Chapter 11 - The River
THE EVENING SUN - Norwich, NY - Thursday - October 10, 2002
Tale of a modern-day explorer
By Bob McNitt
SOURCE OF THE MIGHTY
MOHAWK - M. Paul Keesler kneels in a tiny spring-marsh that is the true
source of the mighty Mohawk River. Keesler has physically explored every
mile of the entire river and its primary tributaries and is authoring a
book about his adventures and findings in "MOHAWK - Discovering the Valley
of the Crystals."
Last week, I had the pleasure and honor of participating
in something that is, and will prove to be, highly significant. It involved
a 17-mile two-day canoe trip on the eastern end of the Mohawk River, spanning
the area from Scotia to the I-87 bridge.
What was so special about it was it was the final leg
of a major undertaking by longtime friend, M. Paul Keesler, to physically
explore-either by canoe or foot-every bit of the 161 miles of the Mohawk
River, plus its tributaries and historical sites.
Paul, who lives on the shores of West Canada Creek near
Newport, has always been an avid outdoorsman as well as a history buff.
He's also a gifted writer and editor who started out by writing an outdoor
column for the Utica Observer-Dispatch, then, when he became frustrated
by his limited column space, started his own magazine, The Mid-York Sportsman,
which grew into the New York Sportsman.
Paul eventually leased the magazine to Northwoods Publications
and in 1997 he sold it to Northwoods, who was later purchased by Petersen
Publishing. It has since gone through two new owners and, after a 30-year
span of being published, its most recent owner, Primedia, opted to cease
publishing it, along with all the acquired Northwoods titles, since they
represented in-house competition with Primedia's existing Game & Fish
magazine titles. Still, 30 years is an amazing run for a homegrown magazine,
and testimony to its quality.
Never one to sit on the sidelines, Paul's leasing of the
magazine didn't dampen his enthusiasm to explore and write about what he
encountered and learned. He quickly fell in love with book writing and
authored several outdoor-oriented books over the years that followed relinquishing
the reins of his magazine.
In the latter half of the 1990s, his fascination with
rivers and other watersheds, along with his fondness for canoeing and fishing,
sparked a challenge that, to my knowledge, no one has accomplished-exploring,
researching and writing a book on the entire Mohawk Valley, its watersheds
and their history.
So on April 26, 2000, Paul did what any true explorer
does: he started at the beginning, by attempting to locate the exact source
of the Mohawk River. After three attempts and miles of walking upstream
along petite brooks in the West Leyden area, he was rewarded by locating
a small spring-marsh that was, indeed, the birthplace of the Mohawk River.
Once the exact source was found and behind him, there
was no stopping Paul. He walked tributaries too small to canoe and canoed
those when they were just barely big enough to float a small craft. He
poured through historic records, seeking important sites and events that
helped shape the valley and its inhabitants, from the era of prehistoric
times, to native Americans, on through the arrival of explorers, settlers
and trading. He then explored and wrote about the most important of these
sites as he explored the river and its tributaries.
Knowing the project would require a tremendous amount
of time and countless exploration trips, Paul decided to share his adventures
with others by putting up a book-in-progress web site (http://www.paulkeeslerbooks.com/Mohawk.htm)
as he worked his way methodically from west to east, adding new chapters
and sections as he physically finished each leg of his exploration.
Since its beginnings 2 1/2 years ago as a modest Chapter
One introduction page, "MOHAWK - Discovering the Valley of the Crystals,"
the web site now spans 22 chapters filled with about everything anyone
would want to know about the Mohawk and its past and current history and
conditions.
The tremendous impact of the Mohawk River and Valley on
North American history is best explained by an excerpt from Paul's Book-In-Progress:
"The Valley of the Mohawk is the only east-west passage through a range
of mountains that runs from Maine to Georgia. What's equally amazing, its
western terminus was an easy-mile carry to a watershed that flows westward
to the Great Lakes, providing a cross-country land and water route that
has served man since time immemorial."
It was about 3 p.m. last Thursday when Paul and I eased
his Mad River canoe onto shore beneath the I-87 bridge with the steady
hum of traffic whizzing overhead. Mutual friends Ron Gugnacki and Dave
Hamilton had joined us in another canoe for this extra-special two-day
journey. We got out of the canoes and looked at each other for a moment,
trying to grasp the reality that Paul's mammoth two-year-plus watery journey
had actually come to a conclusion when his canoe bow touched shore.
Then we shook hands and hugged. "I still can't believe
it's over," Paul said.
"Well, at least the easy part's over," I joked. "Now comes
the hard part, finishing the book."
Although we all laughed, we also knew that it was, indeed,
a bittersweet moment for Paul. But certainly a feat that few, if any, people
have ever accomplished.
Although the Mohawk Valley hardcopy book won't be published
until to 2004, Paul plans to produce a CD on "Exploring the Mohawk River"
in 2003.
Bob McNitt is the Outdoor Editor of The Evening Sun in Norwich, NY and was the Editor of the New York Sportsman Magazine for many years.
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