The story of Saranac; a chapter in Adirondack history

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THE ...I
STORY OF SARANAC

HENRY W. RAYMOND

CORNELL

UNIVERSITY

LIBRARY

FROM

Cornell University Library
F 127F8 R26

Story of Saranac: a chapter in Adirondac

oiin

3 1924 028 853 419

Cornell University
Library

The original of tiiis book is in
tine Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924028853419

THE
STORY OF SARANAC

The Ice Palace at Night ^

The

Story of Saranac

A Chapter in Adirondack
History

BY

HENRY W. RAYMOND

THE GRAFTON PRESS

Publishers New York

Ul^lVElvCtTY

f [uiRAfvY

Copyright 1909, by
The Gkaktox Tress

ILLUSTRATIONS

The Ice Palace at Night Frontispiece

Peiskaret, War Chief of the Adirondack Indians 14

View of Lower Saranac from Bluff Island 15

Off Indian Point; Entrance to Saranac River 19

Saranac River Above the Village 22

" Falling Star," The Last of the Abenakis 27

Oseetah Lake, Saranac River 29

Eagle Island and the Lakes from "The Algonquin 33

Bloomingdale Road in Winter 36

Among the Islands 38

Along the Saranac River in Winter 43

Saranac Lake and River in 1890 44

View of Saranac Lake in 1907 48,49

Main Street and Riverside Inn in 1892 52

Martin's Old Hotel 53

The Baker Cottage, once the home of Stevenson 54

Saranac Lake and River in 1907 56

Main Street, Saranac Lake in 1895 58

The Berkeley, Main Street and Broadway 60

The Bank in Saranac Lake 61

Broadway, Saranac Lake 62

A Residence in Highland Park 63

The Ice Palace in 1906 64

Fish Creek 67

The Smith Camp 68

The Living Room of the Smith Camp 68

The Floyd Jones Camp 70

Interior of the Floyd Jones Camp 70

Along the Saranac River in Summer 75

PREFACE

It might be asked why I wrote this little "book.
I doubt if I could give an answer that would be en-
tirely satisfactory to the reader.

Primarily, I suppose it was my affection for,
and interest in, the region of which it treats, that
prompted me to study its history and development.
As I have watched Saranac Lake grow, and change
from a "wretched hamlet" into a thriving town,
during the nearly twenty years that it has been my
summer home, and as questions have been con-
stantly asked about its origin and early history
that had to go unanswered, I was anxious to find
some answer to these questions.

Perhaps too there was an impulse of gratitude
toward a locality which gave to me — as it has to
thousands of others — life and health and strength.

Possibly there was a feeling that one of the love-
liest spots in the North Woods should be known as
something besides a sanatorium — of which much
has been written by others — and its manifold beau-

8 Preface

ties and natural attractions made more familiar to
the Adirondack visitor.

The general ignorance as to the Indian occupa-
tion of, and visitations to, this part of the country,
may have been another motive, and one vi^hich so
interested me that I went into it more deeply than
had been done by any other.

Probably all these various reasons vi^ere combined
and resulted in the production of the pages that
follow, which, expanding beyond the limits of a
magazine article, have been sent forth in this form
in the hope that they will interest some of the
thousands who make an annual pilgrimage to this
part of the Adirondack wilderness.

I do not claim originality for what I have writ-
ten, only so far as pertains to the mode of presenta-
tion. The facts have been gathered from scores of
writers and pieced together to serve my purpose.
No one has done this before and whether it was
worth the trouble of doing it at all is for the reader
to say. So far as possible I have endeavored to
give due credit for what I have borrowed.

Henry W. Raymond.

The
Story of Saranac

The period of time was somewhere about the
middle of the Seventeenth Gentry.

The Pilgrim Fathers had made their settlenlents
along a part of what is now the New England
coast, and had perfected treaties with, or success-
fully waged war against, the crafty Indians, who
had forcibly opposed the advance into their pos-
sessions, and had employed all^the wiles and arts
known to the red man, to impede and stay the re-
lentless onward march of the civilization brought
to these shores by the mysterious white strangers
from the unknown countries of the far East. Of
Algonquin stock were these denizens of the coast —
Abenakis, Micmacs, Narragansetts, Delawares and
Mohegans — ^who shared with the Iroquois and the
Hurons the hitherto undisputed possession of for-
ests, mountains, lowlands and prairies, in the great
continent over which they had roamed and wan-
dered for centuries; coming from no man can yet
say where — whose origin is one of those mysteries
for which science can furnish no satisfactory solu-
tion. The Micmac chieftain, a century later, voiced

10 The Story of Saranac

the complaint of the Indian race, when, with true
native eloquence, he said to Cornwalhs: "The land
on which you sleep is mine; I sprung out of it as
the grass does; I was born on it from sire to
son; it is mine forever."

