LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 16 As the only "Mountain Mountain" in the entire range, 1,371-foot Alec La Mountain Mountain of Essex County remembers local resident Alex Lamountain. He was born in 1858 and was married to Milindia Cham- paign Lamountain. Alex became somewhat well-known when, in 1928, a 4-year-old named Mary Young went berry picking with her family near this mountain, got lost, spent the night on the flanks of 2,208-foot Baldface Mountain, wandered a total of eight miles, and ended up at Alex's house where she was met by a search party comprised of farmers and state troopers. Alex died in 1933 and is buried six miles from his namesake mountain. This toponym reached United States Geological Survey topographic maps in 1953. This 1,280 -acre body of water of Hamilton County was first called Tallow Lake. The tale is that "an old Indian hunter who started across the larger lake one spring with a load of venison tallow in his canoe" encountered a storm and "his argosy of grease was swallowed by the angry waters…." Meanwhile, hote- lier John Holland realized no one would want to stay at his lakeside hotel if it was called Tallow Lake Ho- tel. He applied the name of nearby 3,750 -foot Blue Mountain to the lake so his hotel could be called Blue Mountain Lake Hotel. Another early name was Lake Janet coined by state geologist Ebenezer Emmons in 1840. Janet Eckford DeKay was the wife of zoologist James DeKay and daughter of engineer and shipbuilder Henry Eckford. Henry was supposed to examine the Blue Mountain Lake region to as- sess a prospective cross-Adirondack transportation route that incorporated steamboat travel. Despite not completing field work regarding this, regional features Marion River, Utowana Lake, and Eagle Lake are sometimes called the Eckford Chain. Blue Moun- tain Lake and Blue Mountain were featured on maps by 1873. Place Names of the ADK By Erik Schlimmer Blue Mountain Lake Alec La Mountain Mountain Photo credit: Curr y's Cottages Photo credit: Eric Adsit

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