LOCALadk Magazine

LOCALadk 16 Place Names of the ADK By Erik Schlimmer Aluminum Pond The naming of this nine-acre Hamilton County pond centers on two wealthy men and a lunch they shared. The first man was Arpad Gerster, a surgeon and author of Hungarian birth who lived from 1848 to 1923. The second man was William Durant, a railroad man and land magnate who lived from 1850 to 1934. I shared this toponym tale within my With an A x and a Rifle pub- lished in 2023. "Arpad and his family had camps on Ra- quette Lake and Long Lake during the late 1800s and early 1900s, and it was there that he would travel along carriage roads with his friend William Durant. While camping at a then-unnamed pond in the adjacent Town of Lake Pleasant, these two fellows used a set of alu- minum utensils that William had given to Arpad. Thus the name Aluminum Pond was conceived. Your author wonders if Dishrag Pond two miles northeast of Alumi- num Pond and near the old carriage roads is where they cleaned their campware." This toponym reached maps in 1903, the year the United States Geological Survey published its first topographic map of this area. Bigelow Mountain On maps published in 1858 and 1876, A . Bigelow was shown living near this 1,644-foot mountain of Essex County. On the 1876 map, J. Bigelow was shown living near this mountain. In 1885 it was reported, "Anson Bi- gelow was born in Chesterfield in 1804 and came to the site of Ausable Forks about 1819." Actually, Anson was born February 25, 1805. He married Harriet Bromley circa 1827 and died April 26, 1891. One of their sons was Anson E. Bigelow, who was born May 20, 1849, and died May 7, 1927. A . Bigelow in question may be Anson or Anson E. J. Bigelow was probably Joseph Bigelow. He was born September 13, 1828, and died May 8, 1912. He is buried in Port Douglas Cemetery four miles from this mountain. The name Bigelow Mountain reached maps in 1895, the year the United States Geological Survey published its first topographic map of this area. The summit was marked by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in 1881, and this agency placed a benchmark stamped "Bigelow" on top in 1942. Photo credit: Eric Adsit

• Cover