Lawrence P. Gooley

North Country / Adirondack Author

Book Tag: Adirondacks

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Out of the Darkness: In Memory of Lyon Mountain’s Iron Men, Second Edition

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Out of the Darkness, Second Edition-Front Cover

Out of the Darkness shines a light of recognition on more than 170 men who died in the iron mines of Lyon Mountain, New York. Who were they? How did they die?

You’ll find the answers here in a tribute to the men who lost their lives while working for the mining companies.

Drillers, muckers, furnace workers, timbermen—they’re all here. Many suffered horrible, spectacular deaths, as detailed in the newspaper fashion of the day, tending towards graphic, gruesome imagery. There is no shortage of such stories in this book, so be prepared for some intense reading.

The reality of Lyon Mountain’s many tragic accidents includes explosions, amputations, and decapitations. It’s all here, but there’s much more in this book than just death. » More Details

25 Diabolical Adirondack Murders: The Twisted, Fiendish Deeds of North Country Killers

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25 Diabolical Adirondack Murders-Front Cover

Within these pages are twenty-five complete stories of murder in the North Country. The perpetrators range from average citizens to some of the worst degenerates imaginable. Their methods run the gamut from poison to clubs to knives to guns to axes, while their stories contain shocking revelations and remarkable twists, far too many to count. And some are just plain unusual.

These true chronicles from long ago once held readers spellbound, and are as riveting as many of the high-profile murder cases in modern media. It’s at once fascinating and disturbing to explore the devious minds of those who walk among us. » More Details

Adirondack & North Country Gold: 50+ New & True Stories You’re Sure to Love

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Adirondack & North Country Gold-Front Cover

There is no other book out there like Adirondack & North Country Gold. Within these pages are 51 original stories about remarkable people, places, and events from the Adirondacks and foothills. Included are four anchor chapters that together are large enough to fill a volume: the life stories of Garrett Cashman, Michael Donovan, Harry Elkes, and Eben Rexford.

Though they may be unfamiliar names, their accomplishments are legend. Cashman was history’s second cluster balloonist who, in the 1950s, captured the imagination of the entire nation. Donovan was a world-champion athlete whose achievements rank among the rarest in sports. Elkes was a beloved world-champion cyclist with a brilliant and tragic career. And the modest and unassuming Rexford wrote one of the most enduring songs in American history, a best-seller for more than half a century.

There’s so much more among the other 47 stories. You’ll find humor (The Great Canine Court Caper); inspiration (the Dean Van Clute story); romance (Love So Strong, It’s Criminal); mystery (New York’s Legendary Vanishing Judge); and the offbeat (Alligators in the Adirondacks, and Rock Eaters? No Way … But Anything Else Will Do!). » More Details

Terror in the Adirondacks: The True Story of Serial Killer Robert F. Garrow

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Terror in the Adirondacks-Front Cover

In the summer of 1973, a serial killer’s rampage in the Adirondack Mountains of northern New York State changed the region forever. Innocent visitors and campers were brutally knifed to death, terrifying thousands of residents and vacationers.

A peaceful part of America was lost, as people armed themselves and locked their doors, living and sleeping in fear. It was a reign of terror the likes of which the mountains had never seen.

And it was all the vile handiwork of one very troubled, dangerous man: Robert Francis Garrow.

But there is much more to Garrow’s story than a series of murders. Before he was captured, there was the longest manhunt in Adirondack history, and one of the longest the state has ever seen. There was a bizarre trial, with horrifying revelations that shocked the senses of citizens from coast to coast. » More Details

Oliver’s War: An Adirondack Rebel Battles the Rockefeller Fortune

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Oliver's War: An Adirondack Rebel Battles the Rockefeller Fortune-Front Cover

*** Adirondack Center for Writing Best Book of Nonfiction (2007) ***

The true story of Oliver Lamora’s battle with William Rockefeller is told here for the first time. For a decade in the early 1900s, their saga gripped newspaper readers from coast to coast.

William Rockefeller was the brother of John D. Rockefeller. Together they built the Standard Oil Trust, the richest, most powerful corporation in American history.

The aging Lamora was a hunter, fisherman, and lumberjack all his life in the far northern Adirondack Mountains of New York State. He was surviving on a meager Civil War pension when William Rockefeller decided to build a grand mountain estate. Lamora’s home was in the dying village of Brandon, and Brandon was in Rockefeller’s way. » More Details

Lyon Mountain: The Tragedy of a Mining Town

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Lyon Mountain: The Tragedy of a Mining Town-Front Cover

The story of Lyon Mountain’s mining days, especially the pre-1920 era, was nearly lost to the ravages of time and attrition. This book ensures the story is preserved for generations to come.

Extensive research, combined with personal interviews conducted by the author a quarter-century ago, have kept the story alive. It is an important story: important to the people, important to county history, and important to New York State history.

The town’s early mining history is detailed from the 1870s through 1919. Subsequent chapters deal with Lyon Mountain’s years as a company town under the thumb (fist?) of J.R. Linney; the town’s immigrant population and its roots; firsthand accounts of mining jobs from long-deceased miners; the riveting story of death in the mines; the remarkable true story of the town’s Mafia-connected years; and finally the story of the North American Champion Bobsled Team and the legendary Lyon Mountain Miners Baseball Team. » More Details