So, too, up in the far North, when the French
settled in Canada, it was upon lands occupied by the
Algonquin Indians, or the "Adirondacks," as the
members of this powerful nation were called by
their hereditary enemies, the Iroquois. They were
regarded, Wallace tells us, as "apt and dexterous
in war and chase and most advanced in art, know-
ledge and intelligence." Golden speaks of them
as "excelling all others."

Schoolcraft says that the term "Algonkins" was
first employed as a generic word, by the French,
applying it to the old Nippercinians, Osttawas,
'Montagnais and their congeners in the valley of
the St. Lawrence. Their language was essentially
the same as that of the coast Indians — the Dela-
wares, and the Indians of the valleys of the Hudson
and of the Connecticut.

Between the Algonquins and the Iroquois — the
latter better known in history perhaps as the Six
Nations, from the six different tribes embraced in
its organization, and claiming the southern bank
of the St. Lawrence, the shores of Lakes Ontario
and Erie and all western and central New York,

The Story of Saranac 11

as their own — a fierce and bitter war had been
waged for many years before the advent of the
French emigrants. It is a matter of tradition that
this war originated in a hunting party undertaken
jointly by some young warriors of both nations.
The Iroquois desired to test their skill with the bow
and arrow first. To this the others objected, say-
ing that they alone could kill enough for all. They
were absent three days and returned empty-handed.
The Iroquois, in their turn, went into the woods
and came back loaded down with game, whereupon
the proud Algonquins, stung to anger by their
success, killed them all while they slept. A surren-
der of the murderers being refused the Iroquois in-
augurated a long, bloody war against the Algon-
quin nation.

Whatever the immediate cause, through the al-
liance of the Algonquins with the French, the Iro-
quois were beaten and driven back from the St.
Lawrence into what is now the northern part of
the State of New York, and this region became,
through constant fighting, the "dark and bloody
ground" of the old Indian traditions.

In this new country the Iroquois found the
Dutch settlers and, obtaining from them by trade
and barter arms and ammunition, turned fiercely
on their conquerors, so that in 1670 they completed
their defeat and dispersion and remained sole and

12 The Story of Saranac

undisputed mastei's of this great territory. Syl-
vester says of them that they "were fierce and
brave; germs of heroic virtues mingled with sav-
age vices. They were the. terror of all surrounding
tribes. The river Indians along the Hudson, fear-
ing the very name of Mohawk, wilhngly paid them
tribute."

Of the remnant of the Algonquin nation, Wal-
lace says: "The spirit of the few remaining was
broken, and, in mortal terror, they sought a hiding
place in the deepest solitudes of the New York wil-
derness (called by them 'Conchsachrage' or the
'Dismal Wilderneiss') which had always been their
favorite hunting ground. Here, goaded by deadly
famine, and too weak and ambitionless to secure
game, they subsisted for weeks on bark, buds and
the roots of trees, even on the thongs of rawhides
forming the network of their snowshoes. When
thus reduced, the Iroquois called them in derision,
'Ha-de-ron-daks' — bark or tree eaters — from
which the French dropped the 'H'. Thus per-
ished," he adds, "this mighty nation, by the hand of
the foe whom they had regarded with perfect con-
tempt."

Right here I may add, on the same authority,
that the highlands of Conchsachrage were first
called "Peruvian Mountains," by the early white
settlers, who believed they were rich in mineral

The Story of Saranac 13

treasures. Later they were known as Macomb
Mountains, named after General Macomb. In
1842 Professor Emmons, then State geologist,
designated them as "Adirondacks," and this title
has since been adopted for the whole region,
which, on early maps, was first called "Aracal"
and then "Ir-o-coi-sia," or the land of the Iroquois.

After their crushing defeat and dispersion by the
Iroquois, the Algonquins no longer figured in his-
tory as a nation; only as a scattered Canadian
tribe, called by some the Ottawas.

Tradition tells us that their great war chief, Pei-
skaret, after his overwhelming defeat and when he
realized that his beloved nation was practically an-
nihilated and permanently expelled from the land it
loved so well, made a final visit to the forests in
which they had hunted abundant game and to the
lakes in which they had been wont to display their
skill as fishermen. Coming out from the dense
woods on what is now known as "Indian Point" on
Lower Saranac Lake, he stood motionless, contem-
plating with unfeigned admiration the marvellous
beauty of the scene before him. On the placid
waters at his feet, he had often seen the frail bark
canoes of his warriors moving noiselessly about in
eager pursuit of the speckled beauties ; in the tower-
ing forests they had displayed their skill with bow
and arrow, in pursuit of moose, elk and deer; on

Peiskaret, War Chief of the Adirondack Indians

The Story of Saranac

15

the thickly clustered islands they had kindled their
peaceful camp fires. And now the end had come.
Outlaws and fugitives, a small remnant of a proud
and mighty nation, they were fqrced to abandon to
a hated foe all that had made life so dear to them

View of Lower Saranac from Bluff Island

and to their fathers before them. Peiskaret's heart
was full of bitterness and grief, but his mien was as
haughty as when, at the head of his redskins, he
had seen the Iroquois braves fly before his victorious
legions. With one mighty throw he cast his blood*
stained tomahawk into the rippling waters, then
turned and in a moment was lost to view in the

16 The Story of Saranac

dark recesses of the woodland. And in the lake,
at the spot where his tomahawk fell, rose a tiny-
islet (Hatchet Island), a monument to a vanishing
tribe that had once ^roamed here at will, undisputed
masters of the "Dismal Wilderness."

