This area of Northern New York is very economically depressed, and it's interesting to see some of the businesses that set up shop there, or set up their supply

This area of Northern New York is very economically depressed, and it's interesting to see some of the businesses that set up shop there, or set up their supply chains to draw from that region. They often promise lots of jobs, but few deliver. Chobani was one of the few that has helped the economy (through support for the local dairy industry, see https://magicvalley.com/news/local/chobani-not-a-windfall-for-new-york-dairymen/article_28076a32-b2c1-11e1-abba-0019bb2963f4.html https://magicvalley.com/news/local/chobani-not-a-windfall-fo...) but others such as the large-scale wind farms across the region use hundreds of workers from elsewhere to build and maintain the turbines, and don't have many permanent local jobs (http://northcountrynow.com/news/hopkinton-wind-advisory-board-wont-expand-areas-where-generators-can-be-built-0196294 http://northcountrynow.com/news/hopkinton-wind-advisory-boar...) The New York Times should have dug into the claims from the Bitcoin miners about job creation ("Coinmint told state officials it would eventually employ 150 people in Massena") as it looks like (based on the descriptions of Coinmint's existing ops) there are only a few people needed to manage what they already have, they are not committing to any large-scale building projects, and much of the mining gear is imported. Local news orgs have more reporting about the bitcoin miners and the impact on the region: http://northcountrynow.com/business/blockchain-industries-pulling-out-massena-nypa-moratorium-puts-coinmint-plans-jeopardy http://northcountrynow.com/business/blockchain-industries-pu... http://www.northcountrynow.com/letters/snake-oil-alert-blockchain-industries-says-massena-resident-0230614 http://www.northcountrynow.com/letters/snake-oil-alert-block... Incidentally, this area is quite beautiful and cheap to live and run a business in. In many of these small cities you can buy a really nice house for $100,000-$200,000. It's about two hours south of Ottawa, a bit further to Montreal and Syracuse, and includes the northern part of the Adirondacks as well as the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, and Lake Champlain region. The college town of St. Lawrence University is Canton, located in St. Lawrence county, and there are state colleges in Potsdam and Plattsburgh. A few cities have set up economic development zones and incentives for companies to relocate there including Ogdensburg, which sits next to one of the bridges to Canada, and I believe Watertown NY, as well.