Keeseville: Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks (Ausable Chasm nickname)

Ausable Chasm, located in Keeseville, New York, was called in 1910 the “Grand Canyon of the east, located in the Adirondacks.” It’s now billed as the “Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks,” a name cited in print since at least 1998.
 
Letchworth State Park, near Rochester, is now usually called he “Grand Canyon of the East.”
   
 
Wikipedia: Ausable Chasm (New York)
Ausable Chasm is a sandstone gorge and tourist attraction located in the village of Keeseville, New York, U.S. The Ausable River runs through it, and then empties into Lake Champlain. It is directly due west of Port Kent, New York. The gorge is about two miles long, and is a tourist attraction in the Adirondacks region of Upstate New York. It is fed by the Rainbow Falls at its southern extreme.
 
Geological formation
Geologically, the gorge is fairly simple. The Ausable River carved a gorge a little over a mile long (~2 km) down through the 500-million-years-old Cambrian-Period Potsdam Sandstone since the end of the Pleistocene Epoch ice age around 10,000 years ago. The headward erosion of ancestral Rainbow Falls led to its location today near the visitor’s center.
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Tourism
In 1760 Major John Howe explored the chasm on ropes. Called by some, the “Little Grand Canyon of the East”, the 1½-mi-long chasm opened to the public in 1870.
 
Ausable Chasm—Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks
Ausable Chasm - Adventures in the Adirondacks
Explore the Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks. Come visit Ausable Chasm for an assortment of adventures you will not find at any other single location in the Adirondacks. Hike, float and/or climb as you go back in time as you experience one of the oldest natural attractions in the United States (Est. 1870). Immerse yourself in a primeval Adirondack forest as you stroll past Rainbow Falls, Elephant’s Head, Column Rock, Hyde’s Cave and the eerie quiet of Mystic Gorge. Descend hundreds of feet to walk on natural stone walkways and gaze upon eons of geologic history etched in stone.
     
Google Books
June 1907, Good Housekeeping, pg. 659:
A Wonderland of the East.
A real canyon in the east, having on a minature scale much of the beauty and marvelous carvings of Arizona’s Grand Canyon, is the Au Sable chasm.
 
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
1 October 1910, The Wave of Long Island (Rockaway Beach, NY), “Excursion Party Home,” pg. 1, col. 1:
Upon arrival at Port Kent, a special electric train carried the excursionists to Ausable Chasm, the Grand Canyon of the east, located in the Adirondacks.
 
26 February 1923, Trenton (NJ) Evening Times, pg. 3, col. 4 photo caption:
Ausable Chasm”—By Frank A. Laird
Ausable Chasm near Keesville, N. Y., is sometimes called the Grand Canyon of the East. It is very narrow and long and is noted for its picturesque scenery. Mr. Laird resides at 1037 South Clinton Avenue.
 
New York State Historic Newspapers
12 July 1923, Ticonderoga (NY) Sentinel, pg. 5, col. 1:
MANY VISIT AUSABLE CHASM
The greaters number of visitors to picturesque Ausable Chasm, the “Grand Canyon of the East, on any single day thus far this season was recorded Sunday, July 1st, when 497 persons were admitted to the Chasm.
 
20 June 1926, Springfield (MA) Sunday Union and Republican, pg. 15H, col. 4 ad:
AUSABLE CHASM
AUSABLE CHASM, N. Y.
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Equaled Only by the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone Park
 
19 April 1959, Cleveland (OH) Plain Dealer, “Adirondacks Offer All-Year Playground,” pg. 18-F, col. 6:
Ausable Chasm has been called the “Grand Canyon of the East.”
 
Google Books
The Adirondacks:
A History of America’s First Wilderness
By Paul Schneider
New York, NY: Henry Holt and Company
1998
Pg. 134:
Thus, though he was the first to describe and identify the Potsdam sandstones that make up the walls of the Ausable Chasm, Emmons could not bring himself to conclude that the “Grand Canyon of the Adirondacks” was created by a slow and steady erosion.
 
Google Books
The Adirondacks 1830-1930
By Donald R. Williams
Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing
2002
Pg. 12:
Ausable Chasm is known as the Grand Canyon of the East.
 
Google Books
Best Tent Camping: New York State:
Your Car-Camping Guide to Scenic Beauty, the Sounds of Nature, and an Escape from Civilization
By Catharine Starmer, Aaron Starmer and Timothy Starmer
Birmingham, AL: Menasha Ridge Press
2013
Pg. 89:
West of the lake, just minutes from the campground, the Ausable River thunders through a narrow gorge for 2 miles, forming Ausable Chasm. Sometimes called Little Grand Canyon of the East, this is not to be confused with the Grand Canyon of the East in Letchworth State Park.