19th century Fort Ann — Dairy and ginseng

Maury Thompson
3 min readOct 10, 2024

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Nearly 75,000 quarts of milk were transported from the Fort Ann D & H Railroad station in July 1895, mostly to Albany.

“This is the largest milk shipping point on the Delaware and Hudson Railroad,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Aug. 1, 1895.

The oat crop was hearty too.

“Vicinity papers have said much about prolific oat crops, but so far as has been known, C. M. Talmage of West Fort Ann has made the best record,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 5. “He exhibited two stalks at this office on Saturday bearing 134 and 139 sheaves, respectively. There were two kernels in each sheaf.”

In other 19th century Fort Ann news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

1895

  • “The gathering of the roots of the plant known as ginseng has developed into an industry of considerable importance in Fort Ann,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 22. “E. A. Lewis, of this place, buys all of the roots brought to him by the gatherers, paying more than three dollars a pound (the equivalent of $112.43 in 2024 dollars). … The plant grows in the mountain districts among the timber. The roots are only of value.”

Lewis sold the roots to New York City exporters, who shipped them to China to be used as medicine.

“At present prices, some can earn more than five dollars a day, and at others less than one dollar, but they calculate on average nearly two dollars for a day’s hunting.”

The slow-growing root could become a cash crop for those who were patient and financially able to invest for the long term.

“Arrangements looking to the cultivation of the root as a field crop, beginning the present year, have been entered into by parties in Fort Ann. Eight years will be required before the first crop can be gathered, but after that roots can be taken each year as the successive plantings mature.”

  • “Charles Brown is building a new barn on land he purchased of Joseph Harris in Kingsbury,” the Fort Ann correspondent reported in The Granville Sentinel on June 14.
  • “Charles H. White, who owns the steam sawmill at Dewey’s Bridge, near Fort Ann, has this season ground more than 100 tons of what geologists term primitive carbonate of lime into dust resins resembling ground plaster. … It is used principally by potato raisers, who mix with Paris Green and sprinkle it on the potato vines to destroy the bugs,” The Morning Star reported on Aug. 7.
  • “The volume of traffic on the canal is very much heavier this season than it has been for several years past,” the Fort Ann correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Aug. 8. “The freight going south consists very largely of four items: spruce pulp wood, white pine lumber and hay from Canada, and ore from the Port Henry and other mines on the west side of Lake Champlain.”
  • “The party of young men from this village who were in camp at Sly Lake returned home yesterday. They had a rainy time, but nevertheless are greatly enjoyed their outing and returned in good health and good spirits and with the firm intention to duplicate the pleasure next year,” the Fort Ann correspondent reported in The Morning Star on Aug. 13.

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Maury Thompson
Maury Thompson

Written by Maury Thompson

Freelance history writer and documentary film producer from Ticonderoga, NY