‘Johnsburg Red’ and the Crane Mountain Paint Mine
In the deep chasm between Crane and Huckleberry Mountains run two brooks, diverging from a height of land: Paintbed Brook to the northwest, and Crystal Brook to the east. Near this height of land are the remains of a paint-mining and processing plant which operated in the mid-1890s for the purpose of producing the dry mineral pigments for oil-based paints. The pigments produced from the mined ochre material came in varying colors such as yellow, red, and brown, and were applied to buildings in Johnsburg and elsewhere at the time.
Hence, they came to be celebrated by town-branded names such as "Johnsburgh Red" and "Johnsburgh Brown," and the ore beds associated with this mining operation inspired the name "Paintbed Brook."
This chimney is one of the site’s most distinctive artifacts. Here David Greene points to a stone carved with the month and year of the building’s construction: July 1894.
Much of the Crane-Huckleberry valley is in the Wilcox Lake Wild Forest of the State Forest Preserve. The most manageable means of accessing the paint mine site is to park at or near the intersection of South Johnsburg Road and Glen Creek Road. The access road is half a mile to the north of this intersection, on the west side. This gated road is a recent logging road on land purchased in 2021 from the Open Space Institute by the State of New York. It connects to an older access road and can be followed for about 3½ miles to the mine site.
This old, woodlands road follows Crystal Brook, crossing it twice. As you near the highest point in the valley between Crane Mountain and Huckleberry Ridge, about 100 feet beyond a beaver pond you will see a large stone foundation for a building. Trees now fill the space once occupied by mine workers and machinery. A little further, and you will catch sight of an old chimney on a hill, standing about 10 feet high. You will also come across wide pits about five feet deep, their sides eroded by weather and time.
The existence by Crane Mountain of the mineral pigments necessary to making the Johnsburg-type paints was reported as far back as 1813. In his first edition of A Gazetteer of the State of New York, published that year, Horatio Gates Spafford wrote of "a pigment for paint of various colors, are found on Crain's mountain." (1)
The earliest reference to the Johnsburg-type paints I found is in the December 21, 1860 edition of the Glen's Falls Messenger. The article refers to a seven-acre bed of "brown hematite ore" found on the jointly-owned estate of Nicholas Rosevelt and Samuel Barber. (2) Of the ore mined from this bed, the reporter states:
"From this, is made the paint known as the 'Johnsburgh Brown.' We found Mr. Barber in a laboratory, making experiments on his paint. He had perfected a Spanish Brown and also a Black, which has a body and color equal to any thing in market."
The reporter also notes a visit to the beds of "Kaoline or Porcelain Clay" on the farm of David S. Kenyon at the base of Crane Mountain:
"These are along side of and in the bed of the brook, and, according to report, are very extensive. ... We dug in the brook for specimens. The upper part appears to be of green, yellow, red, and brown, showing the presence of various oxides of iron, copper, sulfur and manganese. The lower part, we were informed, is a bed of pure white, of ample extent."
Warren County deed records indicate that Kenyon's farm was at the southern foot of Crane Mountain, so the brook noted may be Glen Creek. Likewise, Barber's land was at the southern foot of Huckleberry Mountain It is unclear to what extent Rosevelt, Barber, or Kenyon worked the paint beds on their land, outside of what was described in this article.
Samuel Barber's son, Phineas Tyler (P.T.), followed in his father's footsteps. On December 3, 1866, P.T. acquired from Abel Scripter a 768-acre tract of land called Lot 24 of the Gore between Township 11 and the Dartmouth Patent.
This 110-foot-long dam was part of the system that powered the pulverization of ore using water conveyed to the plant from Crane Mountain Pond, a mile away and 600 feet higher.
This tract includes Crane Mountain Pond and part of the Crane-Huckleberry valley where the remains of the paint mine exist. The earliest mention found of P.T.'s mining for the ochre material is in the March 21, 1884 edition of the Glens Falls Messenger, which reports how he sold one-half of his interest in a brown paint mine to a Mr. Hurlburt of Bennington, Vt. (3) "The paint is one of the best in the market, being composed of decomposed iron. It stands the weather remarkably."
