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Forty members attended the seventh Chamber of Commerce meeting of the present year at the Lakeside Inn, and President Swift suggested that the meeting be as informal as possible.

The matter of providing a suitable public toboggan slide was first considered and the enthusiasm manifested indicated all are agreed that a safe slide properly located would not only add greatly to our winter sports facilities but must be considered a real necessity for entertaining people who come to Lake Placid to enjoy winter sports.

There was a diversity of opinion as to the best location for a slide, and as many as eight different locations were suggested.

The next subject concerned the need of having a paid winter sports director. Opinion on this question was divided, some believing this to be a real necessity and others referring to the wonderful achievement obtained here in the speedskating sport through the efforts and cooperation of our local enthusiasts without a paid director. It was stated that nothing has added so much to the fame of Lake Placid as has the speedskating sport.

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Freshet damage

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Oldest inhabitants of this region cannot recall a parallel of this week’s freshet, when the “floodgates of heaven were opened” and for 40 hours a steady downpour raised local brooks, streams and rivers to a level that cut off travel and transportation, and for a while threatened Lake Placid and surroundings with complete isolation.

Sunday was a beautiful balmy day, and old settlers familiar with weather signs predicted the coming storm. Late Sunday night, it commenced to rain, and gradually the downpour increased until the volume took on the proportions of a cloud burst.

Tuesday morning, distress calls began to come in from the Notch vicinity, where several automobiles were marooned. The highway for several hundred feet was submerged in 4 feet or more of water.

Venturesome drivers attempted fording and in one or two instances succeeded but with the water over the motor and coming above the floor.

Other cars were stalled in the attempt, and wrecking crews from local garages were busy all day towing cars through the flooded area.

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1856 freshet

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Wallace Murray, who for the past 35 or 40 years has resided in Saranac Lake, recalls the autumn freshet of 1856. His recollection was told in Wednesday’s Adirondack Enterprise.

“Sixty-eight years ago to a day, on Sept. 30, 1856, the village of Keene and the countryside surrounding it was visited by just such a storm and flood as that of the past two days, which reached its height yesterday.

“… Wallace Murray, lifelong resident of the Adirondacks, who was then a 7-year-old boy living in Keene, the freshet of the last two days has been the worst since the disaster of nearly three-quarters of a century.

“In that flood, an uncle, an aunt and a sister of Mr. Murray were drowned. They made their home together on a farm along the east branch of the AuSable River.”