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CHAPTER XVI
FRANKLIN
The town of Franklin was erected from Belimont May 20, 1836, and comprises about half of township number nine
and all of township number ten of the Old Military Tract. In area it is the third largest town in the county, containing
more than one hundred and five thousand acres. Many lakes or ponds dot its surface, and the two branches of the
Saranac river run through it, affording a number of excellent water powers. As illustrative of the size of the
town, the story is told that one of the early supervisors, journeying to Malone to attend his first session of
the board, after having driven all day, arrived at a primitive hotel, inquired what town he was in, and was amazed
to learn that he had not yet wholly traversed his own. The anecdote is illuminative of Franklin's broad reaches,
and not less of the horrible highways that used to characterize it. The town is of rugged surface, its once magnificent
forests now largely gone into lumber, pulp-wood and charcoal, or ravaged by fire. The character of its soil and
its altitude make it impossible that it should ever become important agriculturally, and the waste of its timber
in the past precludes extensive lumbering operations, so that such growth as may yet come to it must be through
the establishment of summer hotels and sanatoria. It had a population of less than two hundred when formed, which
had increased to eleven hundred in 1860 and to fifteen hundred in 1900. It is now 1,378. Among early settlers were
a not inconsiderable number of escaped or emancipated slaves, who were provided with homesteads by Gerrit Smith,
the form of whose grants to these and to poor white men whom he recruited from the cities is interesting. It names
in each as the consideration "one dollar" and the grantor's desire "to have all share in the means
of subsistence and happiness which a bountiful God has provided for all."
The first settlement in Franklin was made in 1827 by Isaac G. McLenathan and William Wells, from Jay, Essex county,
at the place now known as Franklin Falls, but from 1827 to 1851 called McLenathan Falls. Here they erected a saw
mill and an iron forge, and almost at the same time another forge was built by Uriah Sumner a few miles west, at
or near Bloomingdale. This latter had only a very brief life, nor were the enterprises of McLenathan & Wells
enduring or successful, largely because of their remoteness from markets. All lumber and iron output had to be
hauled by team to Port Kent, a distance of thirty-four miles. In later years a plank road, with toll gates, was
built between the points named, and was kept up until about 1875. In the course of a few years after the inception
of operations by McLenathan & Wells their industries had become inactive, and the place was all but abandoned.
Operations under new management were resumed in 1846, however, William V. K. McLean and John Fitzgerald, also Essex
county men, having taken over the properties. The story of the forge subsequent to McLenathan & Wells's operation
of it is not now ascertainable with certainty, but from the best information that I can gather it seems probable
that the building did not exist after 1847. In that year a deed of the lot on which the forge was located refers
to the forge as if it were then standing, but no subsequent conveyance of the premises makes any mention of the
establishment, and certainly the reports of the great fire which wiped out everything in 1852 do not specify a
forge as among the buildings burned. It is, therefore, to be presumed that about 1847 the forge disappeared to
make room for a saw mill. Keese & Tomlinson became associated with McLean & Fitzgerald here about 1848
for a year or two, and at about the same time Peter Cornstock, from Port Kent, appears to have become the working
head of the business, but whether as superintendent, lessee or proprietor I am unable to ascertain. James B. Dickinson
and George Tremble, both men of character and good abilities, came to the place, the former in 1850 and the latter
in 1852. Associated with Mr. Dickinson was James H. Pierce, who became our county's Assemblyman twenty years later,
and afterward represented Essex county in the same body. For a good many years Mr. Pierce made up and led to Republican
county conventions the delegates from all of the "south towns," viz., Brighton, Franklin and Harrietstown,
and sometimes from Duane also. Often they came without caucuses having been held at all, and with credentials prepared
en route. It is worth noting also that in 1871, when Tweed lacked one vote in the Assembly to pass his New York
city charter, he finally obtained it by the payment of one hundred thousand dollars to Orange S. Winans, of Chautauqua
county; but the offer had first been made to Mr. Pierce, and turned down by him. Pierce & Dickinson operated
at Franklin Falls as merchants, and they also had a forge in Essex county on the line between Jay and Keene. In
addition, Mr. Dickinson was interested in the mill at Franklin Falls.
Besides the mill McLenathan Falls had a rather pretentious hotel and a large store. These and every other structure
except one small shanty were wiped out by a forest fire in May, 1852, which a high wind swept down upon the place
from the hills. So rapidly and fiercely did the flames spread that fowls, dogs and cattle perished in the streets,
and the inhabitants themselves barely escaped with their lives. Household goods, merchandise in the store, large
quantities of lumber, and even the unsubmerged parts of wagons .that had been hauled into the river were all destroyed.
Twenty-three dwellings were burned, and the first estimate of loss was one hundred thousand dollars, which, however,
revised figures somewhat reduced. The place was rebuilt under the leadership of Peter Comstock, though apparently
McKean still retained some interest in the works, for two years later he executed a general assignment for the
benefit of his creditors, in which he conveyed all his right, title and interest in and to mills, store, etc.,
at Franklin Falls. In 18&9 Mr. Tomlinson acquired the business and properties, and the next year the firm of
Tomlinson & Tremble was formed to operate them. The mill was repaired and worked by this concern for five years,
when they sold to Christopher F. Norton, of Plattsburgh, who for fourteen years made Franklin Falls the headquarters
for his extensive lumbering operations on both the north and south branches of the Saranac, and covering almost
all of Franklin and Brighton and the north part of Harrietstown. While he cut some lumber at various mills in Franklin,
the larger part of his logs were floated to Plattsburgh and sawed there. Later the power at Franklin Falls was
bought by Dr. S. W. Dodge, who afterward removed to Massena, and the mill was rebuilt and run by him for a few
years.
