April 17, 1930 – Irving Langmuir to William Howard

  • April 17, 1930 – Irving Langmuir to William Howard –

My dear Mr. Howard:

Your letter of April 11th is astonishing to me, revealing as it does that the State’s failure to acquire Paradise Bay and Black mountain lands is not due to a lack of funds, but is due to a policy of your department.

I am also surprised at your statement the – “The Public enjoy substantially the same use of this property as though it were State land.” As you know, camping, hunting and fishing are the principal forms of recreation in that neighborhood and all three are prohibited at present within this area.

The central part of Lake George for a distance of 8 miles along both shores is unique in its wild beauty, combined with its accessibility by water and trail from camps, homes and hotels situated along 70 miles of lake shore. The purchase by the State of the Tongue Mountain Peninsula with part of the funds you refer to, which lands lie wholly on the western side of the lake, has established half of a natural Lake George Park. Without the second half on the eastern shore the wild beauty of the whole park is jeopardized.

There is the most urgent need for quick action in completing this natural park. At present the land values have been established by the recent acquisition of similar land on the western shore. The proposed road extension along the eastern shore will soon make these values increase many fold. Your statement that Lake George has already had its share of recent appropriations is hardly pertinent in view of this urgency and in view of the long period of years during which no funds were spent in this region which is now recognized as the most popular recreational area within the Adirondacks.

You refer to the extensive program in “blocking in” the present holdings within the Adirondack Park. Are the ultimate benefits to the people of the State, resulting from such “blocking in,” comparable in recreational or other value with those to be obtained by even much smaller expenditures in completing the Lake George Park?

Specifically, I would like to ask just what areas within the arbitrary “Blue Line” that are now in the “program of acquisition” are, in your opinion, comparable in recreational or preservational value with lands of similar cost within the Paradise Bay and Black Mountain region?

Very truly yours,

Irving Langmuir