Time passed on and we come to the opening years
of the nineteenth century.

The Six Nations had been, after their defeat of
the Algonquins, the dominant Indian race in the
eastern part of the continent from the Hudson to
Lake Erie, and of all, the Mohawks, as the oldest
of the confederated tribes, were leaders in peace and
war. With power came arrogance and pride. It
was said that an old Mohawk sachem issued orders
to tributary nations with the unquestioned authority
of a Roman dictator, and that a single Mohawk
warrior was enough to put to flight a hundred of
the New England Indians. The powerful Dela-
wares, when conquered by the Iroquois, were con-
temptuously termed by them "Women," and Sir
William Johnson in 1756, writes to the Lords of
the Board of Trade : "I concluded this Treaty with
taking off the Petticoat, or that invidious name of
'women,' from the Delaware Nation, which had
been imposed on them by the Six Nations from the
time they conquered them."

In truth he held no sinecure, this English Com-
missioner of Indian affairs, in maintaining intact

The Story of Saranac 17

an alliance with his wards, for they were often un-
ruly and keenly resentful of the steady progress
of British dominion. The letters of Sir William
are filled with accounts of innumerable councils
held with the redmen and of their unvarying com-
plaint of being deprived of their lands and their
hunting grounds.

At first the Iroquois carried on extensive hos-
tiUties with the French, in which they met with "dis-
astrous losses; then they, for a time, allied them-
selves with the Dutch; finally entering into treaty
bonds with the English — whom they quickly dis-
cerned as destined to be the dominant power — and
served them loyally all through the Revolutionary
war.

As thej'' had turned on the Algonquins and be-
come their conquerors, so the victorious American
colonists turned on their savage foes, who had left
a trail of massacre, rapine and cruelty to mark
their share in the struggle for independence. It
was a final contest for mastery between the white
man and the red, and the .white man won. In 1779
their power was broken by General Sullivan; eight-
een of their most flourishing villages were burned,
their cornfields and orchards cut down and no
quarter given to the fighting men. The proud In-
dian at last sued for peace and by treaties in 1784,
1789 and in 1796, the Indian title was extinguished

18 The Story of Saranac

to the whole regioa between Lake Champlain and
the St. Lawrence. A few of the Oneidas, Senecas,
Cayugas, Onondagas and Mohawks remained on
reservations in the regions that still bear their names,
but the greater number, according to DeWitt Clin-
ton, moved into Canada or migrated to the country
west of the Mississippi, "The Indians," says Syl-
vester, "left their famous hunting grounds in the
Conchsachrage with great reluctance, and long
after the Revolution, singly and in small bands,
made annual visits to the wilderness, encountering
at times the white trapper and hunter who also loved
the woods ; nor did these chance encounters always
have a peaceful ending."

Here again tradition connects another great In-
dian chieftain with Saranac, or, as it is called on the
early French maps, by its Indian name of "Sa-la-
sa-nac."

Conquered but not subdued, the Mohawk war
chief had begun his long journey to the home he
had chosen at the head of Lake Ontario. As mem-
ories of the happy days spent in the wild hunting
grounds of his people were constantly with him, he
determined to once more revisit these forests. With
two or three companions he penetrated their depths.
After many days of toilsome wandering they
emerged from the woodland upon the shore of the
same beautiful lake, and on the same rocky point,

The Story of Saranac

19

where, a century and a half before, had stood the
famed Algonquin warrior. In full war paint and
equipment, as he had led his braves in many a
hard won fight, stood Ta-yen-da-na-ga-^more
widely known as Joseph Brant. Defiance of the

Off Indian Point; Entrance to Saranac River

victorious paleface was in his bearing, yet was
there also the recognition of the fact that his people
were beaten and scattered, and that he himself, an
exile, must seek a home in what was to him an alien
country. Did visions of the ruthless massacres at
Springfield, and Cherry Valley, and Herldmer and
Minisink in the Wyoming and along the Mohawk

20 The Story of Saranac

valley, mirror themselves in the dark, deep waters
that lay outspread before him? Did the cries of
the gentle maidens, the innocent children and the
suffering mothers, whom, with savage cries of fero-
cious joy he had scalped and left to die in the ruins
of their burning homes, echo in his ears, in the
solemn stillness of the forest primeval? Who
knows, but He, who, in the few remaining years of
his life, made of this undaunted warrior and cruel
hard-hearted savage, a missioner of peace and a
teacher of that Gospel given to us by Him who was
the Apostle of Peace, of gentleness and of self-sac-
rifice.

