Editing Moriah, New York (section)

== History ==
[[File:Homer Dodge Martin MAI001.jpg|thumbnail|left|''The Iron Mine, Port Henry, New York'', c. 1862, painted by [[Homer Dodge Martin]]]]
This area was inhabited for thousands of years by varying cultures of [[indigenous peoples of the Americas|indigenous peoples]]. At the time of European encounter, the area was inhabited chiefly by the historic [[Iroquoian]]-speaking [[Mohawk people|Mohawk]] of the [[Iroquois Confederacy]] to the west of [[Lake Champlain]], with the [[Algonquian languages|Algonquian]]-speaking [[Mahican]] people to the south.

In 1749, French [[Jesuits]] attracted numerous Iroquois (mostly [[Onondaga people|Onondaga]] fleeing warfare in the western part of present-day [[New York (state)|New York]]) to a site on the [[Oswegatchie River]] near present-day [[Ogdensburg, New York|Ogdensburg]]. The Jesuit priests founded a [[mission (station)|mission]] village and fort. The Iroquois were required to [[religious conversion|convert]] to [[Catholic Church|Catholicism]] to live there. The converted Iroquois and their descendants became known as the "[[Oswegatchie people|Oswegatchie]]", and were considered "nephews" to the [[Iroquois|Six Nations]] of the Iroquois. They were among the [[Seven Nations of Canada]] that allied with the French during the [[Seven Years' War]] (known as the French and Indian War on the North American front) and with the British during the [[American Revolutionary War]], in part due to their strong trading ties and cultural links.<ref>John A. Dickinson, "La federation des sept feux de la Vallee du Saint-Laurent: XVIIe-XIXe siecle by Jean-Pierre Sawaya. [review]", ''The American Historical Review'', Vol. 105, No. 1 (February 2000), pp. 202-203</ref> After the Seven Years' War ([[French and Indian War]]) and British victory, the colonial government granted some of its soldiers land in the region, which was ceded to Britain by the French.

It was not until 1785, after the American Revolutionary War, when most of the Iroquois allies went to [[Upper Canada]] with the [[Loyalist (American Revolution)|Loyalists]], that the first European-American permanent settlement was made here. At the time, local Native Americans still hunted in the area. They were called the [[St. Regis River|St. Regis]] and Oswegatchie Indians, although both groups were Catholic Iroquois, primarily Mohawk and Onondaga.<ref name="Essex">[http://www.adkhistorycenter.org/esco/tow/moriah.html "Moriah, NY"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070321091440/http://www.adkhistorycenter.org/esco/tow/moriah.html |date=March 21, 2007 }}, Essex County Historical Society, Adirondack History Center Museum, accessed January 31, 2011</ref> Relations were initially friendly, but American settlement patterns pushed the Native Americans from their hunting grounds. (The St. Regis group were Catholic Mohawk who lived at the reserve of ''[[Akwesasne]]'', whose territory along the [[St. Lawrence River]] included land within the boundaries of both Canada and New York. Today it is recognized in the United States as the [[St. Regis Mohawk Reservation]] and in Canada as Akwesasne.)<ref>[http://www.wampumchronicles.com/sevennations.html Darren Bonaparte, "The Seven Nations of Canada: The Other Iroquois Confederacy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041213085554/http://www.wampumchronicles.com/sevennations.html |date=December 13, 2004 }}, ''The Wampum Chronicles'', accessed January 2, 2009</ref>

The Town of Moriah was formed in 1808 from the town of [[Elizabethtown, New York|Elizabethtown]].

The discovery and mining of [[iron]] in the [[Adirondacks]] caused a boom in the local economy. This area also processed iron in [[smelting]], and shipped products from [[Port Henry, New York|Port Henry]] on Lake Champlain. These operations were conducted from 1824 until 1971. The Iron Center Museum in Port Henry recalls and interprets that past era.<ref name="Essex"/><ref>{{Cite news
| title = SPECTRUM: Iron Center strong in mining memories »
| work = Press-Republican
| access-date = February 15, 2013
| date = September 15, 2007
| url = http://pressrepublican.com/0100_news/x155111863/SPECTRUM-Iron-Center-strong-in-mining-memories/print
}}</ref>

Winter ice-fishing for [[smelt (fish)|smelt]] on the frozen Lake Champlain has been a popular sport for more than a century. Tourists come to join residents in this activity.

[[File:Port Henry Pier.jpg|thumb|Port Henry Pier]]