- July 23, 1929 – JSA to Court of Claims
Sirs:
During the latter part of October, 1924, a conference was held at Lake George by Mr. C. R. Pettis, State Superintendent of Forests, Mr. Frank D. Morehouse, lawyer representing the State, and myself. The purpose of this conference was to determine ways and means of protecting the State’s interest in the narrow entrance to Northwest Bay Valley, where the State was acquiring land for the establishment of a park known as the “Lake George Park.”
The land in question was part of Lot 11 of the Ford and Robinson Tract, belonging to Mrs. Merrill, the north section of this lot had previously been acquired by the State in 1923.
Quick action was necessary to prevent commercial development and Mr. Pettis advised that the State was unable to act quickly enough to meet the situation. I therefore offered to advance the $800 necessary for acquiring the land. This is confirmed by the following paragraphs appearing in Mr. C. E. Pettis’s letter addressed to the Land Title Bureau, Attorney General’s Office, May 19, 1925:
No. 1 – You state there is no record filed in him. As a matter of fact, the writer knows that Mr. Apperson paid certain consideration to Frank D. Morehouse of Glens Falls and that Mr. Morehouse has in his possession a deed which he is holding I escrow from Mrs. Merrill covering this property.
No. 2 – You state that there is no contract. This is true to the extent that there is no written contract. There is, however, a verbal understanding between the Conservation Commission, Mr. Apperson and Mr. Morehouse in regard to the purchase of this property and this agreement we deem sufficient for the present.
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