As Brant turned away from lake and stream and
woodland, and covering his face with his blanket,
that his comrades might not see the deep emotion
of their chief, said farewell to the haunts he loved
so dearly, he might well have anticipated the
words of Drake: —

Where is my home — my forest home?

The proud land of my Sires?
Where stands the wigwam of my pride?

Where gleam the Council fires?
Where are my fathers' hallowed graves?

My friends so light and free?
Gone, gone — forever from, my view!

Great Spirit, can it he?

There are scarcely any records of the Indian

The Story of Saranac 21

ownership of this vast region and few traces of its
occupation. Its area is three-quarters of that of
Switzerland; it nearly approaches Wales in size
and is considerably larger than the entire state of
Connecticut. William C. Bryant wrote of it as a
region "studded with the loveliest lakes in the world,
where the mountains tower far above the loftiest
of the Catskills . . . and though none of its peaks
are as high as some of the White Mountains, their
general elevation surpasses that of any range east
of the Rockies."

In a map of New York in Broadhead's History,
dated about 1614, the entire region is designated as
Ho-de-no-san-nee — that is the "Land of the People
of the Long House." In a later map it is broadly
marked as Ga-ne-a-ga-o-no-ga, or the "Land of the
Mohawks." In a map published by Guy Johnson
for Governor Tryon in 1771, the Adirondack
country has no marks and a note says: "The Boun-
dary of New York not being closed this part of the
country still belongs to the Mohawks." Twenty-
five years later, in a map showing Macomb's pur-
chase of 3,600,000 acres (for eight pence an acre) a
tract six miles square is specified as reserved for the
St. Regis Indians and an agreement was made that
if this tract was not applied to the use of the In-
dians it should be deemed a part of the original con-
tract of sale.

22

The Story of Saranac

This reservation of the St. Regis Indians, who are
descendants of the Iroquois, is in Franklin County,
New York, on the Canadian boundary hne. Grin-
nell gives their number as 1,154 some ten years ago
and says that, although they have some good farm-
ing land, most of them have given up farming and

Saranac River Above the Village

support themselves by making and selling baskets.
It is members of this tribe that generally visit Sar-
anac Lake and Lake Placid during the summer
months.

But few of the mountains had, or have preserved,
Indian names. Mt. Marcy was called "Tahawus"

The Story of Saranac 23

—"He splits the sky"; Mclntyre, "Henoga"—
"Home of the Thunderer"; Seward, "Onkorla"—
"The Great Eye" ; and Whiteface, which derives its
modern name from the white appearance of a shde
caused by an avalanche which swept down its west-
ern slope in 1804 — " Wahopartenie" ; but Nipple-
top, Golden, Mt. Emmons, Pharaoh, Adams, Dix,
Santanoni, Snowy, Rugged and the others of the
more than five hundred elevations that merit the des-
ignation of "mountaiins," have lost their Indian
names — if they ever had any — and are known only
by their modern appellations.

So, too, of the many streams and rivers, that find
their devious ways over rocks, through deep gorges
and 'neath the shadows of the darkest forests, to the
St. Lawrence, the Hudson and Lake Champlain,
only a few — the Secondaga, Saranac, Oswegatchie,
Chateaugay and possibly the St. Regis — give any
reminiscent idea of the original navigators, who
threaded through this country in their birch boats,
upon their waters. Equally true is this of the hun-
dreds of lakes and ponds, of which I recall but the
Saranacs that still retain the names given them by
the aborigines.

I am glad to note, however, that there is a grow-
ing tendency either to restore the Indian names, or
to give new ones from the picturesque vocabulary
of the original inhabitants of the North Woods.

24 The Story of Saranac

Perhaps Dr. Webb may be regarded as the pioneer
in this movement, when he re-christened Round
Lake (not Middle Saranac, which is still known by
that name) , "Lake Kushaqua," and gave to his own
vast domain the title, "Ne-ha-sa-ne." Others have
followed his example and what was so long called
"Lonesome Pond" is now "Lake Kiwassa" — an In-
dian God of Love — and "Miller's Pond," has be-
come "Lake Oseetah."