Considering his ownership of Lot 24, P.T.'s mine was likely on the same site where the remains of the 1890s paint mining operation are found today.
On November 11, 1893, P.T. leased his land on Lot 24 to David Marcos (D.M.) Haley of Boston. Haley was a chemist and representative for the Franklin Paint Company of Sandy Hill (today's Village of Hudson Falls in Washington County). (4)
The 99-year lease agreement in the deed permitted Haley to access "all iron ore, clays, ochres, siennas or other mineral substances by whatever name known."
Haley agreed to pay Barber a royalty of $0.25 per ton at the start of each year for all such material "mined or raised and carried away." Haley also agreed to pay at least $100 annually as a royalty, 60 days from the end of each year.
The Franklin Paint Company planned to start work on P.T.'s paint mine in the spring of 1894. (5) The deposit in the Crane-Huckleberry valley extended for about 1½ miles, and tests on the ore showed it to be of very high quality. (6) The ore was composed primarily of aluminum with iron oxides, the former making the paint practically indestructible when exposed to the weather. (7,8) Near the surface of the deposit, the ochre was light and yellowish in color, but darkened to red and brown the deeper it was mined. (9) When washed and dried, the pigment from the ore was said to be "a beautiful color," which would change to colors of red, pink, crimson, and so on, when varying degrees of heat was applied to it. Haley envisioned establishing a large plant at the site which would produce enough pigment for his own use as well as that for his employer. (10)
In February or March 1894, Haley decided to branch off on his own and severed ties with his employer. Partnering with a fellow Bostonian and paint industrialist, F.E. Harvey, the two formed the Glen Mining Company (also referred to as the Glen Mining Company or the Glen Paint Company) of Sandy Hill. They along with Charles L. Marshall and Cornelius Bloomingdale of Glens Falls, and James E. Flood of Sandy Hill, comprised the company's first board of directors." (11) Haley established an office for the company in Johnsburg Corners (today's hamlet of Johnsburg).
When the Glen Mining Company commenced work on the mine in the spring, about five acres of land near the mine were cleared of trees. Operators bored down 70 feet into the bed and found no bottom to the ochre deposit. The site included a lumber camp, drying sheds, and a 60-by-40-foot building equipped with the latest machinery for the manufacture of material for both dry and oil-based paints. Water for the operation was provided via an iron pipe laid from Crane Mountain Pond, some 600 feet above. Water from the pond powered a 50-horsepower Hurdy Gurdy water motor.
The water was brought down from the pond via an ambitious series of engineering works. A dam at the pond's southeast outlet raised the water level a few feet, just enough to send the water flowing northward instead, into a tributary of Crystal Brook.
Long diversion ditches were dug to move that water northwest into an adjacent drainage, where a 110-foot-long stone-braced plank dam collected the water into a holding pond several feet deep. This secondary reservoir was still half a mile south of the mine site and 440 feet higher in elevation.
The presence of lengthy diversion ditches and connected water channels strongly suggests that no pipe was ever laid there. Ditch-digging on the slopes of Crane Mountain is not easy work, and ditches would have been unnecessary anywhere that a pipe was run.
From the dam the water was carried, presumably via pipe, over a solid ledge of rock to a low point in an adjacent ridge. The company removed the pipe when it closed up its operation, as contemporary news articles stated, but several supporting stone piles remain to mark the route in a line below the dam.
From the low point in the ridge, the water would have followed the natural channel directly above the Paint Bed Mine to another diversion ditch, which is still clearly visible a few hundred feet above the main building. It is not clear exactly how this final diversion ditch was connected with the main building's 50-horsepower Hurdy Gurdy water motor.
However, engineering calculations show that just a few hundred yards of larger diameter pipe running down from the diversion ditch to the mine site would have been enough to supply power in the 50hp range -- assuming that the water ran intermittently. The water supply would have been insufficient for continuous 24-hour flow especially in the summer months, but it could easily have been collected behind the dam and released whenever it was needed, to provide power to the mill for a good fraction of the day.
