by the State along the west bank of the Hudson north of Stony Point by the construction of State highways and expresses the belief that a continuation of this development south of Stony Point to Fort Lee would afford the logical and proper outlet into the metropolitan district of the great road system of the State.

The Commissioners of the Palisades Interstate Park are: President, Hon. George W. Perkins, of New York city; VicePresident, Hon. Franklin W. Hopkins, of Alpine, N. J.; Secretary, Hon. J. DuPratt White, of Nyack, N. Y.; Treasurer, Hon. D. McN. K. Stauffer, of Yonkers, N. Y.; and the Hon. Nathan F. Barrett, of New Rochelle, N. Y.; Hon. Wm. B. Dana, of Englewood, N. J.; Hon. Abram De Ronde, of Englewood, N. J.; Hon. Wm. A. Linn, of Hackensack, N. J.; Hon. Wm. H. Porter, of New York city; and Hon. Edwin A. Stevens, of Hoboken, N. J. A description of the origin of the Palisades and a history of the movement for their preservation are given in our Eleventh Annual Report (1906).

Clinton Museum, Poughkeepsie.

The Clinton House in Poughkeepsie, now known as the Clinton Museum, was purchased in accordance with chapter 419 of the Laws of 1900, which appropriated $5,000 for the purpose. The law states that the premises were occupied as the executive mansion of Governor George Clinton. From 1900 to 1907, inclusive, the State has appropriated a total of $6,700 for purchase, maintenance and improvement.

The building is of stone, about 41 by 49 feet in size and stands on a lot about 70 by 140 feet in size. The date of its erection is not known, but in 1767 it was occupied by Clear Everett, who is believed to have lived there many years.

The custodians are the Daughters of the American Revolution, under whose auspices the following repairs have been made:

The interior has been thoroughly cleaned; the dining-room,

library and lower front hall papered and painted in colonial style; six rooms papered and painted for use of janitor's family; a new furnace put in; gas, plumbing and sewerage installed; the windows glazed; the outside wall of the building cemented; the library chimney repaired; the slate roof repaired; old gutters replaced; the front and back porches repaired; new kitchen of stone and cement built to match the old house; and an iron fence erected around the grounds. The rooms of the house are all furnished and it contains many relics. The grounds have been beautified with shrubs and vines and about thirty rose bushes.

Admission is free. During the past year about 425 persons visited the building.

Spy Island.

Spy Island is a hilly forested island one acre in extent located at the point where Little Salmon, creek empties into Lake Ontario, in the town of Mexico, Oswego county. In 1871, a limestone monument was erected on the island at private cost by Mr. Silas Town Davis and inscribed:

"Erected July 4th, 1871, to the memory of Silas Town, an officer under Washington. Died 1806."

In 1871, the property was deeded to the trustees of the town of Mexico. In 1903, the latter conveyed it to the State of New York in accordance with chapter 600 of the laws of that year, which appropriated "for the Supervisor of the town of Mexico, Oswego county, $250 for the repair of the monument on Spy Island at the mouth of Salmon creek in the town of Mexico, said monument having been dedicated July 4, 1871, to the memory of Silas Town, a revolutionary soldier, on condition that the Island and monument be conveyed to the people of the State of New York."

Spy Island is reached by a drive of about four miles from the village of Mexico, which is located on the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg division of the New York Central railroad. A bill

is pending in the present Legislature committing the custody of Spy Island to Silas Town Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution of Mexico, of which Mrs. Wilfred A. Robbins is Regent.

Johnstown State Reservation.

The Johnstown State Reservation consists of a little more than eighteen acres in the city of Johnstown, Fulton county, containing the mansion and stone blockhouse of Sir William Johnson, the distinguished intermediary between the government and the Indians for many years prior to his death July 11, 1774. The mansion was erected by Sir William, in 1762, and was occupied by him until he died. It is 40 x 60 feet in size, two stories high, with a broad hall running through the center from front to rear. Upon the balustrade of the broad staircase in the hall are the tomahawk marks of Brandt, put there, according to local tradition, as a sort of passover mark to warn his followers not to destroy the building. Near the northwestern corner and southwestern corner of the building, respectively, was a stone blockhouse, connected with the mansion by an underground passage. The southwestern fort is still standing, with its connecting subterranean passage. In 1902 the Colonial Dames placed upon the house a memorial tablet. The grounds are tastefully laid out, and the house contains the historical collection of the Johnstown Historical Society.

