Brandon Hollis
“All was wild but beautiful. The sun was stooping to the western mountains, whose sea of summits were calmly sleeping against the golden heavens:… green islands, beautiful as Elysian fields, rose out of the water;…I was never more struck by a scene in my life;… the evening- the sunset- the deep purple of the mountains- the silence and solitude of the shores, and the cry of birds in the distance, combined to render it one of enchantment to me.” – Joel Headley
The definition of a truly sublime landscape, the Adirondack region is home to some of the most breathtaking picturesque views one could ever hope to see; it is a venue displaying such beauty that many are “impressed with his or her insignificance compared to the grandeur of God’s creation” (Terrie). However, behind this façade of perfection lies an untold story, a story of survival vs. leisure, hardship vs. comfort, and ultimately, year-round residents vs. seasonal tourists. Without the combination and interaction of these diverse groups, groups located at opposite ends of the Adirondack spectrum, the true Adirondack Story of creation would not be possible. This Adirondack story, though on the back burner of American history, began at the same time as the conquering of the Wild West and is just as important. As the dream of Manifest Destiny pushed onward to the western coast, the realization that there was undiscovered wilderness, a possible place of settlement located in our own Northeastern backyard, began to set in.
As a nation, we have always been taught “the bigger the better” and have chosen to document our history based on such stature. We have subconsciously placed numerical value upon events of history, viewing some as more important than others based simply on the understanding that they were beneficial for the nation as a whole and not crucial for the development of a single isolated region, as in the case of the Adirondacks. As marked in history, the time period including the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries was characterized by the mindset that expansion and settlement of the west, an undiscovered land containing possible economic value, was the next step in the building of a new nation; a step that promised resources, land for a growing population, and a chance to leave the east coast urban lifestyle behind.
With the majority seeking these fortunes to the west, the remaining few were inspired by the same dreams and high expectations, but they lacked funds; so they looked for the next best thing: the Adirondacks, a true diamond in the rough.
Driven by the need to survive and the hopes of success “people heeded the rumors of cheap and abundant land in a little-known, barely explored northern corner of New York; these hardy souls became the first white settlers in the Adirondacks.” (Terrie 24) For those willing to make a go at a life in this barren region, a region valued strictly for its iron deposits and timber production and a region of unpredictable weather and limited farmable soil, life as they knew it was about to change.
“It was a difficult life of dirt floors and greased paper windows and nearly constant labor.” (Schneider 99) Life for the true run of the mill Adirondacker was both unpredictable and relentless. As settlers of a new and barren land, the essentials of life are what many came to know and live by. Food, shelter, water, clothing: for first settlers, if an item did not fall under one of these four categories then its significance was nonexistent. During these trying times, if the object in question could not fill one’s stomach or keep one warm than it was considered worthless-- a view only a person struggling for survival would possess.
Nevertheless, there was one exception to this desperate lifestyle, a life based strictly on needs over wants, and it came by the foot: trees. Now at home in the Adirondack wilderness, settlers found themselves face to face with an abundance of what would become their greatest resource and biggest obstacle: the Adirondack forests. Before one could build a home and start a new life on this rugged landscape, one had to first clear an appropriate sized parcel of land, a daunting task for any man at this time.
Day after day after day would be farmers chopped down giants, allowing them to fall as they might. Then in autumn, on a sufficiently breezy and dry day, the whole tangled mess was set on fire. The hotter the blaze the better, and if any of the surrounding forest caught fire, it was chalked up to good luck. These immense three and four hundred-year-old hemlocks, pines, spruces, and maples were worse than valueless, they were simply in the way. (Schneider 99)
Once a spot had been selected and cleared, settlers could begin the construction of a permanent dwelling, finally putting the abundance of wood at their disposal to good use. These very trees, a resource that was once burned simply to make headway, now became the key to existence: it was the vital entity enabling the process of assembling a proper structure. These free standing structures were crucial to survival through the winter months. Without them, these residents would be left out in the open to face nature’s wrath, being forced to succumb to the wild elements of wind, rain, and snow, elements that could most certainly bring an end to human existence within this treacherous region.
Now with the construction of a permanent settlement under one’s belt, one could truly focus on creating a stable lifestyle in the Adirondacks. To coexist with wilderness in a setting such as this required an array of handyman skills, both physical and mental strength, accompanied by determination and the will to work. Without these factors, individuals and families alike would be forced by poverty and starvation to leave their dream of a self-run prosperous farm behind, to head to a new location within the Adirondacks or elsewhere in search of a region capable of supporting the same lifelong dream. Many who took on the challenge of wrangling the surrounding environment quickly found it was not for them; their go at a life within this region most likely resulted in abandoned homes which later became occupied by others following in their footsteps.
