Mists of the Couchsacrage
Rescue from State Land
by
Book Cover & Preview Text
"Hello!
Governor's aide Morris Buba talking.
"Yes!
The Times, how are you? Yes, the
governor is aware of the plane crash.
Yes, the plane's instruments sent us the geographical coordinates of
where it went down. Yes. The governor's daughter, Angela, was
aboard. She was heading for the
ceremonies in Quebec City, she was to be New York State's symbolic
representative there.....
"Three people:
the pilot, Ron Marks, very highly thought of; and a fine young man, one
of Governor Bartholemew's best bodyguards, Mike Howell...
"Well, they had just left from Buffalo, Miss
Bartholemew goes to college there....
"Some mechanical malfunction, we gather...
"Rescue?
There are problems, big ones. As
you know, there is a serious weather problem going on all over this
region. Nobody can fly any craft in
there. No visibility at all. And we lost all radio contact as well, as
soon as the plane went down...
"Where? This is real bad news. In the middle of the Couchsacrage. Yes, that huge wilderness area in the
Adirondack Park. No roads, no access by
any kind of vehicle. Yes, forever
wild. Very few people ever go in there,
even in the best of conditions.....
“Even the highways are icing over, and there are
trees and power lines down everywhere.
Every little town is a dark, lonely, island.
"ATV's?
Four-wheelers? Well, the
governor is in a box there. He promised
the environmentalists that there would never be any motorized vehicles allowed
in there again, ever. A number of those
groups have already called here. They
intend to hold him to his promise....
"Their take is that his daughter is no
different from anybody else's daughter.
"Anyway, it's a mute point. No ATV could find any decent road to travel
in there anyway. The Forest Ranger
headquarters tells us that it's all grown up in there. All the old roads are now covered with thick
vegetation and downed trees. Plus many
of the brooks cross the old roads now, due to beaver dams and culvert washouts.
"Yes.
We'll be glad to fax you a map of the area, marking where the plane is,
but at this point.....
"About eighteen miles, if you could walk,
unimpeded in a straight line. I really
don't know if anyone could get to that plane on foot, even.
"No. We don't know the medical condition of anybody who was on the plane. Of course the governor is worried sick about his daughter. Wouldn't you be? No. I don't think he has the constitutional power to over-ride environmental laws, the legislature would
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Book Details
About the Book
Unique among books about the famous Adirondack Park
of New York State, Mists of the
Couchsacrage is an exciting action
adventure tale involving a remote wetland area on restricted state land, a
plane crash involving a very important passenger, a severe ice storm, and the
travails of a four person rescue party as they struggle to get to any
survivors.
Interesting characters are everywhere, with lots of
entertaining dialogue. Rescuers include
a bitter guide, an environmentally conscious forest ranger, a tough
policewoman from the city, and a drunken medic with horrible memories.
Caught also in the ice storm is a gang of desperate
drug runners, crossing the icy morass to escape scenes of unspeakable crimes.
Plane crash survivors, the rescue party, and a band
of heartless killers: stories
interwoven in the deadly frozen marsh!
Who will come out alive?
About the Author
A fourth generation Adirondacker, Alden L. Dumas, who has also written a classic western, Sons of the Double J (available through AuthorHouse, link is at the bottom of this page) has enjoyed the outdoors most of his life, largely at a camp on leased property. A devotee of sound ecologic practices, he nevertheless sees no need for environmental groups to lobby for the purchase of "every square inch of Adirondack land."
A volunteer fireman, he was on duty during the great ice storm of 1998, giving a basis for this story.
He was born in Tupper Lake, N.Y. in 1940. He graduated from Tupper Lake High School in 1958.
After he graduated from SUNY Cortland in 1962, he taught for eight years in McGraw, N.Y., before he, his wife Pauline, and their three sons, Matthew, Jay, and Andrew, moved to Keene Valley, N.Y., where he retired in 1996.