spring buck-boards are in waiting for Blue Mountain Lake--distance about thirty miles, through a beautiful romantic country.
The water route from this point is as follows: Through Blue Mountain Lake and Utowana to the outlet, a distance of seven miles, where a ”Railway Carry,” something less than a mile, brings the traveler to a fairy-like steamer on Marion River. The river trip is twelve miles to Forked Lake.
Arriving at ”Forked Lake Carry,” one-half mile brings us to Forked Lake, where the traveler gets his first real mountain bill of fare.
From this point we took a guide to Long Lake. There is a short cut from this point over to the Tupper Lakes, which we can commend in every particular, and the tourist can either return to Long Lake and continue his route to the Saranacs, or go to the Saranacs direct from Lake Tupper.
From this point we visit Keene Flats, a charming and healthful spot, only five miles from the ”Lower Ausable Pond.” These ponds, the ”Lower” and ”Upper,” are unrivaled in beauty and grandeur. They lie at the foot of Mount Marcy, Haystack, the Gothics, and Mount Bartlett.
'Twas in the mellow autumn time When I, an idler from the town, With gun and rod was lured to climb Those peaks where fresh the Hudson takes His tribute from an hundred lakes.
_Charles Fenno Hoffman._
=Saratoga to Lake George.=
The traveler will find trains and excursions to suit his convenience from Saratoga to our fairest lake. His route takes him through Gansevoort and Fort Edward to Glens Falls with the narrowing and bright-flowing Hudson for a companion. About one mile beyond Fort Edward Station, near the railway on the right, stood, until recently, the tree where Jane McCrea was murdered by Indians during the Revolution. From Glens Falls the tourist proceeds over the well-conducted Lake George division of the _Delaware and Hudson_, and soon finds himself in the midst of a historic and romantic region.
About half way to the lake stands a monument to Col. Ephraim Williams, killed at the battle of Lake George in 1755, erected by the graduates of Williams College, which he founded. b.l.o.o.d.y Pond, a little farther on, sleeps calm and blue in the sunlight in spite of its tragic name and a.s.sociations, and soon Lake George, girt-round by mountains, greets our vision, stretching away in beauty to the north.
Near the railway station on the ninth of September, 1903, a monument was unveiled commemorating the battle of Lake George one hundred and forty-eight years before. The monument embodies the heroic figures of Sir William Johnson and King Hendrick the Indian chief. It represents the Indian chief demonstrating to General Johnson the futility of dividing his forces. Governor Odell of New York, Governor Guild of Ma.s.sachusetts, Governor Chamberlain of Connecticut, and Governor McCulloch of Vermont and others delivered appropriate addresses.
=The Trossachs of America.=--Capt. Wm. R. Lord, author of ”Reminiscences of a Sailor,” in a recent article contributed to a Scottish paper, has happily called Lake George and its surroundings ”The Trossachs of America.” In writing of the autumn season he says: ”Its similarity to the Trossachs of Scotland impresses one most vividly as seen at this season; the mountains are clothed in a garb, the prevailing color of which is purple, reminding me of a previous visit through the Scottish Highlands when the heather was in full bloom. I at that time felt it to be impossible that any other place on the face of the globe could equal the magnificently imposing grandeur of the 'Trossachs.' I must, however, freely admit that in its power of changing beauty this region of America fully equals, if it does not surpa.s.s it. Deeds of 'derring-do,' enacted in these mountain fastnesses in days gone by, still add to make the comparison more close. Our path at times seemed to be literally strewn with roses, for the different colored leaves that carpeted our way conveyed that thought. The depth and variegated beauty of coloring that marks this season of decaying foliage, would enrapture the heart of an artist.
In my vocation I have had occasion to visit the four quarters of the globe, but never have I seen tints so strikingly beautiful.”
The early fragments of our Colonial poetry and Revolutionary ballads are chanted in the midst of such profound silence and loneliness that they sound spectrally to our ears.
_Bayard Taylor._
=Lake George=, called by the French ”Lac St. Sacrament,” was discovered by Father Jacques, who pa.s.sed through it in 1646, on his way to the Iroquois, by whom he was afterward tortured and burned. It is thirty-six miles long by three miles broad. Its elevation is two hundred and forty-three feet above the sea. The waters are of remarkable transparency; romantic islands dot its surface, and elegant villas line its sh.o.r.es. Fort William Henry and Ticonderoga, situated at either end of the lake, were the salients respectively of the two most powerful nations upon the globe. France and England sent great armies, which crossed each other's track upon the ocean, the one entering the St. Lawrence, the other the harbor of New York. Their respective colonies sent their thousands to swell the number of trained troops, while tribes of red men from the south and the north were marshalled by civilized genius to meet in hostile array upon these waters, around the walls of the forts, and at the base of the hills. In 1755, General Johnston reached Lake St. Sacrament, to which he gave the name of Lake George, ”not only in honor of his Majesty, but to a.s.sert his undoubted dominion here.”