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The Black River is one of the most scenic vistas in New York State. Its calmness is rooted between Boonville and Carthage, gently winding between the Adirondack Mountains and the Tug Hill Plateau. A visitor traveling along the Black will see more than this. There are old jetties, dams and other structures along the river that give the visitor a glimpse into the past. This is home to some of the greatest entrepreneurs of the elder years. One of the most prominent of these entrepreneurs is Charles W. Pratt (1854-1934) followed by his son, Walter Pratt. It is Walter Pratt's fortune that helped to start the foundation once Hazel Northam had acquired it. The factories and industries that the Pratt family owned and operated in Lewis County were mainly on the Black River. Charles Pratt also owned companies in Canada. Those that were in Lewis County were the Island Paper Company, the Deer River Power Company, and the Moyer & Pratt, Inc. Charles was also one of the founders of the original Black River Telephone Company. 
Pictured here is the Black River at Bush's Landing. It was the Black that helped Pratt make his fortune. If you look closely, you can see the remains of an old dam and lock that were used during the canal days.
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Island Paper Company
The Island Paper Company was started by Walter C. Pratt of Boonville in the year of 1898. Later that year he filed for a certificate of incorporation. The mill was located on Tannery Island (to the rear of what is now the Carthage Machine Company) on what had been the site of Walter Mimock's and Allen Peck's tannery.
The mill was operated for 40 years - until 1932 when it was closed because of the owners disaffection with the Democratic politics of Franklin D. Roosevelt. The company's charter of incorporation was allowed to expire on or about November 16, 1948, at which time 4,320 of the 4,800 outstanding shares of common stock were owned by the estate of Charles W. Pratt, with C. Walter Pratt owning the remaining 480 shares.
In January of 1964, Miss Hazel Northam, of Brooklyn and Lyons Falls, sole distributee of the C. Walter Pratt estate, and co-administrator with the National Bank of Northern New York, acted jointly with the bank in selling Tannery Island and the former Island Paper Company properties, including water power rights to Charles I. Ruderman of Gouverneur, for $20,000 in cash and $8,147 in a one-year note.
Deer River Power Company
The Deer River Power Company was built in about 1909 by S. R. Cleveland of Watertown and was acquired in about 1911 by the Island Paper Company of Carthage. A solid rock embankment on the opposite side of the Deer River towers more than 100 feet about the power plant in High Falls gorge. The plat utilized a 167-foot head of water (larger than Niagara's)created by High Falls and a concrete dam at the head of the gorge. Three generators of 1,250, 1,050 and 2,500 horsepower were actuated by the fall of water from the level of the top of the dam to the wheels.
In addition to furnishing power to the Island mill in Carthage, the Deer River plant also was the source of power for the village of Copenhagen, but the people of that village had been dissatisfied with its irregularities and insufficiency almost from the beginning. After many years of debate and petitioning by the residents of Copenhagen, the Deer River Power Company had to answer to charges.
Ultimately, in June of 1949, the Deer River Power company agreed to transfer a portion of its electrical works system and its Copenhagen franchise to Central New York Power. The Deer River Power Copany agreed to a sale price of $7,500 for facilities - not to include the power plant - covered by a petition.
Moyer & Pratt, Inc.
The Lyonsdale mill on the Moose River - five miles from Lyons Falls, four miles from Port Leyden - became the cornerstone of a papermaking consortium Mr. Pratt pieced together at the turn of the century. In December, 1901, Moyer & Pratt bought all the capital stock and contracts of the Island Paper Company, Carthage, and Mr. Pratt continued to be active in the Gould Company, which he helped to found.
In 1919-1920 Moyer and Pratt demolished the Lyonsdale mill and erected a new, "modern" facility and increased daily capacity from three tons of manila paper to 24 tons. Seventy-five men were employed at the time.
The firm of Moyer & Pratt was incorporated in February, 1923, for the manufactureof tissue paper. (Formerly, the mill had been engaged in the making of manila paper.) The incoporators, stock holders, and officers were Mr. Pratt, president; Mrs. Moyer, vice president; and Mr. Moyer, secretary-treasurer.
On January 1, 1962, the mill was sold to Colin Gardner. This was after Mrs. Moyer's death and the death of C. Walter Pratt who had operated the mill from January, 1959 to June, 1961.