as victor tremont , coo of blanchard pharmaceuticals , stood on his deck in the vast adirondack state park looking west , in his mind 's eye he could see the map : stretching from vermont on the east nearly to lake ontario on the west , canada on the north to just above albany on the south , some six million acres of lush public and private lands rose from rushing rivers and thousands of lakes to forty-six rugged peaks that towered more than four thousand feet above the adirondack flatlands .