4,077-acre Long Lake is a lake in the town of Long Lake in Hamilton County, New York in the United States; the average width is half a mile. It is part of the

Raquette River The Raquette River ( moh, Ahná:wate), sometimes spelled Racquette, originates at Raquette Lake in the Adirondack Mountains in New York. long, it is the third longest river entirely in the state of New York. The river is a popular destination ...

, which flows in a straight, northeast-trending valley. NY 30 crosses at a narrows from the south end where the hamlet of Long Lake is located. There are two public beaches and a state boat launch. More than half of the shoreline is part of the New York State

Forest preserve A nature reserve (also known as a wildlife refuge, wildlife sanctuary, biosphere reserve or bioreserve, natural or nature preserve, or nature conservation area) is a protected area of importance for flora, fauna, or features of geological or o ...

. The northern end of the lake is undeveloped. The lake is also part of the 740-mile

Northern Forest Canoe Trail The Northern Forest Canoe Trail (NFCT) is a marked canoeing trail in the northeastern United States and Canada, extending from Old Forge in the Adirondacks of New York to Fort Kent, Maine. Along the way, the trail also passes through the states ...

, which begins in

Old Forge, NY Old Forge is a hamlet (and census-designated place) on New York State Route 28 in the town of Webb in Herkimer County, New York, United States. The population was 756 at the 2010 census. Old Forge was formerly a village but dissolved its incorp ...

and ends in

Fort Kent, ME Fort Kent is a town in Aroostook County, Maine, United States, situated at the confluence of the Fish River and the Saint John River, on the border with New Brunswick, Canada. The population was 4,067 in the 2020 census. Fort Kent is home to ...

. The Long Lake Camp for the Arts is based on the west side of the lake.

History

Settled by the 1830s, Long Lake was isolated, except by water, until the

New York Central Railroad The New York Central Railroad was a railroad primarily operating in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The railroad primarily connected greater New York and Boston in the east with Chicago and St. Louis in the Mid ...

extended a spur to Sabbatis at the north town line. The area was frequented by sportsmen and tourists, and the earliest settlers were hunting guides and boat builders. Long Lake was part of a water route that connected the

Fulton Chain Lakes The Fulton Chain of Lakes is a string of eight lakes located in the Adirondack Park in upstate New York, United States. The chain is the dammed-up Moose River (New York), Moose River, and the dam which creates the chain holds back nearly of wate ...

with the

Saint Lawrence River The St. Lawrence River (french: Fleuve Saint-Laurent, ) is a large river in the middle latitudes of North America. Its headwaters begin flowing from Lake Ontario in a (roughly) northeasterly direction, into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, connectin ...

drainage. This route was frequently traveled by guideboat or

canoe A canoe is a lightweight narrow water vessel, typically pointed at both ends and open on top, propelled by one or more seated or kneeling paddlers facing the direction of travel and using a single-bladed paddle. In British English, the ter ...

in the mid-late 19th century. At that time, "a typical trip might start at the Saranacs, from which a party could make its way to the Raquette River via Indian Carry and Stoney Creek." The trip continued "via the lakes accessible from it— Long, Raquette, Forked, Blue and Tupper." U.S. Senator Orville H. Platt had a summer camp on Long Lake in the 19th century.Jerome, Christine ''Adirondack Passage: Cruise of Canoe Sairy Gamp'', HarperCollins, 1994. In 1925

Ephraim Sklyansky Ephraim Markovich Sklyansky (russian: Эфраим Маркович Склянский) ( – August 27, 1925) was a Soviet revolutionary and statesman. He was one of the founders of the Red Army, an associate of Leon Trotsky, and a major contrib ...

, CEO of

Amtorg Trading Corporation Amtorg Trading Corporation, also known as Amtorg (short for ''Amerikanskaya Torgovlya'', russian: Амторг), was the first trade representation of the Soviet Union in the United States, established in New York in 1924 by merging Armand Hamme ...

(an unofficial representative office of the USSR in the US) and

Leon Trotsky Lev Davidovich Bronstein. ( – 21 August 1940), better known as Leon Trotsky; uk, link= no, Лев Давидович Троцький; also transliterated ''Lyev'', ''Trotski'', ''Trotskij'', ''Trockij'' and ''Trotzky''. (), was a Russian ...

's right hand, died on Long Lake in a boating accident with his colleague Isai Khurgin, the previous director of Amtorg. The accident was suspected to be a murder organized by

GPU A graphics processing unit (GPU) is a specialized electronic circuit designed to manipulate and alter memory to accelerate the creation of images in a frame buffer intended for output to a display device. GPUs are used in embedded systems, mobi ...

. There was once a proposal to link Long Lake with the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

by way of a canal, which was started but abandoned.

References

Sources

*Jamieson, Paul and Morris, Donald, ''Adirondack Canoe Waters, North Flow'', Lake George, NY: Adirondack Mountain Club, 1987. .

External links

Lakelubbers.com
Adirondacks Lakes of New York (state) Lakes of Hamilton County, New York Tourist attractions in Hamilton County, New York Northern Forest Canoe Trail {{HamiltonCountyNY-geo-stub

History

See also

References

Sources

External links