In connection with this matter of the re-adoption
of Indian names, Mr. Alfred L. Donaldson, a stu-
dent of the Indian legends and of the history of this
region, says, in an article in The Bohemian, refer-
ring to the view from the summit of Ampersand
Mountain : "To look down upon the vast areas of a
once primeval wilderness spread in panorama at
one's feet ; to see the glinting sapphire of lakes and
rivers set deep in the soft chrysophase of undulating
woodland ; to re-people the far-flung vistas with the
Indian of yore, cleaving the waterways to the tune
of rhythmic paddles or tuning the silence of the for-
est to the muted impact of their feet ; and then to be
forced to transcribe the vision in terms of a local
landshark or of the rustic dullard, is to touch fresh
paint on a nomenclature that should be twined with
legendary ivy. The Indians with all their faults,
had the childish imaginativeness of a primitive
people, the inherent poetrjr of savageness, the super-

The Story of Saranac 25

stitions that are rhythmic. In dethroning the king
of the wilderness it seems a pity that the conquerors
should have kept so few relics of his gorgeous
throne-room."

Of settlements we can trace hut two. At what
is now known as North Elba, was an Indian village,
which, until the latter part of the eighteenth cen-
tury, was the summer camping ground of a band
of Adirondacks. About 1760, Captain Robert
Rogers, at the head of a company of rangers — who
were employed by Sir William Johnson, as he says,
"to scour the woods," and "were promised one shil-
ling a day with eighteen pence to the sergeant,
which I regard as reasonable," — attacked and to-
tally destroyed this village, in the absence of the
warriors. On their return the latter pursued and
gave battle on the Boquet River, with disastrous
results to the attacking party.

The other village was at what is now called "In-
dian Carry," between the Raquette River and Up-
per Saranac Lake, and near the Twin Spectacle
Ponds. A hundred years ago the Saranac Indians,
possibly a sub-tribe of the Mohawks, had a settle-
ment here and on an eminence is a mound-like seat
where their chief was wont to maintain a vigilant
outlook for an approaching enemy. In the solid
rock, not so very long ago, was pointed out the
alleged imprint of an Indian moccasin, and bits of

26 The Story of Saranac

potteiy and arrowheads have been excavated that
would seem to indicate an Indian burying ground
at this place.

The picture of an Indian woman, for which I
am indebted to, Mr. Harding, is that of "Falling
Star," the last living descendant, so far as known,
of the original Algonquin Indians who made this
section of the Adirondacks their hunting grounds.
"FalHng Star" is an Abenaki, or, as Brinton spells
it, Abnaki, one of the many tribes belonging to the
Algonquin nation, like the Micmacs, Crees, Chip-
peways, etc., and their last home was near Three
Rivers, in Canada. In 1780, there were only one
hundi'ed and fifty members of this tribe left. "Fall-
ing Star" sold baskets for a time, then went to New
York where she was a prominent feature in the
Adirondack Camp at the sportsmen's show a few
years ago. Since then she has made a living by
posing as an Indian model for different artists.

A few, Indian legends have come down to us:
When the Mohawks occupied, or controlled, the
Adirondack region, they were at one time ruled
by a sachem called Ho-ha-do-ra, whose wife was
named Mo-ne-ta. She had two sons, one of whom
was taken captive in a contest M'ith the Algonquins.
The other, unable to resist his mother's plaintive
appeals, undertook to rescue his brother and set
out alone on his perilous enterprise. While anx-

"Falling Star," The Last of the Abenakis

28 The Story of Saranac

iously awaiting his return, Mo-ne-ta passed the
days in ceaseless vigil on the summit of a lofty rock,
on the border of the lake. At last her devotion vi^as
rewarded by the safe return of both sons, and her
tears of joy in welcoming them, falling upon the
rock, were turned to diamonds, glistening in the
sunlight on the surface of her elevated watch tower,
which was thereafter known to the Indians as "Dia-
mond Rock."

Another legend pertains to the so-called "Lov-
ers' Leap" on Lake Canandaigua. The Senecas and
Algonquins ^>vere relentless enemies and during one
of their incessant wars, a young chief of the latter
tribe was taken prisoner. The daughter of the
Seneca sachem lost her heart to the captured foe,
brought him food and not only aided him to escape
but accompanied him on his journey to rejoin his
tribe. They were at once followed by a band of
Senecas, headed by the father of the eloping maiden.
Mistaking the trail the fugitives suddenly found
themselves on the edge of a high precipice from
which their pursuers blocked their escape. The
girl appealed to her father for pardon and for safety,
but, as that would only be granted on condition
that she forsake her lover, both plunged from the
rock and were killed. The place is known as "Lov-
ers' Leap" to this day.

In an article in The Bohemian magazine, Mr.

The Story of Saranac

29

A. L. Donaldson has very pleasantly narrated some
legends connected with Lakes Kiwassa and Oseetah.
His legend of Oseetah rock, from which the lake
derives its name, is so charmingly told in verse, that
I quote it in full:

Oseetah Lake, Saranac River
OSEETAH. AN INDIAN LEGEND.

Back from the' wars in the forest, Wayotah, the Sun, is
returning

To his Lake of the Clustered Stars, where the fires of
welcome are burning,

While mutely his moccasined feet the miles of the moun-
tains are spurning.

