History
The lake was named for the extensive cranberry bogs that it once contained. In 1865, the state authorized the building of a dam on the east branch of the Oswegatchie that doubled the lake's surface area and killed thousands of trees, the stumps of which still remain in some areas. In 1902, the Rich Brothers Lumber Company purchased 16,000 acres (65 km2) on the southwestern shore of Cranberry Lake, and constructed a lumber mill. Housing for the millworkers was built in part from lumber salvaged from the company's abandoned Pennsylvania lumber operation. There were up to 1500 workers at the Rich Bros. mill and associated industries.
A logging railroad was constructed connecting Wanakena to the Carthage & Adirondack Railroad at Benson Mines, starting operation in 1905. The railroad allowed tourists easy access to the area. In 1913, a second railroad called the Grasse River Railroad was built by the Emporium Lumber Company, connecting Cranberry Lake to the New York Central Railroad at Childwold Station near Conifer, NY.
The Rich Bros. Lumber Co. donated 1,800 acres (7.3 km2) in the vicinity of Cranberry Lake to the New York State Ranger School in 1912. Businessman Charles Lathrop Pack donated 1,000 acres (4.0 km2) of what today is the Cranberry Lake Biological Station to the New York State College of Forestry in 1923. Six years later, in 1929, the International Paper Company donated 500 acres (2.0 km2) to the Ranger School. By 1940, the state had purchased most of the remaining lands of the former lumber companies.
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