The mills at Franklin Falls are now only a memory, but they have been succeeded by a more important enterprise,
for here is one of the power development plants of the Paul Smith Electric Light, Power and Railroad Company, which,
with a companion plant at Union Falls (just on the border between Franklin and Black Brook in Clinton county),
develops five thousand horse power for transmission over many miles of wire through the southern part of our county
and into Essex and Clinton, to light villages, operate a railroad, and supply energy for manufacturing purposes.
The money outlay for construction has been very great, and the business done is extensive.
The landlords who conducted the hotel at Franklin Falls after McLenathan have been: Peter Hewitt, Hugh Martin,
Varnum Hewitt, H. Rice, Herriek Bromley, Lewis L. Smith, Alonzo Moody, Isaiah Vosburgh, S. W. Dodge) Norman I.
Arnold and Patsy O'Neil. The latter's widow now conducts it, but the location is nothing like what it used to be
for hotel business. Fifty years ago the Saranac and St. Regis lakes country had no railroads running to it, and
were accessible to visiting sportsmen and pleasure seekers only by stage or private conveyance from Malone or from
Lake Champlain ports. Most of the travel was via the latter, and it all passed through Franklin Falls and Bloomingdale,
making Franklin Falls an exceptionally good hotel point. While L. L. Smith was landlord there he served dinners
during the summer months to from seventy-five to one hundred and fifty guests daily.
There have been many saw mills in Franklin other than those at Franklin Falls, but none of them large - the vast
timber cut of the region having been floated for the most part down the Saranac river to Plattsburgh, and sawed
there. Lumbering here and in adjacent towns forty or fifty years ago (principally by Mr. Norton and the Turners)
was on a larger scale than anything of the kind known in this county prior to the coming of Mr. Hurd and Mr. Ducey
to Waverly and Santa Clara, and unquestionably Franklin would be to-day a much richer town (and the estates of
the lumbermen larger as well) if such operations had never been had. Charcoal burning by Bowen & Signor at
Slab Bridge, below Hunters' Home, and the shipping of pulp-wood have also contributed a good deal to the deforestation
of the town.
Probably next in importance to the Franklin Falls operations were those of Thomas Goldsmith, who acquired over
fourteen thousand acres from Gerrit Smith for $20,891, and who had mills at the Flood Dam (a mile above Thatcherville),
at Goldsmith's, at Alder Brook, and also at a number of points in Clinton county, just over the Franklin line.
He was forced to an assignment in 1846, but continued to run his mills for the assignee for a number of years afterward.
In 1856 his lands, then comprising 13,890 acres, were sold by the assignee to Daniel Robinson and John A. Griswold
of Troy, who twenty-odd years later disposed of them to Patrick Hanlon and Bowen & Signor. The mill at Goldsmith's
did only custom work during the period of the robinsonGriswold ownership, and was run by Amos Lamson, James Davis
and others. H. L. Wait built a steam mill at this place eight or ten years ago, and operated it until his death
in the early part of 1915 - hauling his product to the railroad at Loon Lake with a traction engine. The Wait mill
still stands, but is idle.
A mill was built at Thatcherville, three miles above Hunters' Home, about 1840 by Avery Thatcher, and a dozen years
later Allan Comstock rebuilt on the same site for his father, Peter, of Franklin Falls. Litigation tied up the
property, however, and the mill never did any work. The writer remembers visiting it in 1863, when it had become
a wreck. About 1879 or 1880 Albert Turner. rebuilt it, and ran it for two or three years - finally selling it to
the Hartwells of Plattsburgh. The mill and the houses belonging with it have been swept away by fire, and the site
is now owned by the International Paper Company.
A mill was built at Mud pond about 1840 by Leander Cadwell, of Black Brook, and Lawrence Myers, of Plattsburgh.
Jackson & Goff afterward became interested in it, and then L. L. Smith, about 1870, ran it to get out lumber
for rebuilding Hunters' Home.
Monroe Hall, of Plattsburgh, put up and operated a mill on the outlet of Loon Lake about 1840; Math Fox had a mill
at Alder Brook, and Russell French one at "French's" about 1863 or 1864. Harry B. Hatch, who was Franklin's
first supervisor, and who kept a hotel on the Hopkinton and Port Kent turnpike, north of Loon Lake and twentyfive
miles south of Malone, built a saw mill and ran it for several years. The place was subsequently owned and occupied
by Richard L. Ross, who was an expert chemist.and a gentleman of fine education, formerly of Albany. The property
was dissipated, a splendid library hawked about Malone book by book, and the place went to ruin. But about 1900
Warren B. Walker built a steam mill there, and for seven years cut two and a half million feet of lumber annually
removing the mill to Kempton in Duane when the supply of timber had been exhausted.
Something like twenty years ago the Kinsley Lumber Company was organized by Arthur Leonard and Frank Smith (who
were connected with the New York Central Railroad) and John O'Rourke, and built a mill two miles west of Onchiota.
It burned. The same interests also built a railroad from a point north of Inman (Loon Lake Station) four miles
west to the DeBar Mountain tract for hauling timber and pulp-wood, which was operated for several years. The lumber
interests of the Kinsley Company passed to Baker
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