The St. Regis Rossing paper-making plant received raw logs and stripped off the bark, and removed pitch from spruce trees to prevent it “gumming” up the paper machinery. Many mills in Carthage and Jefferson County acquired their logs from Adirondack woodlands. The industry provided work for many but also led to over cutting in many areas.  Spruce was especially prized, but by the turn of the century it had become difficult to find as much had been harvested for the lumbering industry. An unattributed quote of the time: “There is a paper mill now where once there was a saw mill.” Circa 1900-1910. Carthage, NY. Town of Champion archives. Photographer Henry M. Beach.

Click here to read our story on how Henry M. Beach captured the North Country through photography.

Caption info compiled by Lynn Thornton, Laura Prievo, and Harold Sanderson for the Images of America book Around Carthage and West Carthage.