The particulars of the mining and processing of the ore are unclear, and no photos of the site when in operation appear to exist. From the news reports of the operation, the crushing of the ore, and the washing and drying of the pulverized ochre minerals, were performed at the site.
This six-inch-diameter ceramic pipe was presumably part of the water-delivery system.
According to an article in the July 22, 1895 edition of the Glens Falls Daily Times, "Most of the paint is shipped in the dry powder." Thus, barrels of the dry, purified pigment would have been shipped out via the wagon road which went along Paintbed Brook to Mill Creek, then onward to the hamlet of Johnsburg. The final product for consumers would have been prepared at another location.
Here's how Haley advertised his paint in the Warrensburg News in 1895: (12)
PAINT YOUR HOUSE WITH
Aluminum Paste Paint
THE PRODUCT OF THE JOHNSBURGH PAINT MINES
This is a purely metallic paint, containing pure aluminum and iron oxides, the iron being fully oxidized by the action of the natural elements before being mined, it cannot undergo further change. While aluminum, this new and beautiful metal which forms the largest part of this paint, can be applied on any known metal. Aluminum paints are superior to all others. It will not corrode by exposure to the weather, therefore it will not destroy the oil which is the life of any paint. It is by far the cheapest paint as it will cover more than three times the surface that a pure white lead paint will cover. It is more durable and leaves a more beautiful finish than white lead or any other mixed paint on the market. It is of the same composition and from the same vein of the paint that was known as the Johnsburgh Brown.
This paint can be seen on several buildings where it has stood for over forty years and it is yet in good condition, remaining firm and intact. For sale by all dealers. Price, ground in oil, 7 cents per pound.
Manufactured by
D. M. HALEY
Johnsburgh, New York
1896 proved to be a disastrous year for the Glen Mining Company's paint operation. In late January, two adjoining two-story buildings used for a mill and a burner room at the site burned to the ground. (13) The estimated loss of $5,000 (adjusted to $2,878.85) was covered by $4,200 of insurance written by the Little & Loomis agency. The company's president, Cornelius Bloomingdale, announced there would be a partial rebuilding of the plant buildings. (14) On February 29th, while the debris from the fire was still being cleared, an avalanche nearly killed three people (Haley, his wife, and a young man who worked at the plant) who were sleeping in a house by the mine. The avalanche "broke in the side of one room" on the ground floor of the house, where the furniture was completely destroyed. "The mass reached as high as the second story windows as it swept by the house with a noise like thunder." (15) The company's paint plant was rebuilt, but to what extent is unclear.
In early 1897, the Glen Mining Company leased a building in Saratoga that was formerly occupied by the Gossamer Rubber Company, for the use in the manufacture of mineral paint. (16) While the machinery was being put in place in the Saratoga building, the Glen Mining Company still operated their paint mine in the Crane-Huckleberry valley. (17) However, the summer of that year would be the end of the company's paint mining operation in the valley. The company wanted the Town of Johnsburg to build a 4½-mile road from "near Gib Pasco's" (located at the southern foot of Huckleberry Mountain) to The Glen, for the purpose of transporting the pigment from the mine. Since the town "would not or could not build" the road, the company decided to relocate their paint mining operation. (18)
In early 1897, the Glen Mining Company leased a building in Saratoga that was formerly occupied by the Gossamer Rubber Company, for the use in the manufacture of mineral paint. While the machinery was being put in place in the Saratoga building, the Glen Mining Company still operated their paint mine in the Crane-Huckleberry valley. However, the summer of that year would be the end of the company's paint mining operation in the valley. The company wanted the Town of Johnsburg to build a 4½-mile road from "near Gib Pasco's" (located at the southern foot of Huckleberry Mountain) to The Glen, for the purpose of transporting the pigment from the mine. Since the town "would not or could not build" the road, the company decided to relocate their paint mining operation.