30 The Story of Saranac

Sweet is the praise and the prattle, the gentle confusion

of meeting,
Proud is the Chief of his people and touched by the

warmth of their greeting.
Keen is his eye as the eagle's, and nervous and quick in

its roaming.
Searches the uplifted faces for one he had wished at his

homing —
For one who is standing aloof in the grateful gloom of the

gloaming.

OsEETAH, called Bird of the Wigwams, watching apart
frorn the thronging,

Engirdles the Chieftain she loves with hopeless yet pas-
sionate longing ;

Well knowing her love, if returned, his vow to another is
wronging.

After the rout and the revel, the hero goes quietly creep-
ing.

Out where the marvellous moonlight in misty mosaics is
sleeping ;

Lighting a lane for the lover to gloom where Oseetah is
weeping.

Soon all the silences sylvan are stiri-ed with the stress of

his wooing:
Prankly he tells of his passion that long has been secretly

brewings
Madly he pleads for this new love, and mocks at the old

love's undoing.

T'he Story of Saranac 31

Firm is the mind of the maiden and steeled to Wayotah's

entreating —
Pearing an old love discarded may mean but a new one

as fleeting.
"Better the grave and quiescence," whispers her heart thru

its beating.

Quickly she turns from her lover, whose passion to anger
is flaring,

Darts to the dense of the forest, deft as a doe and un-
caring,

Seeking the shelter of darkness that yields to her swift-
ness and daring.

Then, with the spring of the panther, he plunges alert

to the hounding.
Trailing the track of her whiteness, that, wraith-like,

seems winged in its bounding,
Down thru the woods to the lake-side where plashment

of waters is sounding.

Trembling aghast on a rock ledge that gives a sheer

pause to the trailing.
Searching the face of the waters, he stands, with pressed

lips that are paling,
■Grasping the glimness before him that turns all his

passion to wailing.

Back to the village he wanders and tells of Oseetah's sad

ending,
Pacing the anger of men with tears of the womenfolk

blending,

32 The Story of Saranac

Bowing his head in despair at the thought of his deed
beyond mending.

Early next day all the villagers tramp thru the trail to

the clearing,
Chanting the dirge for the dead while over the precipice

peering
They gaze at the merciless water with deep superstition

and fearing.

Lo ! a strange wonder confronts them, a miracle sweetly

uplooming.
For there on the face of the waters beautiful lilies are

blooming.
Flowers embossed on the grave that was bare at Oseetah's

entombing.

What may this mean.? they inquire of the Medicine-man

full of learning,
Who tells them the soul of the maid to earth in these

forms is returning;
Lilies of white are her pureness, the lilies of yellow her

yearning.

Early each morn they will open, like beautiful thoughts to

the thinking.
And bask in the light of the Sun till he dips to his westerly

sinking.
And then as he goes they will close, like dreams that are

dreamt and are shrinking.

The Story of Saranac

33

Another legend that Mr. Donaldson tells may be
legend or it may be history, it matters not which, as
the line is not always very sharply drawn between
the two. As it pertains to Lower Saranac Lake I
am going to give its substance. He tells us that

- -r -^^

. '-^^

" . ' - - "ilia

1^

1 .4

'" ";

'.^.^

■vli^--'

m^

W. jM

Itt iiti^ -iteiiii

'fl^^

.!W

m~

TW

_ 'n

-■■■ v; „ ..■r . ,-

^i<m.

Eagle Island and the Lakes from "The Algonquin"

Upper Saranac — "the Lake of the Silver Sky" —
was the one on which the Indians first made settle-
ment. The different tribes around it lived in
peace and friendly rivalry. A chief of one of
these tribes or clans, named "The Eagle," mys-
teriously disappeared and the chief of another divi-
sion of the tribe named "The Wolf" was for some

34 The Story of Saranac

unassigned reason accused of his murder. Angered
at the charge, yet not strong enough to resent it in
the usual Indian manner, "The Wolf" moved away
with his braves and established a settlement on
Lower Saranac — "The Lake of the Clustered
Stars." Years after, "The Eagle," now an old
man, reappeared and told the story of his unac-
countable disappearance. While out hunting in
the woods he had mistaken the trail and fallen into
a ravine and while lying there helpless had been
captured by some Canadian trappers. From them
he had finally made his escape and returned to die
among his own people. He made his abode on the
largest of the islands in the lake, and to it was given
his name, and it is still known to all residents and
visitors as "Eagle Island."

