LOCALadk Magazine

Winter 2018 LOCALadk Magazine 47 LOCALadk She feels that the film, Harnessing Nature: Building the Great Sacandaga opened people's eyes to what took place. "I think in a sense, the film has made people so aware of what was there. I do think in those terms, even though they weren't affected personally, now they're thinking about how others were." When the reser voir filled, the flooding downstream stopped. Many families from the valley lost their homes, farms, and livelihoods. Altogether, 12 towns were either completely or partially lost. Places with names like Cranber- r y Creek, Parkville, and Day Center, are now under water. Harnessing Nature explains the mixed feelings about the project in excellent detail. Described in the movie as, "an un- happy time for a lot of people," the creation of the reser voir was seen as a tragedy in the area. Now it's viewed as a "beau- tiful lake" that "provides jobs and a way of life for a new gen- eration of families." The lake has greatly benefited the area with tourism, vaca- tion homes—and thus, the extra tax base — excellent fishing, boating, and so on. Gail said, "I rarely go across the bridge and don't think [about] how fortunate we are to have it." Another gem that gets part of its name in the village is the 136-mile Northville-Placid Trail. Hikers start out under the beautiful wood archway in Waterfront Park, made by local ar- tisanal woodworker, Bill Coffey. They finish up in the famed Olympic town of Lake Placid. Bill said, "[The village] called me into a town meeting, and they said, can you make this? And can you make it big enough so a tractor-trailer and a fire truck can fit under it? " Local schoolteacher Pat Bittell came up with the design, but told Bill to craft the sign as he saw fit. He added his own special touch, "On top I put the fire tower [made] out of copper." While the sign may be new, the trail has some histor y be- hind it. According to the Adirondack Mountain Club's Ad- irondack Trails Northville-Placid Trail guide, work on the trail started in 1922. It was the club's first project, backed by an officer at the Standard Oil Company, George D. Pratt, who was also the first president of the club. In 1924 the project was completed, and in 1927 the club donated it to New York State. The Northville-Placid Trail takes hikers through the varied landscape inside the Blue Line, into some of the wildest lands in the entire United States. Author, Walt McLaughlin, writes poetically about his experiences on the trail in his book, The Allure of Deep Woods : The wild is that intangible, unnamable othernesss that's so pervasive out here. I see it in the green infinity all around me. I hear it in the deep forest silence…. It excites all my senses yet remains imperceptible, ever elusive, mystical. It's something raw and unfettered. It's what motivates people like me to come out here time and again.

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