Page one of the The Adirondack Daily Enterprise was jam-packed with local news on Monday, July 10, 1961. What follows is a glimpse at the hot news 65 years ago.

The Adirondack Park Association [the original APA?] had opposed a bill introduced by New York State Assemblyman Watson Pomeroy “establishing wilderness areas” in the Adirondack Forest Preserve. Tuberculosis was still in the news with the Saranac Lake Laboratory hosting a symposium with 57 doctors registered. The world famous Trudeau Tuberculosis Sanatorium which opened in 1884, closed in 1954. The last patient who walked out that closing door was equally famous — Larry Doyle, Captain of the New York Giants baseball team and former MVP.

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The Pomeroy Bill

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“Declaring themselves guided by the belief that few are more concerned what is good for the Adirondack Park areas than the people who live and make their living through the facilities of the natural resources to be found in them, the board of directors of the Adirondack Park Association Saturday afternoon took issue with the Watson Pomeroy bill [a NYS assemblyman] proposing the establishment of wilderness areas in the Adirondack Preserve.

“In a meeting in Indian Lake, headed by association secretary, James E. Davis, of Saranac Lake in the absence of Dr. Chester L. Buxton, the group voted 20 to 1 with two abstentions to oppose the Pomeroy bill, ‘unless it were to be amended and revised’, and cited four specific reasons for their action against the bill which would set up twelve wilderness areas totaling 823,030 acres, or thirty-six per cent of the forest lands in Northern New York.”

The Park Association board could not even imagine what the Pomeroy bill would look like going up against a bill passed in 1971 creating the Adirondack Park Agency. This bill created the most restrictive zoning of private land anywhere in the United States. Maybe, as they say, like taking a knife to a gunfight.

As a reporter, I attended the first APA meeting in Ray Brook when the bill was released and later that month participated in a round table discussion of the bill hosted by WPTZ television along with Jack Laduke and other big shots in the news business.

At that time, there was also pretty tight zoning in California as I remember. I explored by Jeep and horseback some of my Uncle Tom Riley’s 4,000-acre ranch one mile south of Carmel. Property owners were granted easements concerning what they could do and not do with cutting of trees and damming brooks.

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The visiting doctors

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“Four guest speakers will participate in the tenth annual general practitioners symposium on tuberculosis and pulmonary diseases which began today in Saranac Lake.

“Dr. George W. Wright, head of medical research at Cleveland’s St. Luke’s Hospital and acting director of the Saranac lake Laboratory and Dr. Jonathan F. Meakins, assistant professor of clinical research at McGill University in Montreal are among the speakers. Also included are Dr. Emerson Day, chairman, department of medicine, Memorial Hospital for Cancer and Allied Diseases, Sloan-Ketting Institute, New York City, and Dr. E. Ewen Cameron, professor of psychiatry, McGill University.

“Tuberculosis is the predominant subject of the post-graduate week of study, but attention will be given to cancer and diseases of the lung. Fifty-seven physicians have registered for the course. They represent 19 states and Canada.

“The symposium is sponsored by the American Thoracic Society, and the Saranac Lake Medical Society and the Adirondack counties chapter of the New York State Academy of General Practice.

“The faculty consists of doctors of Saranac Lake, Ray Brook State Hospital, Administration Hospital at Sunmount, Will Rogers Memorial, Gabriels Sanatorium and the Trudeau Foundation. In addition, members of the laboratory staffs of these institutions will speak.”

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LP C of C — Canadian Currency

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“William Hovey, Jr., president of Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce, is urging all motel and hotel operators to accept Canadian money at par from registered Canadian guests. If there is any feeling against the policy, the Chamber would like to be advised because they are under the impression that this should be a uniform practice in the community. Visitors from Quebec and Ontario represent close to 50 per cent of our total business, Mr. Hovey said.”

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James Muiry Dies at Age 58

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“James M. Muiry, manager of the Whiteface Mountain Ski Development and the Whiteface Memorial Highway, died yesterday at the age of 58 after an illness of many weeks.”