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Saranac Lake, New York

27 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1902 and the latest in 1999. It stands in Harrietstown town. It lies in ZIP code area 12983. The Survey maps it on the Saranac Lake quadrangle. 4,887 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 1,545 feet above sea level.

Saranac Lake within Franklin County

Then and now

1902 to 1999

The same ground, surveyed 97 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet of Saranac Lake, surveyed 1999
Topographic sheet of Saranac Lake, surveyed 1902

Compare 1902 against another survey:

On record in Saranac Lake

Buildings and businesses the archive holds for this place. Each opens its own page, with the source record it came from.

On the National Register 12 of 50 shown

Every listing in Franklin County

Population over time

2 figures

Saranac Lake fell from 5,406 to 4,887 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
20105,406
20204,887-519 (-10%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

11 surveys from 27 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

Fires near this place

65 since 2002

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 65 fires within 5 miles of Saranac Lake between 2002 and 2020, burning about 49 acres in total. 4 started naturally. 4 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Recreation and ceremony20
Missing data/not specified/undetermined17
Smoking7
Equipment and vehicle use7
Debris and open burning4
Arson/incendiarism4
Natural4
Power generation/transmission/distribution1
Misuse of fire by a minor1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
9 September 2010Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
6 September 2008Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
26 September 2013Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreNew York Forest RangersMOOSE POND FIRE
26 September 2011Debris and open burning2.8 acresFire Department of New Yorknot named
25 September 2009Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreFire Department of New Yorknot named
21 September 2014Debris and open burningunder an acreNew York Forest RangersBIRCH ISLAND
21 September 2013Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.5 acresFire Department of New YorkN/A
19 September 2015Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreFire Department of New YorkSI 59 FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Franklin County

Mines and quarries near this place

9 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 9 workings within 5 miles of Saranac Lake: 5 past producers, 3 producers, 1 occurrence. 3 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite, Limestone, General, Stone, Crushed/Broken. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
C. C. Harris Property DepositIronOccurrence
Mayersohn QuarryLimestone, GeneralPast ProducerSedimentary
Torrington Construction CompanyStone, Crushed/BrokenProducer
Saranac Juction QuarryGranitePast Producer
Unnamed QuarryGranitePast Producer
Cassavaugh PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
D and C PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer
Trudeau PitSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast ProducerSedimentary
Trudeau Sand and GravelSand and Gravel, ConstructionPast Producer

Every working recorded in Franklin County

Storms near this place

21 since 1993

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Saranac Lake in 21 storm reports between 1993 and 2016: 15 thunderstorm wind, 3 flash flood, 1 lightning, 1 hail. The reports record 2 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
July 1994Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake1 hurt, $500,000no account filed
September 2003LightningSaranac Lake1 hurt, $5,000no account filed
April 2011FloodSaranac Lake$6,000,000Runoff from heavy rain and snowmelt caused flooding in Saranac Lake Village. Flooding was compounded by upstream releases from locks on Oseetah Lake, which flooded downstream Lake Flower at Saranac Lake Village. Businesses and homes were evacuated, and bridges and the village wastewater treatment plant were damaged.
June 2016Flash FloodSaranac Lake$50,000Runoff from heavy rainfall flooded and washed out roads in and near Saranac Lake Village in Franklin County. Route 86 was closed by flood waters between Saranac Lake Village and Lake Colby. Several village roads were damaged. Water flooded the intersection of St. Bernard and Academy Streets two feet deep.
July 2014Flash FloodSaranac Lake$50,000Roads in Saranac Lake Village were flooded and closed.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$50,000Numerous trees down across Saranac Lake vicinity along Route 3 between|Saranac Village and Tupper Lake.
August 1993Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$50,000no account filed
July 2013Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$30,000Multiple trees down across the village with at least one car crushed by tree.
July 2012Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$25,000Multiple trees and power lines down across the Saranac Lake community.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$25,000Numerous trees down in Saranac Lake and immediate vicinity.
November 2005Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$20,000no account filed
July 2014Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$10,000Several trees and large branches downed by thunderstorm winds.
June 2015Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$5,000Trees downed by thunderstorm winds in Saranac Lake.
June 2011Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$5,000Trees reported down by thunderstorm winds along Route 3 in Saranac Lake.
August 2006Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$5,000no account filed
May 2002Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$5,000no account filed
June 1998Flash FloodSaranac Lake$5,000no account filed
August 1997Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$5,000no account filed
June 2006Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake$3,000no account filed
June 2008Thunderstorm WindSaranac Lake-Trees and power lines downed by thunderstorms winds in Saranac Village.
June 2007HailSaranac Lake-Quarter to half dollar size hail reported.

Every storm recorded in Franklin County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Lake Colby1.7 miles27
McMasters Crossing4.8 miles27
Harrietstown4.9 miles25
Lake Clear6.0 miles27
Gabriels7.5 miles25
Upper Saint Regis8.7 miles24
Vermontville9.1 miles25
Paul Smiths Easy Street9.2 miles25

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on Saranac LakeAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q2663981The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 964482. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.