In some places in the woods the regular beaten
trails, used by the redmen in their hunting expedi-
tions, are said still to exist and to be followed by
hunters to-day, but, with the few exceptions to
which I have alluded, all traces of the centuries of
Indian occupation have gone — effaced from the re-
cesses of the wilderness as effectively as he himself
has become but a tradition in the hunting grounds
of his people. A great writer thus sums up his char-
acteristics : — '

"Man, the occupant of the soil, was wild as the savage
scene, in harmony with the rude nature by which he was

The Story of Saranac 35

surrounded; a vagrant over the continent, in constant
warfare with his fellow-man ; the bark of the birch his
canoe ; strips of shells his ornaments, his records and his
coin ; the roots of the forest among his resources for food ;
his knowledge in architecture surpassed both in strength
and durability by the skill of the beaver ; verdant saplings
the beams of his house ; branches and the rind of trees his
roof ; the drift of forest leaves his couch ; his religion the
adoration of nature; disputing with the wolves and ibears
the lordship of the soil and dividing with the squirrel the
wild fruits with which the universal woodlands abounded."

The passing of the Indian from the land of the
great Avilderness was marked by the advent of the
white hunter and trapper — the hardy baclcwoods-
man — "clad in hunting shirt and deerskin leggings,
armed with rifle, powder horn and pouch for shot
and bullets, a hatchet and a hunting knife," seeking
new fields in which to gratify his love of outdoor
life, his passion for sport in woods, rivers and
lakes and also the maintenance of a precarious ex-
istence by the barter of furs and pelt for the neces-
saries of life. There were colonies of beaver in the
rivers; moose,* bear and deer in the forests, with
foxes and other game in abundance. A huge red
fox was the theme of the Indian story of the "Vam-
pire," the scene of which was laid in the North
Woods.

*See note at end.

36

The Story of Saranac

Peter Sabattis, a noted Indian trapper, camped
on St. Peter's Rock on Lower St. Regis, and was—
as also the aged half-breed hunter, St. Germain,
at Lake Clear— famous as a guide for the earliest
visitors. Dr. Van Dyke speaks of "one-eyed Enos,

Bloomingdale Koad in Winter

the last and laziest of the Saranac Indians" as a
"real Adirondack guide." C. D. Warner cites old
Orson Phelps as a type of "primitive man," who
emigrated from Vermont about 1828; a woodsman,
trapper, fisherman and hunter, with a passionate
love of forest and mountain, the explorer of Marcy,
to the summit of which he made a trail that others

The Story of Saranac 37

might enjoy the noble view. "Soap is a thing I
h' ain't no kinder use for," was one of his expres-
sions in emphasizing his preference for a woods-
man's hfe. "Bill" Smith, sometimes called the
"Giant Hermit of the Adirondacks," built his cabin
six miles from Bloomingdale, fifty-seven years ago,
and, in his early days, was famous as a hunter.
"Nat" Foster was another of the first hunters
and trappers who made the Adirondacks their
home.

The fascination of an outdoor life was not easily
overcome. The historian Headley tells of meeting
an Indian eighty-two years old, once a renowned
hunter, who refused to accompany his tribe to their
new home and, with his daughter as his sole com-
panion, houseless and homeless, carrying on his
bowed shoulders his bark canoe, lived a wandering
life in the woods.

Among these wild scenes of nature roamed the
French writer Chateaubriand, and, in his "Genie
du Christianisme," he illustrated the beauties of
Christianity by the charms of the wild exuberance
of nature's gifts, among which he had wandered in
the forests of the new world. The heroine of his
best romance was Atala, an Indian maiden. It was
in this inaccessible region that Joseph Bonaparte
built a beautiful hunting lodge in which, it was
said, he proposed to entertain his brother, the fallen

38

The Story of Saranac

Emperor, before the allied Powers made him sov-
ereign of the little island of Elba.

Men of science had made some investigations of
these mountains in the first half of the last century.
Redfield and Emmons had measured Marcy, St.

Among the Islands '

Anthony and other heights, before Professor Far-
rand Benedict, of the University of Vermont, made
his barometric observations in 1839.

Men of wealth — like Gililland on Boquet River,
Herreshoff on Morse, Arthur Noble on East Can-
ada Creek and Watson on Independence — had each

The Story of Saranac 39

attempted to found great landed estates, but all had
failed. Perhaps the chief reason for their failure is
simply given in the "History of the Six Nations" by
David Cusick, a Tuscarora Indian, when he said : —
"This country was never inhabited by any kind of
people in the winter season; the snow fell so deep
it was supposed that this country would always re-
main a wilderness." A wintry season that began
in October and ended in May was not attractive as
a permanent residence.

For the instruction of the amateur sportsman, in
search of venison steaks or antlered heads, I venture
to interpolate here a prescription given by this same
Indian writer as essential to success in deer hunting.
That it will become popular is unhkely ; that it was
generally followed — Credat Judceus Apella!

"When a person intends to hunt a deer, he pro-
cures a medicine and vomits twice daily, for twelve
days, after which he procures some pine or cedar
boughs and boils them in a clay kettle and after
removal from the fire he takes a blanket and covers
himself over with it to sweat. Then he is ready to
hunt."

The probability is that after following out this
heroic treatment the would-be hunter would have
httle stomach left for deer.