In August 1898, the Glen Mining Company took an interest in the paint mine located on the farmland belonging to Thomas Noble, which was worked before "with success" and was "convenient to get at." (19) Noble's land was located about a mile north of Huckleberry Mountain, near today's Hudson Street. Harvey and Haley experimented with the mined mineral, hoping to produce a smokeless gunpowder. (20), (21), (22)
This is likely the same mine that the famous surveyor Verplanck Colvin, who headed the Adirondack Survey and State Land Survey in the late 1800s, inspected on September 20, 1901. From Noble's farm, Colvin noted "Whortleberry Mountain" (today's Huckleberry Mountain), "the Cressent [sic] Shaped range north of Mt. Crain." (23) Colvin then visited a mine operated by Andrew Lackey in "the high pass between Whortleberry and Crain Mountain, then to the red paint mine." Lackey's 1901 mine may be the mine once worked by the Glen Mining Company, but no historical records have been found to verify this.
By the fall of 1899, Noble's mine was turning out "a better quality of ore than at any time since it opened." The company decided to move 40 tons of dry paint from their storehouse to their "lower mill," where it would be made into liquid metallic roofing paint. (24) The locations of this storehouse and the lower mill are unclear. The company also removed the six-inch iron pipe laid from Crane Mountain Pond to the original paint mine site in the Crane-Huckleberry valley. (25)
In October 1902, P.T. Barber's son, Truman H. Barber, sold Lot 24 of the Gore between Township 11 and the Dartmouth Patent, to the Raquette Falls Land Company. (26)
Today, a jar of the paint powder from the mine in the Crane-Huckleberry valley can be found at the Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake. (27)
Adirondack historian and publisher of History and Legends of the Adirondacks John Sasso authored this piece, with contributions by David Greene. He is working with the Warren County Department of Planning and Community Development to complete a storymap that describes the Paint Bed Mine site. The author is grateful to Richard E. Tucker and Kelly Adirondack Center of Union College for their assistance and material contributed towards this historical profile.
Endnotes
(1) Spafford, Horatio Gates. A Gazetteer of the State of New York. Albany, N.Y.: H.C. Southwick,
1813, p. 311.
(2) “Notes from the Glen – No. 2.” Glen’s Falls Messenger. December 21, 1860, p. 2.
(3) Glen’s Falls Messenger. March 21, 1884, p. 1.
(4) Lake George News. December 7, 1893, p. 1.
(5) Lake George News. February 15, 1894, p. 1.
(6) “Another Paint Mine.” The Daily Times. February 1, 1894, p. 1.
(7) O’Connor, Candace. “Johnsburg Brown.” Adirondack Life. Vol. 39, No. 7, 2008, pp. 26-32.
(8) Aber, Ted. Adirondack Folks. Prospect, N.Y.: Prospect Books, 1980, pp. 47-48.
(9) “Immense Ochre Deposit.” The Morning Star. January 17, 1895.
(10) “A Johnsburgh Industry.” Lake George News. March 29, 1894, p. 1.
(11) “Johnsburgh Paint Mine.” Glens Falls Daily Times. July 22, 1895, p. 4.
(12) Ad in The Warrensburgh News, 1895. Source: https://www.fultonhistory.com/
(13) “Glens Falls Capitalists Burned Out.” Glens Falls Daily Times. January 25, 1896.
(14) “The Glen Company Will Rebuild.” Glens Falls Daily Times. February 7, 1896, p. 8.
(15) “An Adirondack Avalanche.” Glens Falls Daily Times. March 5, 1896.
(16) “Will Make Paint in Saratoga.” Lake George News. February 4, 1897, p. 1.
(17) Lake George News. March 25, 1897, p. 1.
(18) Lake George News. July 1, 1897, p. 1
(19) The Warrensburgh News. August 18, 1898.
(20) Glens Falls Morning Star. August 20, 1898, p. 3.
(21) Glens Falls Morning Star. August 27, 1898, p. 3.
(22) “A New Industry for Johnsburg.” The Warrensburgh News. September 8, 1898, p. 1.
(23) Rosevear, Francis B., and Barbara McMartin. Colvin in the Adirondacks: A Chronology and
Index. Utica, NY: North Country Books, 1992, p. 115.
(24) The Warrensburgh News. November 23, 1899, p. 1.
(25) The Morning Star. 1899.
(26) Recorded in Warren County deeds, book 96, page 289.
(27) Collection T:PAI, catalog number 2003.037.0001.