HISTORIC NORTH COUNTRY DISASTERS by Cheri L. Farnsworth

There is a tragic history in New York’s North Country of human folly, natural disasters, deadly explosions, terrible train wrecks and other calamities. The famous Barnum and Baily Circus suffered deeply after its lengthy train crashed between Norwood and Potsdam in 1889 with many animals dying. Beloved Thousand Island Park was almost entirely destroyed by the devastating fire of 1912, leveling hotels and businesses, and the once thriving park never fully recovered. The great Massena earthquake measured 5.9 on the Richter Scale in 1944 and caused tremendous structural damage throughout the Adirondacks, including the total destruction of thousands of chimneys. Author Cheri Farnsworth compiles a review of both natural and man-made disasters that shocked the North Country in the hundred years between 1950 and 1950.