By DAN HEATH
Staff Writer
May 06, 2008 08:46 am
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PLATTSBURGH -- Expectations are high that the 2009 Town of Saranac Historical Calendar will bring in a flood of donations.
The 2009 calendar, the fourth in a series created by Sylvia Newman, contains pictures and a description of the big flood of July 12, 1947.
"People said it was a storm like they had never seen before," Newman said.
DEADLY STORM
The torrential, localized two-hour rainstorm devastated a 3-to-4-mile section of the Town of Saranac.
Three people died in the flood, which sent raging water, boulders and trees down Corners Brook and True Brook and destroyed roads and bridges.
Saranac Highway Superintendent Paul Ebere, 41; Leo Lashway, 32; and his son, Donald Lashway, 8, died when the car they were in fell into True Brook as the Route 3 bridge collapsed.
At least 50 miles of roads had to be repaired and rebuilt, which wasn't finished until the following year. The $500,000 cost nearly caused the town to go bankrupt.
Numerous pictures of the devastation are spread over the pages of the calendar, providing a stunning testament to the flood's power. Among them are photos of huge rocks covering many roads; an enormous gully, carved by the water, that contains a collapsed telephone pole; and the remnants of the Route 3 bridge over True Brook.
SCHOOLHOUSE MOVE
The description of the flood damage came from "The Controlling of the Saranac River, Floods and Freshets" by Saranac Town Historian Jan Couture. It was published in The Antiquarian, a publication of the Clinton County Historical Association, in 1991.
Funds from the 2009 calendar will probably go toward relocation of one of several local historic schoolhouses in the area, Newman said. She hopes it can be converted to a museum.
Newman put together her first calendar in 2006. It featured pictures and an account of the early history of the Town of Saranac, with pictures of the Redford Carousel, Saranac Cornet Band and Redford Glass Works, among others.
That calendar was created to raise money for restoration and repair of the Civil War Monument in Saranac Independence Cemetery, which was successfully completed in May 2006.
THE RIVER RUN
The 2008 calendar has been the most popular so far, Newman said. It documented the River Run, a round-trip tour of the bars between the Pine Haven Restaurant in West Plattsburgh and the Pine Grove Restaurant (also known as the Alex Grove Restaurant) in Loon Lake.
"You had one drink at each bar on the way up and the way back," Newman said.
There is a picture of movie star Greer Garson in front of Pine Haven in 1946, Newman said, while another shows a unique glass bar in Finnan's Bar in Cadyville.
Almost all of the watering holes are now gone, she said.
Many people called from across the country for a copy of that calendar, either for their own use or as a gift.
The effort raised more than $5,000, which was used to complete restoration of an iron fence around Saranac Independence Cemetery that originally came from local iron companies.
Discovering pictures that detail the town's history provides Newman great enjoyment.
"Finding the pictures is the fun part. I'm going to keep doing calendars until we run out of photos or people stop buying them, whichever comes first."
dheath@pressrepublican.com
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Photos
A small crowd surveys the damage from Corners Brook in the aftermath of the huge flood of July 12, 1947. Saranac Elementary School and an elm-tree-lined Route 3 are in the background. More photos from the 2009 Town of Saranac Historical Calendar, compiled by Sylvia Newman, can be seen in the photo galleries at www.pressrepublican.com.