Carol Fisher-Linn
Allegany State Park is New York State’s largest park, with 65,000 acres (97 square miles) of mountains forests, meadows, and rock formations for those who wish to keep their feet planted. Water adventurers can enjoy three lakes and numerous streams and ponds. Add the sandy beaches at Red House and Quaker, mountain biking and equestrian trails and the only thing lacking is you taking advantage of every bit of pleasure this park has to offer.
Even though the park was named as the “Top Amazing Spot” in the nation in 2007 (Wikipedia), and it is also known as “the wilderness playground of Western New York,” we New Yorkers take ASP for granted. It’s hard to imagine it not being available to the public or having the amenities it offers. ASP has been part of the landscape since July 1921 through an Act of the NYS Legislature seeded with the purchase of 7,020 acres from the heirs of Amasa Stone for $31,500 plus 150 adjacent acres and buildings for $4,300. The original administration building was a converted schoolhouse, and WWI Army surplus tents on wooden platforms were used for camp housing until the first permanent cabins came in 1925. In the next few years Redhouse Dam, which created Redhouse Lake, was developed followed by Science Lake in 1926.
The grunt-work of developing ASP took place between 1933 and 1942 when the Civilian Conservation Corps was formed in the height of the Great Depression and unemployment was at 25%. President Franklin D. Roosevelt enacted the national program in his first 100 days based on another program he enacted as NYS governor which put thousands of young men to work reforesting one million acres of NYS.
To join the CCC men had to be unmarried, between the ages of 17 and 28 and were assigned to camps located around the US to improve millions of acres of federal and state lands. Run on a military model with regular and reserve officers in charge, the men agreed to daily inspections, rare home visits (only with a pass), working 8 hours, five days a week, with a minimum six-month signup. They earned $30 a month, $25 of which was automatically sent home to the man’s family. They worked hard doing physical labor, but with proper nutrition and exercise, most enrollees gained weight while in the program. Many re-enrolled after their six-month term and those who went out into the workforce found employers more willing to hire former CCC laborers because of their strong work ethic and self-discipline. In the years of its existence, over three million American men participated in CCC.
At Allegany State Park, in 1933, men from local WNY towns and Harlem, Brooklyn, Hell’s Kitchen and New Jersey lived together in tents assigned in work areas all over the park. Working through the summer months, they returned home around Labor Day. It was surmised that most of the city boys would not return knowing they faced working in a harsh WNY winter. Surprisingly, they all returned. By then, camp buildings were “home,” so life was more pleasant.
In November 1933 one team was assigned the task of creating Ridge Run Road which finally gave visitors access to Thunder Rocks. Another crew was responsible for upgrading the scenic highway from the top of South Mountain into the overlook at Fancher Point. They also constructed the stone Sweetwater Spring where people (visitors and Salamanca residents) could fill jugs with fresh cold spring water. Sadly, the spring (discovered in 1880) was diverted in 2007 due to modern health regulations.
Crews were at work at all points of the park even during the coldest of winters. In the Lewis and Schmid book, The Legends and Lore of Allegany State Park, there is a story the men told of the winter of 1934 when the temperature reached 48 below. Thinking they were hearing cannon fire, they were, in fact, “hearing frozen tree trunks splitting from the stress of the enormous internal pressure created by the extreme temperatures.”
So, when you visit Stone Tower, the Outdoor Museum in Red House, the observation Tower, toboggan run, the stone shelter, restrooms, water fountains, etc. give a prayer of gratitude to these young men who worked tirelessly at our park. And, enjoy!