However, for those who were committed and did overcome the harsh reality of an Adirondack winter, did so by being good at as many things as possible. “Most of the park homesteaders who survived and stuck it out did so not so much by farming as by dabbling in as many different forest industries as possible.” (Schneider 101) Yes, farming was crucial to a settler’s survival, but with the interior of the Adirondacks lacking a market system, farming was mainly done on a subsistence level, used to support individual families, or small close knit communities. Even if the region had developed some measure of market infrastructure, the lay of the land and the soils it possessed would not have allowed it, being unfertile in the majority of the region.
Alongside subsistence farming, an average Adirondacker may have had skills in “trapping, carpentry, cabinet-making, being a wheelwright, blacksmith, sleigh maker, stone mason, cobbler, plasterer, millwright, logger, doctor, and later on hunting and guiding.” (Jamieson 52) Through years and years of hardworking labor, Adirondack settlers developed the necessary skills to survive in such a demanding environment. These skills became essential and were put to good use. They could be seen in efforts made every day, used to improve life the best they could.
Men were not the only ones who were expected to pull their own weight. Women were put to work in and around the house, doing just as much work if not more than the men. “The women cut their own garments, did their own making and mending, dipped their own candles, tried their own soap, wove their own carpets, picked geese feathers, milked cows and tend their own calves and pig pens.” (Schneider 99) Women were depended on as much as men to keep life functioning and in check. With life seeming dull and full of hard back breaking work, as a pastime, many women wrote of their experiences and responsibilities associated their lifestyle in the Adirondack wilderness. One such person to document several different aspects of life was Lucelia Mills Clark who writes of chores, weather, and special events.
“Sat. April 11
Pleasant all day
Finished the dress + mended stockings. A hen jumped into the barrel of lye + I pulled her out + we ate her for supper, men drew wood + hauled manure, letters from Silas a + Randolph. White cow calved a bull.
Mon. April 13
Today H. plowed the garden + sowed onions lettuce peas spinach + a few cabbages, I sowed a few flower seeds. Sweet peas + some perennials.
Mon. February 23
Flora's birthday. Cold + clear all day. 40 below last night. bids fair for another cold one tonight. 10 below at 10. I washed the men's clothes this morning + made pies.”
Through efforts and qualities presented by Lucelia Mills Clark, men and women alike made a go at life within the borders of what is now known as the Adirondack State Park. “They encountered all the hardships and self denial of a new settlement with cheerfulness and worked on for years with persistence and energy worthy of commendation.” (Terrie 27) For both individuals and families of the Northeastern Wilderness, the Adirondack story of the eighteenth and nineteenth century was a story of hard-working Americans making a new life in a new land. The tale of the Adirondacks is a story that has yet to be finished, always awaiting the arrival of a new chapter involving new characters and attitudes towards the significance of the Adirondack region. These new characters, whether they are year-round residents or seasonal tourists, each offer differing views of what is to come for this beautiful mountainous area.
“For many Americans, wilderness stands as the last remaining place where civilization, that all too human disease, has not fully infected the earth. It is an island in the polluted sea of urban-industrial modernity, the one place we can turn for escape from our own too-muchness. Seen in this way, wilderness presents itself as the best antidote to our human selves, a refuge we must somehow recover if we hope to save the planet.” – William Cronon
Throughout history views towards wilderness have been altered to fit the feeling of the time period, constantly being viewed as a consumptive resource whose sole purpose is to aid mankind in whatever undertaking he chooses to pursue. However, over the years these views have changed to include feelings of sentiment, pushing people to save the Adirondack region for a place of leisure and escape.
Transitioning views concerning its utility have left the man-nature relationship embattled by uncertainty. That leaves us to question: do we to conquer and consume these vital resources or cherish and protect them for the use and enjoyment of future generations? An overall shift in attitude from consumption to conservation sparked by the romantic idea that nature could heal one’s soul, cure his ailments, and free one from the constraints of society forever changed the way man saw and interpreted the true meaning of wilderness. These wild lands, once seen as nothing more than a source of extractable income, a place of interest for those looking to make a profit from harvesting its natural gifts, are now seen in a different light. This light has illuminated the minds of many who now in the 19th century for the first time begin to flock to the northeastern woods of the United States to experience nature in a new way and for a new reason: Tourism.
“After the Natural History Survey had announced the existence of, and had given a name to, the largely unknown Adirondacks, New Yorkers and other Americans seized upon this land of peaks, lakes, and forests as the ideal locale for communing with nature” (Terrie 44). The journey to the Adirondacks became part of an American travel craze, which swept the nation in the years surrounding the opening of the Erie Canal. This new gateway to the woods, accompanied by an ever growing network of railroads, and eventually Henry Ford’s Model T, opened new doors to the typical city dweller. Americans could partake in an outdoor experience that had been largely impossible for earlier generations. People had the opportunity to flee the stresses of urban life, heading north to the woods where one could find peace and serenity not offered in man-made jungles, jungles consisting of nothing more than steel and concrete.
