Flanagan Hotel, Malone NY

Chateaugay Lake from Across the Tracks

Here is a scene from the old days when they raided Lyon Mountain for its resources. The Chateaugay Railroad was operated by the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company, the ones doing the raiding.

The Origin of "Shatagee Woods"

The origin of the term “Shatagee Woods” is shrouded in controversy. There are two different theories in support of French as well as American Indian sources for the name.

An extract from an 1891 report of the New York State Forest Commission reads as follows:

This forest is known by different names. By the people of the Mohawk Valley it is always alluded to as the North Woods…the old people of the past generation (on the north) always spoke of it as the Shatagee (Chateaugay) Woods. (Cited by Welch, in Merrill, 14.)

According to Morton Cross Fitch, History at Ragged Lake (New York, 1933), 24-25 (mimeographed), the use of the word “Chateaugay Woods” was explained by the New York State Forest Commission Report of 1891. The various names used to describe the Adirondacks include North Woods, South Woods, John Brown’s Tract, Back Woods, and the Adirondacks. But “the old people of the past generation always spoke of it as the Shatagee (Chateaugay) Woods." As late as 1872 the term was still used in E. R. Wallace’s Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks. The author divides the Adirondacks into nine parts, the most northern part called the “Chateaugay Woods.” (Rushmeyer)


Fay Welch continues:

While its origin is uncertain this name (spelled Chateauguay in Canada) is closely associated with a famous French colonial family founded by Charles LeMoyne…Louis XIV granted him the title of Sieur de Longueuil (an area across the St. Lawrence River from Montreal).…Antoine, the fourteenth child and youngest son…became the Sieur de Chateaugay. This seigneurie fronted for two leagues on the south shore of the St. Lawrence above Montreal, and extended three leagues back from the river. It probably included the mouth of the Chateaugay River and the site of the present Canadian Village of Chateauguay. (Welch, in Merrill, 14.)

There is considerable confusion regarding the similarity of the two words “Shatagee” and “Chateaugay”, as well as the differentiation between the various areas and locations when used in various contexts. Therefore, a review of the following terms may be helpful:

Upper Chateaugay Lake
Chateaugay Lake Narrows
Lower Chateaugay Lake
Chateaugay River

The Chateaugay Lakes are a system from the Lyon Mountain area and draining southward into the St. Lawrence River to the north. The lake flows into a river with rapids and an impressive gorge before settling down in the St. Lawrence Valley. The drainage system forms a valley sometimes referred to as the “Chateaugay Lake Valley”.

Chateaugay Village

The Village of Chateaugay was the first community to be settled in Franklin County in 1792, and by the War of 1812 was known as the “Chateaugay Four Corners” or simply the “Four Corners”.

There are separate town and village governments for Chateaugay.

Chateaugay Lake

This name was associated with two separate and adjacent communities. Samuel H. Hammond (1854) refers to the early hamlet located at the outlet of Chateaugay Lake (whose location was used to provide power for various saw and gristmills from the early 1800s until 1879, when a robber-baron-type company set up their iron-ore and railroad operations and created several “company towns”) as “Chateaugay Lake”. After the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company set up their operations in 1879, they expanded the town and created living spaces for the workers in a field located just east of the river.

The hamlet was known under a few different names: Weeds, Popeville, Moffitts, and finally, “The Forge”, as the Bellmont Iron Works, located at the outlet, consisted of a 16-fire Catalan Forge that was eventually expanded to 20 fires.

“Weeds” refers to the Roswell Weed and more especially to his son Smith Weed, who together bought up the land by various means around the lake. I am personally prejudiced against Roswell Weed, as he was involved in foreclosing on a mortgage deal with my ancestor John Dolloff Miles. Miles and another partner, John B. Jackson, ran a gristmill that was located on land that Weed was apparently interested in acquiring. I feel as if Weed took advantage of a man with several small children wanting to move into and get started in business in an area that badly needed his skills.

Miles, a miller and stonecutter, came to Chateaugay Lake from Bath in Grafton County, New Hampshire, in 1825. He borrowed $500 to set up operations with Jackson; however, somehow Roswell Weed was involved in this, I’m unsure whether he owned the paper or bought it, but in any event, he wound up owning it, and foreclosed in exactly a year. That piece of property eventually became the Roswell Weed sawmill, was rebuilt a few times, and finally the Company bought it and ran it for about 20 years. Roswell acquired many other lots, together with his two sons Smith and William (mentioned in The Old Guide’s Story as introducing Darius Merrill to Smith; William later died in Australia or New Zealand).

Roswell owned a big house at Chateaugay Lake, on the west side of the Drew Road, which is where his sons William and Smith grew up. The house is completely gone now, although there are photographs in Herman Whalen’s “Chateaugay Lake” that show it as being quite impressive for its time. The same building was shown in an article written by Connie Pope about Popeville in York State Tradition. There is a story that the Weeds got their start manufacturing liquor in Burke Hollow; this was at a time when liquor was frown upon, so this should give one an assessment of their character.

“Popeville” was named for another one of Smith Weed’s partners; The Chateaugay Ore and Iron Company went through a few changes concerning the partners allied with principals Smith Weed and Andrew Williams: “Popeville” was named for one of them, and his descendant was Connie Pope, author of the afore-mentioned article.

“Moffitts” was named for John Henry Moffitt, who was the boss of the Bellmont Iron Works in the 1880s, where there are a few notable photographs taken of him: one was taken with him inside the steamer “Adirondack”, a boat associated with the Company; another depicts a group of hunters along with game and guide Charles Merrill at the camp atop Moffitt’s Island; in a third, published as a postcard that now occasionally appears on eBay, he is posing inside a skiff holding a rifle along with more game. He was a large man and always seems to be wearing a big hat as well. He grew up at Chateaugay Lake. He fought in the American Civil War on the side of the Union and received the US Medal of Honor for action at Gainesville. His father, Stephen Moffitt, was known as “General”. John later followed the example of his friend, N. Monroe Marshall, and ran for political office, serving as NY Representative for the US Congress from 1887-91.

We who are locals still refer to “The Forge” as such.

However, by the time the company owned “The Forge,” an adjacent community, known as Crompville and Bellmont on the same map, began using the name “Chateaugay Lake” for their post office and hamlet. This caused some bad feelings with members of the original community actually located at the lake, so the name was changed to Brainardsville, which it remains today.

Chateauguay River
Chateauguay

When the Chateaugay River continues into Quebec, it is called the Chateauguay River. Also, there is a rather large town in Quebec called Chateauguay.

[I'm currently trying to dig up the reference regarding the American Indian origin of "Shatagee" so hang in there...]