In 1906, the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society drafted a bill, which became chapter 681 of the Laws of that year, appropriating $25,000 for the purchase of the property and, in 1907, $1,500 was appropriated for maintenance. The text of the bill will be found in our report for 1906, and a picture and historical sketch of the property in our report for 1904. Our Society was requested to be custodian and would have consented if it had been necessary, but it was deemed better under the cir

cumstances at that time to name the Johnstown Historical Society as custodian, and in drafting the bill we so provided. The officers of the Custodian Society are: President, Mr. L. L. Streeter; Vice-Presidents, Mr. Borden D. Smith, Dr. B. Rush Jackson and Mr. C. B. Knox; Secretaries, Mr. M. S. Northrup,* Mr. Fredk. W. Warren and Mr. Fredk. Linus Carroll; Treasurer, Mr. Fayette E. Moyer; Curator, B. F. Livingston.

The Adirondack Park.

Unlike the reservations heretofore mentioned, which were created solely for the preservation of their landscape beauty or for their historical and educational character, the Adirondack Park was established largely for utilitarian reasons; but the topography which it embraces is so remarkable, and the popular love for its scenery has been such a strong factor in its development and protection, that it cannot be omitted in any review of the scenic reservations of the State.

One of the many extraordinary characteristics of New York State is the great range and diversity of its natural features. It is the only State washed at one end by the ocean, and at the other by the Great Lakes. When, with these features, is considered the remarkable variety presented by the Hudson river with its Palisades, Highlands and Catskill mountains; the great Adirondacks in which the Hudson takes its rise; the uncounted lakes, great and small, including Champlain and George, the lakes in the mountains, and the Finger Lakes of central New York; the waterfalls and canyons, like those of Niagara, Letchworth Park, Watkins Glen, and Au Sable river, one sees how bountifully New York is endowed with the beautiful works of nature.

Towering above them all in height, and the parent of them all in age, are the ancient Laurentians of the Adirondacks — for these mountains were among the first to lift up their heads above the

* Mr. Northrup, for several years a trustee of the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society, died June 4, 1908.

great primeval flood and they form part of the record which entitles us to call our continent geologically the Old World, not the New.*

The Adirondack Park has seven distinct elements of value: (1) Its mountain, lake, river and forest scenery is indescribably grand as a spectacle. (2) Its altitude and salubrious atmosphere give it particular value as a health resort. (3) Its leafy retreats afford a restful asylum for the wholesome rest and pleasure of the wearied city dweller. (4) It forms the natural habitat, for study or the chase, of many wild species which have become extinct in other parts of the State. (5) The forests supply wood for the manifold uses of man. (6) The forests also restrain the melting of snows and the run-off of rains, checking floods and conserving the supply of water for commercial and domestic use. And (7) they sensibly ameliorate meteorological conditions over a larger area than they occupy themselves.

For all of these reasons, the Adirondack Park has been created, and for them it should be preserved and enlarged.

Unlike the reservations heretofore described, it is difficult to fix a precise date at which it may be said that the Adirondack Park was created. It was first established by name in 1892; but it has been a gradual growth, and part of the larger movement which led to the establishment of the Forest Preserve. Once New York State was forest-covered from end to end. That we have any forests left at all in the Adirondacks is due to the fact that the rugged character and inaccessibility of the mountains led the lumbermen to prefer the more available growths elsewhere. These mountain lands, now so much prized and sought, were once so little valued that the owners did not consider it worth while to pay the taxes upon them. them. As As a consequence, they were sold for unpaid taxes and, there being no competitors, the State bought them in.

*The Alps are young mountains compared with the Adirondacks.