Graham Mountain (New York) - History

History

The Catskills were formed 250-350 million years ago, during the Devonian and Silurian periods, when the sands and silt that had eroded from the Acadian Mountains to the northeast collected in a river delta at the mouth of the shallow inland sea that is now the Allegheny Plateau. The delta uplifted as a single unit and gradually streams eroded valleys, creating a dissected plateau. The harder, younger shale and sandstone remains as the mountain summits. Later glaciation made the valleys steeper and smoother.

As with most other peaks in the Mill Brook Ridge range, there was very little human impact on Graham for most of its recorded history. That changed drastically after the construction of Turner Hollow Road in the late nineteenth century, connecting Seager with the end of Beaver Kill Road, allowing anglers to reach private fishing clubs on the Beaver Kill headwaters from the Arkville Station on the Ulster and Delaware Railroad. Around 1890 George Gould bought the Furlow Lodge tract, including most of the mountain, since his father had enjoyed fishing at the lake so much.

Turner Hollow Road (rerouted to the west in the late 19th century) made the upper slopes of Graham more accessible to logging operations. Their impact on the mountain still is visible to elevations of well above 3,000 feet (910 m), well above their extent elsewhere in the area. One of the last of these took place in the early 1960s, when the relay station was built on a one-acre (4,000 m²) clearing at the summit. A technician and pilot were marooned on the summit for 24 hours after their helicopter crashed there on a maintenance trip during a heavy snowstorm in early 1963. It remained in service for a few more years after that and was abandoned sometime before 1969.