However, the construction and access presented by these new forms of transportation were not the only reasons behind new found interest in the Adirondack region. It was the work of men such as William H. H. Murray, and later romantic writers and painters, who instilled the importance of returning to nature in the American mind. William H. H. Murray, later known as Adirondack Murray, was a minister out of Boston who, “like his predecessors, subscribed to the romantic faith in nature as a holy and redemptive place, but this appeared less important to him than the opportunities for wholesome sport and exercise.“ His book Adventures in the Wilderness written in 1868 tells “story after story of exciting exploits with the rod and gun and bracing, luring in eager campers and sportsmen” (Terrie 61). However, to their dismay, their arrival to the Adirondacks was not characterized by the beauty and leisure the stories Murray portrayed. These travelers were renamed “Murray’s Fools” because Adventures in the Wilderness left many visitors to the region “utterly unequipped, psychologically or materially, for the realities of insects, damp bedding, and uncooperative weather” (Terrie 61). Mind you, these very unappealing qualities of the landscape had been faced and conquered years before with the settlement of the region, but now they posed as obstacles that brought into question the true man-hood and survival skills left in our modern day city slickers. “The Adirondacks and similar wilderness retreats throughout the United States moved from being the home of god to being the place where men developed the muscles, self-reliance, and independence needed for success” (Terrie 63). The general consensus was that these qualities were in a state of precipitous decline, that the masculine ruggedness displayed in earlier bouts with nature had began to erode under the force presented by urbanization and over-civilization. Simply put, the groups of tourists who were flooding the Adirondacks during the late 19th into the early 20th century were in search of an easy going lifestyle, a backwoods experience with modern day luxuries that would simultaneously develop strength and rugged a mind set.
With the introduction of this new class came a new found source of economic growth, and overall source of steady income, something the region had been lacking or at least struggling with since the beginning. These first waves of tourists laid the foundation for what would become an empire built solely on the ideals of a service based industry. Year-round residents who had previously looked to nature for every aspect of life quickly filled their new niches in that tourism industry, holding a range of jobs, all of which aided the new population in some shape or form. One of the first visible signs of this transition came in the form of hotels and lodging facilities known was Great Camps. These new facilities provided a variety of jobs and were the population center of the region’s new found guests.
With a copy of Adirondack Murray’s Adventures in the Wilderness on every outdoor enthusiast’s bookshelf, the flood of tourists to the area had begun, leading to a rash of hotel building and the development of Great Camps. By 1875 there were more than two hundred hotels in the Adirondacks, some of them with several hundred rooms. Soon following were the early Great Camps which “started as simple tent camps, often on land initially leased from hotel owners, as hotel guests sought a more authentic wilderness experience. The tent camps evolved into tent platforms or lean-tos and then into compounds of rustic cabins. Even in the early stages, some of these camps became quite elaborate” (Adirondack Architecture Heritage) As Great Camps evolved as permanent structures, tourists’ expectations rose. “The discovery and construction of ice houses allowed for the preservation and serving of fresh meat, fruits, and vegetables, a luxury tourists expected and benefited from. Due to this new practice of ice harvesting, diet and nutrition greatly improved throughout the Adirondacks” (Tissot). However, for those seeking an experience which more closely resembled past realistic Adirondack lifestyles, these simple tent camps which lacked modern advancements of the time were just what they were looking for. Now feeling settled or at least established in the wilderness, men wished to get back to their roots and take to the woods, a situation where the real seasonal tourist was quickly put in his place, finding success only with the help of the knowledge and experience of year-round residents.
Success for tourists in the Adirondacks was strictly based off his or her relationship with a guide, because without him this treacherous landscape, foreign to the majority who came, would in fact force those unfamiliar with its merciless power to succumb to the wrath of nature. “In addition to furnishing camping gear and dogs for hunting deer, the guide provided the single most important item for an Adirondack sporting expedition- the guide boat, a light, sturdy boat invented by local craftsmen to serve the needs of guides and their clients” (Terrie 47). To say the least, these hunting guides catered to every need and desire of these tourists, spoiled wealthy who left big city living in search of a real Adirondack experience, an experience they considered authentic, but in reality was nothing more than a watered down version with the guide doing most of the work. “ ‘The guides perform all the necessary camp services; accompany you in fishing and hunting; transport you in their boats over lakes and rivers, carrying the boats on their shoulders around rapids and across portages… entertain you with amusing and exciting incidents and their hunting grounds; and communicate so much valuable information respecting the country’ ” (Terrie 53). Here, with the sportsman in the stern and the guide rowing from the bow, Ralph Waldo Emerson describes his experience in the woods.
