If you have ever traveled between on Route 28 between Newcomb and Minerva you might have noticed an old building where there was a plaque that read “Theodore Roosevelt, Sept. 14, 1901, stopped at Aiden Lair to change horses in a night ride surrey from Mt. Marcy to North Creek to take Oath of President at Buffalo.

 Theodore Roosevelt became President without knowing it at 2:15am on 9/14/1901. He had a vacation cabin in Upper Tahawus. He had received telegrams the day before relayed up the mountains by telephone operators, riders and runners that reported that gangrene had spread through out the body of President McKinley.

The last telegram her received read: "The president appears to be dying and members of the cabinet in Buffalo think you should lose no time coming." 

Just before midnight he began the descent and seven hour drive to North Creek Station by buckboard, boarded a train to Albany and then a train to Buffalo where McKinley lie, having succumbed to the gangrene.