Due to the slow development of northern New York state, a homestead act was passed by the legislature in 1822 to grant plots of land to settlers.

Early attempts to extract lumber from the forests met little success due to the high cost of transportation.

Bellows had a hotel called the Lake House, which by that time had grown to substantial proportions.

Here Tait had a studio and painted works such as Arguing the Point, in which there is an excellent portrait of Jonathan Bellows.

Among other famous guests were Dr. Bethums, a cousin of James Russell Lowell, and Mr. Ashman, chairman of the convention which nominated Abraham Lincoln.

The first sawmill was built by Gates Hoit in 1828 at the outlet of the lower lake near the present dam.

This forge and its sixteen fires consumed annually 37,500 cords of wood, which made 1,500,000 bushels of charcoal.

He and Edgar Keeler, of Chateaugay, operated a mine back of the hotel for a year and took out about a thousand tons of ore.

Chateaugay Lake has always drawn those interested in fishing and hunting; the region abounded in speckled and rainbow trout as well as deer and bear.

Among those who came to hunt or fish and built cottages on the lakes were Geraldine Farrar, the singer, as well as Jack Clifford and Evelyn Nesbitt Thaw.

During the early days, long before the advent of automobiles, there was a stage route from Chateaugay to the Banner House landing.

From here a small steamer— first the Adirondack and later the Emma— made regular trips up through the Narrows and around the Upper Lake, stopping at every dock to deliver mail and supplies.

Soon the coming of private launches in large numbers made the regular streamer trips unnecessary, and they were abandoned.

The First Union Protestant Church of Mountain View was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2005.

The Châteauguay River flows northward from Lower Chateaugay Lake, which is at the eastern town line.