Medal Remembers French Colony Castorland

of New York State. Even the season of arrival is uncertain, although it was obviously not in the dead of winter.

“Three years earlier, a small group had preceded them to this spot, giving up the struggle after less than a year, improperly equipped to survive the rigors of a north country winter as they were. The ruins of their cabins were still there on the eastern side of the Black River.

“The ironic fact was that this first group, and now the later party, were stopping too quickly. Their projected home was in a valley below a falls ...

“Still unaware of the error the families made their way across the river to a flatland barely broad enough to hold a single farm. Educated in the gentler arts, they nevertheless set to work with a will to clear the land and begin their settlement. Filled with misconceptions of this country, their only thoughts were that at last they were safe from