Research

Administrative History

Verplanck Colvin (1847-1920) was a prominent surveyor and promoter of the Adirondack Park. He began surveying the Adirondacks in 1865. In 1870, he spoke to the New York State Regents about surveying and preserving the Adirondacks. In 1872, the Regents appointed him the Supervisor of the State Survey and established the Commission of State Parks to investigate setting up the Adirondack Park. By 1880 Colvin had completed the most thorough survey of the Adirondacks ever accomplished. He continued to work as the State Surveyor for twenty-eight years. During the time he was carrying out his survey work, he gave speeches and campaigned for the establishment of the Adirondack Park. In 1900, after thirty-five years of advocating his cause, Colvin inexplicably abandoned the crusade. He died in 1920 in a hospital for the mentally ill.

This series of maps was produced as a result of Chapter 733 of the Laws of 1872, passed by the New York State Legislature to appropriate money "to aid in completing a survey of the Adirondack wilderness of New York." Chapter 848 of the Laws of 1872 appointed commissioners for two years to survey "the timber regions lying within counties (of the Adirondack region)," in order to convert the land into a public park. The Superintendent of the State Land Survey was empowered to conduct any surveys the State Comptroller and the State Forestry Commission authorized to settle disputed boundary titles. Periodic appropriations were passed to continue the survey. Verplanck Colvin, as Superintendent of the Adirondack Survey (later the Superintendent of the State Land Survey), and his assistants conducted the survey during the 1870s and 1890s.