The Adirondack mountain range is located in northeastern New York. The mountains are surrounded by the Canadian border to the north, the Mohawk River valley to the south, the Lake Champlain area to the east, and the Saint Lawrence River valley and Black River valley to the west. Many people mistakenly think that it belongs with the Appalachian Mountains but in reality it is a part of the Canadian Shield. The mountains lie within the Grenville Providence, geologically speaking, and are almost entirely made up of metamorphic rock from the Middle Proterozoic time period. The shape and formation of the mountains has changed dramatically throughout the range's lifetime as erosion has had a great impact.
Despite the natural erosion to the mountain range, great measures have been taken to ensure that people keep the land how it has always appeared. The land is protected under New York's constitution in the New York Forest Preserve. This amendment came forth in 1892 and led to the creation of the Adirondack Park. The Adirondack Park contains an astounding 6 million acres, approximately half of the mountain range. Now, people are beginning to find and use multiple levels of land use, allowing for greater number of residence within the area of the park.
Due to the large area of forest and high mountain ranges, the effect on the health and fitness of people in the Adirondacks was touched upon years ago and continues to be to this present day. We can see this today with the wide variety of resorts, trails, and activities offered. People enjoy the hiking, kayaking, and camping opportunities and have even formed a group called the 46er's. These are all the people who have climbed all 46 peaks in the mountain range. In order to see the benefit of the Adirondacks on health many years ago, we can turn to the medical book The Adirondacks as a Health Resort by Joseph W. Stickler. The book was published in 1886 and covers various aliments affecting people. Many testimonies are included in the book about how they had these terrible issues and within weeks of staying in the Adirondacks they were greatly improved, even better than normal. This book mostly dealt with respiratory issues but also covers the influence of the area on people with other issues. The main points contributing to the improved health is good air, good food, and good society. Essentially, he describes how the people enjoy their surroundings and they are more active, increasing their physical shape and appetite. The air in the area is clean and fresh and thus helpful, especially to those with lung issues. It is also noted that the area is helpful for people who have become extremely stressed out. The combination of taking a break, beautiful surroundings, and fun activities make the end result of happier, healthier people quite logical, and it is quite obvious that the Adirondacks offer a route to better health.
Bibliography
"Adirondack Journal." 4 Dec. 2006. Masterpiece Productions of the Adirondacks. 20 Oct. 2007 http://\Vww.masterpieces.com.
"Adirondack Mountains." Encarta 97. CD-ROM. Microsoft Encarta 97 Encyclopedia, 1997.
"The Adirondacks." Adirondack Research Consortium. 13 June 2007. Adirondack Research Consortium. 20 Oct. 2007.
http://ww\v .adkresearch. or}!,! ad i rondacks.html.
"The Adirondack Mountains: New MountainsFrom Old Rocks." The Geology of New York: A Simplified Account. NYS Geological Survey. 20 Oct. 2007
http:// l!retchen.l!eo. rpi. ed uI roeker/nysl ad i r txt. h tml.
Stickler, Joseph W. The Adirondacks as a Health Resort. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons The Knickerboxer Press, 1886.
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Using the Adirondacks as a tool to cure illness, specifically tuberculosis, is found through out the entire story of The Cure. It plays a crucial role in the events that happened and gives the people a purpose of being there. Also, because of the isolation in the mountains, it gives the women a chance to act in ways that wouldn't be social acceptable elsewhere. The fact that they are running the establishments, nursing, and studing science is out of the norm. Their peculiar actions and the fact that many people living there have this "suddenly" dangerous disease causes the community to be left alone. Within the community though, we can see the actions taken to help the ill, the interactions among the characters, and how everything throughout the stories really relates to each other. If the Adirondacks had not been a place where those with respitory aliments went to, and no doctor recommendations about it, it would cause many disruptions to the plot of The Cure.
Bibliography (book)
Stickler, Joseph W. "The Adirondacks As A Health Resort." Google Books. 1886. 20 Oct. 2007 http://books.google.com/books?id=-
20MAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=
adirondacks+health+joseph+stickler
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