All day we swept the lake, searched every cove, North from camp Maple, south to Osprey Bay, Watching when the loud dogs should drive in deer, Or, whipping its rough surface for a trout; or, bathers, diving from the rock at noon; Challenging Echo by our guns and cries; or listening to the laughter of the loon; or, in the evening twilight’s latest red, beholding the procession of the pines; or, later yet, beneath a lighted jack, In the boat’s bows, a silent night hunter stealing with a paddle to the feeding grounds of the red deer (Terrie 48).
In many instances hunting trips such as this ended with a dead deer and a satisfied hunter, a trophy any hard working man could be proud of. However, the tactics used by these rugged pretenders took the sport and effort out of the hunt. The dogs were sent to the woods to drive the deer towards the water. Once the animal was spotted the guide showed no hesitation and began to paddle his way closer and closer to the frantic animal. After a few minutes the untrained hunter found his barrel just a few feet from the swimming deer, a certain death and end to an almost effortless hunt (Terrie 47). Once the deer was hoisted over the edge of the boat and secured by the guide, the tourists turned hunter now had time to develop an elaborate story, a fantasy of how he had conquered the wilderness and had taken part in a thrilling and challenging hunt.
Hunts such as this took place almost every day and were great examples of how tourist’s exploited year-round residents. These hunts were proof that life out here for the rich and famous comprised of little effort and laid-back attempts, while those located at the opposite end of the spectrum consistently broke their backs to aid their clients and main source of income in whatever way necessary.
After years of these types of hunting and fishing expeditions populations began to take a devastating hit, declining to the point where special take quotas were put in place to regulate the number of deer and fish that could be harvested each season. These quotas affected seasonal tourists and year-round residents alike, a situation that could be devastating to locals who used these resources for survival whereas tourists who used them for recreation. As year around resident Henry Conklin recalls:
The boys used to go fishing after supper and would sometimes get enough for three meals a plenty to last all the next day. Sometimes they would catch a big pan full in an hour or two, and such great beauties. During the summer season for ten or twelve years our table was well supplied with fish and venison, it helped us along wonderfully. There was no law against killing deer any time of year, or if there was it was never put in force. There was never any waste, for they were not killed expressly for their saddles to supply the market…No, they were killed because we were poor and had to have meat and none was wasted (Terrie 40).
To say the least, these new hunting laws put a damper on the local tourist relationship and marked one of the first clashes between these two distinct groups. Never before had laws been enforced or regulations put in place to control hunting or fishing. Only since the mass arrival of tourists has these limitations been put in place to control what was before not only a way of life, but a way of survival for those living year-round in the park. However, despite the frustrations, the relationship between these two distinct groups would continue to grow and establish roots in the history of the Adirondacks.
“The development of a culture of tourism added a complex new narrative thread to the story of people and nature in the Adirondacks” (Terrie 40). It marked a time in history when man began to rethink his role in the schemes of the big picture, realizing that nature had more to offer than raw materials and economic gain. For the first time man began to see the true beauty that resides in the mountainous landscape of the Adirondack park, a value that can still be seen today. One must ask then, what is the true story of the Adirondacks? Was it a place to harvest valuable resources for the human population, or was it a place where humans wanted to go to redeem themselves? The true Adirondack story involves both the resource harvesters and the leisure hunters who took what they could from the land in any form. It involves both the year round residents who struggled to make ends meet and the seasonal tourists who came to relieve their stress. The Adirondacks can be seen as a place of hardship, struggle, and of bitter realization, but can also be a place of joy, happiness, and luxury. Together, these various dynamic groups located at opposite ends of the Adirondack spectrum comprise the true Adirondack story, each contributing and bringing something unique to the region’s history.
Works Cited
"Adirondack Architecture Heritage." N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Dec 2010.
Cronon , William. The Trouble with Wilderness, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature. Athens, Georgia: University of Georgia Press, 1998. Print.
Diary of Lucelia Mills Clark: Sat. April 11th, Mon. April 13th, Mon. February 23rd.
Jamieson, Paul. The Adirondack Reader. 2nd ed . Lake George, New York: The Adirondack Mountain Club, 1983.
Schneider, Paul. The Adirondacks- A History of America's First Wilderness. 1st ed. New York, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1997.
Terrie, Philip. Contested Terrain- A New History of Nature and People in the Adirondacks. 2nd ed. Blue Mountain Lake, New York and Syracuse, New York: The Adirondack Museum, 2008.
Tissot, Caperton. "New book explores all things ice." North Country Public Radio. 11/30/2010. Web. 11/30/2010.
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