more open areas as it crosses into Lewis County. Lewis and Jefferson counties Just across the county line in the town of Lewis, NY 26 enters the hamlet of West Leyden, built up around the route's junction with the west end of NY 294. From West Leyden, the highway heads generally northeastward across another prolonged stretch of farmland, briefly entering the Constableville village limits and passing over the Sugar River on its way to an intersection with NY 12D. The straight path to the northeast continues as part of NY 12D while NY 26 turns northwestward onto NY 12D's right of way, following the eastern edge of Tug Hill into the town of Turin. In Turin, NY 26 passes through several hamlets then enters the village of Turin. It then enters the town of Martinsburg and passes through more small hamlets, before entering the town of Lowville, where the route connects to NY 12 in the southernmost part of the village of Lowville. NY 12 merges with NY 26 here, and the two routes follow South State Street into the community's central business district. Here, NY 12 and NY 26 meet NY 812 at a four-way junction with Dayan Street and Shady Avenue. While NY 12 turns west to follow Dayan Street, NY 26 continues northwest on North State Street, overlapping with NY 812 for several blocks before the latter route splits off to the northeast on Bostwick Street. The business and homes of Lowville lead to much less developed areas at the northern village line, and NY 26 traverses little more than open, rolling fields for the next . Just north of the Lowville town line in Denmark, the highway meets NY 410, a short connector serving the village of Castorland. Another stretch of mostly undeveloped fields brings the route across the Deer River and into Jefferson County, the last county on NY 26's route. The highway immediately enters the village of West Carthage, where it briefly becomes concurrent with NY 126 through the sparsely populated western part of the community. Past West Carthage, the route loosely follows the Black River across rolling farmland in the town of Champion to reach the hamlet of Great Bend, located across the Black River from the grounds of Fort Drum. Here, NY 26 meets NY 3 before crossing the river and entering Fort Drum. The route runs northwestward across the military reservation