Column: Altona Flat Rock: A wilderness forever altered by berries and concrete

The Flat Rock is a large area of discontinuous bare sandstone that stretches along the Champlain Valley into Quebec. Gazing at the rock formations, visitors to the area can easily imagine the long-forgotten retreat of glacial ice from the Champlain Valley. The Altona Flat Rock is home to the rare ecosystem of jack pine barrens. Locals recall fires on Altona Flat Rock with anxiety, but the jack pines require fire. The heat of fire opens the pitched covered cones allowing the barren to reproduce. Fire on Altona Flat Rock is a curse and a blessing. The Altona portion of Flat Rock (Altona/West Chazy) is a local blueberrying haven. Joseph C. Burke, in "William H. Miner-The Man and the Myth," states "Flat Rock may have been isolated and barren, but it had become a bonanza for blueberry pickers." "A History of The Altona Flat Rock" by Larry Gooley details the evolution of Flat Rock berry picking beginning with the industrious individual Peter Barnaby, Sr, to large landowners like the Trombley Brothers and the Woods Brothers. The latter employed local families to stay and pick each summer. Most families resided in one-room wood shacks that were hastily assembled and disassembled. Pickers were paid an average of five to ten cents a quart by large buyers who sold the harvest throughout New England and Canada. William Miner's name has grown synonymous with North Country philanthropy and his farm at Heart's Delight in Chazy, now The William H. Miner Research Institute. Much of the Flat Rock property owned by the Institute today was purchased by William Miner in the 1910s. William H. Miner changed Altona Flat Rock forever in 1910 when he eyed Flat Rock as a site for a hydroelectric dam. Mr. Miner bought land and razed camps from the site of the future dam. He constructed a boarding house, a horse barn, a building known as the "Italian Camp", two engine houses, a blacksmith shop, a store house, and a crusher plant. Local berry pickers continued each summer, as immigrant laborers from Bulgaria, Italy, Poland, and Russia toiled at the dam. William Miner's dam nicknamed "The Million Dollar Dam" was completed with astonishing speed, with as many as 500 men working day and night. The concrete dam had a maximum height of thirty feet, 2300 feet long, with a storage capacity of one and a half billion gallons of water. In January 1915, the Flat Rock powerhouse began producing electricity, only as a backup facility. By 1922, the Flat Rock Dam proved to be costly and inefficient due in part to the sandstone and cobblestone bedrock of the region, and maintenance of the powerhouse. William Miner did not abandon the region. He kept the company-town setting alive. He hired John Murphy of Willsboro, Louis Barnaby of Altona, and Melbourne Parker of West Chazy to maintain order on his lands. Miner paid ten cents a quart for berries. According to Altona resident Bertha Rabideau, Miner's camps had wooden floors, bunk beds, a stove, and a large kitchen. Pickers also used facilities left from the dam works. William Miner shipped berries much as the Trombleys and Woods had done before. He was able to use his wealth to improve wages and living conditions. The seasonal life was forever changed by William Miner's death in 1930. A small number of pickers and buyers remained for a few decades, but nothing on so grand a scale. Today, Altona Flat Rock is a quiet wilderness where families visit and pick berries, and researchers study the unique ecosystems. Gone is the bustle of construction, and the sound of the Flat Rock Quadrille. An abandoned dam on a cobblestone ridge, and workmen's footprints fading into cement remind us of the amazing story that is Altona Flat Rock. -Kristina M. Parker is the Town of Altona Historian. Parker has a personal connection to the Altona Flat Rock, as a direct descendant of warden John H. Murphy.

Signup for our newsletter

Column: Altona Flat Rock: A wilderness forever altered by berries and concrete

COMPANY

CUSTOMER SUPPORT

SUBMISSION FORMS

BEYOND THE NEWS