Allegany Hellbender Tales

by

Larry Beahan

Allegany Hellbender Tales, Larry Beahan's new book about Allegany State Park, is now available on Amazon.com, in bookstores or from Larry at 716 839 3112 or larry_beahan@adelphia.net.

The book is a collection of stories from the Park. Larry and his family have been going there since 1927. He is a member of the Park Historical Society where he has gleaned lore of Park concessionaires, foresters, fire tower preservationists, one room school house students, campers and the Civilian Conservation Corps. Larry describes a prehistoric mountaintop fortress and George Heron, past President of the Seneca Nation, telling of ghosts. Larry deals with much of the history of the defense of the forest against exploitation for timber, natural gas and too much recreation.

The book costs $14.95, is 240 pages long, has 100 black and white photos, is paperbacked and its cover bears a photo from the Buffalo Museum of Science archive of a two and a half foot long Allegany Hellbender, a salamander that once was common in waters near the Park and may return someday

Introduction:
This is a deeply personal book of my encounters with, the best park in the world, Allegany State Park. My family and I have used the Park for a long time. Mom and Dad came down here as newlyweds. They brought my sister, Marj and me for week-long summer vacations on Gypsy, Ryan and Dowd Trails and sent us to Camp Bee Tee Vee. I was here as a Boy Scout. My wife, Lyn, and I were camp counselors one summer at Arrowhead. It was our honeymoon. We have had good times here with our kids and our grand kids. Two of them Alex and Angie, are on the back cover.

I was away from camping and hiking and Allegany for some years. I got back to it through the Adirondack Mountain Club and Sierra Club. They drew me back into enjoyment of the outdoors and concern for the preservation of such places as Allegany and its great aging forest. The Allegany State Park Historical Society put me in close touch with Park's land, its people and its origins.

Over the last ten years, 1993-2003, I have written my observations and opinions about the Park into the essays, articles and stories which are gathered here. They are in a chronological order approximating that of their writing. They are accounts of Park experiences heard from many voices, some are history. A few are fiction. And there are issues. I hope that these Allegany Hellbender Tales will entertain and inform readers and help them get as big a kick out of the Park as I have.

On the cover of this book is an Allegany Hellbender, the largest species of Salamander in the United States, up to twenty-nine inches long. They thrive in swift clean water and have lost much of their habitat. This photo is from the Buffalo Museum of Science's collection, taken in the 1930's at its famous "School in the Forest" in Allegany State Park.

On the back cover there is a photo of Alex and Angie, two of my grand children. We were canoe-camping on Kinzua Reservoir. Maybe someday they will see a Hellbender in Allegany State Park.

Contents:
Acknowledgement
Introduction
Medicine Man at Sinking Swamp
Description of the Park
Allegany Birthday Party
Buffalo Turn Verein and Arrowhead at Camp 12
One Room School House
Trout in Our Milk House
Bob Byledbal the Impresario of Red House
Allegany Moon
A Park Full of Memories and the Master Plan 1993
OPRHP Hearing on Allegany Master Plan Buffalo 1993
ADK and OPRHP and the Master Plan 1994
Coyote Stuck in a Skull
Tunesassa, the Friends Indian School
George Heron's Tales of the Ga-Hi-Neh
Wildcatting for Black Gold
Friends of Allegany Meets National Fuel Gas 1994
National Fuel Gas "Go Take a Hike"
Park for Sale Cheap
Halloween at Valentine's
Mountain Top Fortress
Audubon Nature Pilgrimage
Muzzle Loading Rendezvous, Wolf Run 1997
Muzzle Loader Encampment and Sierra
Civilian Conservation Corps Reunion 1997
Snake Eyes
Don't Throw $1,500,000 Down Abandoned Wells 1997
Alleghany January
Snowmobile Trail in XC Ski Area, No EIS 1998
Big Surprise Down in the Woods
Another Big Surprise Down in the Woods
Deer Overpopulation and DEC Management 1995
DEC Deer Management 2000
Alleghany Uprising, Memorial Day 2001
Osgood Trail Assessment 2002
Beehunter Trail Work Party and Chili Fest
North Country Trail Assessment 2002
Summit Fire Tower Restoration
Fire Tower; Pat McGee to the Rescue
Fire Tower; Invitation 2002
Trip to New Ireland
You Need to Respect Bears
Coca Cola Almost Buys Camp Allegany 2002
Fox and Me

About the Author:
Larry Beahan is a physician living near Buffalo. He has been an officer in The Niagara Frontier Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club, a governor of that club and active in its conservation endeavors. He is Chairman of the Niagara Group of the Sierra Club, a member of the Public Health Committee of the Erie County Medical Society and Secretary of the Allegany State Park Historical Society. He has been a National Ski Patrol Mountaineering Instructor. He races a J24 sailboat. He and his wife Lyn travel considerably. In the Adirondacks, she has a preference for condominiums. He is a free lance writer, published in Adirondac, the Allegany Historian, and the Buffalo News.