There is one element in man's nature that rises
superior to any and all conditions of climate, and

40 The Story of Saranac

that is the commercial instinct. It defies the heat
of the tropics and the cold of the Arctic zone; it
carries him into the jungle and over cloud sur-
mounting peaks ; it pierces mountains with tunnels,
delves deep into the bowels of the earth and bridges
raging waters ; calls into action all the resources of
the scientist and takes no account of the value of
human life in the attainment of its results. It was
this desire for gain that led to the early settlements
in the north woods and although the ironmaster and
the lumberman faced no great dangers in their
efforts, both encountered unanticipated hardships
and had to contend with many difficulties, in their
pioneer work.

Mr. Colvin says that "since the first settlement
of New York there have been constant endeavors
made to clear and cultivate the Adirondack wilder-
ness. The crumbling buildings here and there upon
its margin and along its roadsides, far into its
depths, are the records of wasted effort, squandered
capital and ruin."

The discovery of vast beds of magnetic iron ore
in different sections of the Adirondacks, was the
first impulse given to the estabUshment of com-
munities in this region. In 1803, iron ore was first
taken from a bed near the Chateaugay River. In
1810, Mclntyre started the North Elba iron works.
In 1827, a company of capitalists bought extensive

The Story of Saranac 41

tracts of land and established the village of Adiron-
dack in Macomb County, and started mines and
iron works at the headwaters of the Hudson, on
Lake Sandford, and along the outflowing river.
These plants were many times increased in size and
when one point was worked out another was built
up. For some years, however, they have been
practically abandoned, so that, so far as I know,
the only active working establishments today are
those at Lyon Mountain and at Mineville near Port
Henry. According to the State geologist, the de-
posits at Mineville, with a. record of twenty-five
million tons, stand first as regards their richness of
metal and can be expected to yield at least as great
a quantity in the future. As to the Macomb County
mines the report of the State geological survey for
1908, prepared by D. H. Newland, speaks of these
deposits as finding few or no parallels in respect
to magnitude, in the Eastern United States, and
he adds that "they have recently been acquired by
capitalists who are preparing to build a railroad
to the locality and to enter upon extensive mining
operations." Undoubtedly this industry will re-
vive again and on an extended scale, for Winchell
and other geologists tell us that iron ore exists in
great abundance all through this region. The dif-
ficulties of transportation and the cost of mining
among the rugged rocks where iron is found, have,

42 The Story of Saranac

so far, deterred monied men from undertaking any
further similar enterprises.

The axe of the lumberman was the next agent
of civilization to penetrate the wooded depths of
the Adirondack wilderness. The huntsmen were
not slow to discover that the axe furnished a more
reliable means of subsistence than the rifle, and in
the long winter months the sound of falling trees re-
sounded throughout the woods, and the destruction
of the forests proceeded with unflagging zeal until
the strong arm of the State interfered — by the
Constitution of 1894, in which the cutting of tim-
ber or the sale or exchange of lands already re-
served for public uses, was forbidden — and thus
curbed the ardor of those to whom the monarch of
the woods meant only so many feet of timber or so
much material for the pulp mill. Along the lines
of transportation — railroads, rivers and wagon
trails — are still seen the evidences of the widespread
ravages of the destroying lumberman, and it is
only away from the line of travel and in the heart
of the north woods, that the tourist, the pleasure
seeker, the sportsman or the invalid, can enjoy
the majestic beauty, the solemn grandeur, the awe-
inspiring quiet of this wonderful combination of
forest, mountain and of lake. Rev. Dr. Murray
said that an American artist travehng in Switzer-
land, wrote home that, "having traveled over all

The Story of Saranac

43

Switzerland arid the Rhine and Rhone regions, he
had not met any scenery which, judged from a
purely artistic point of view, combined so many
beauties in connection with such grandeur, as the
lakes, mountains and forests of the Adirondack
region presented to the gazer's eye."

Along the Saranac River in Winter

In winter the lumberman lived in the woods,
hewing down the trees and sledding them to the
shores of the Saranac or Ausable where the spring
freshets bore them swiftly onward to the sawmills,
to Plattsburg and to Lake Champlain. These
hardy workers became as well versed in the mys-

44

The Story of Saranac

teries of woodcraft as the Indian and acquired the
varied knowledge essential to independent life in
the forest far from the haunts of man. In the
spring and summer they turned the woodlore thus
acquired to their advantage by acting as guides

Saranac Lake and River in 1890

to the amateur sportsmen and pleasure seekers,
for whom, in fast increasing numbers, the Adiron-
dacks was becoming a sort of Mecca and an annual
resort.

To the lumbermen, the guides, the seekers after
nature's choicest offerings in a realm where she
still held undisputed sway, and later to the invalid,

The Story of Saranac 45

to whom the balsamic properties of this region
meant life and health and strength, is due the found-
ing and the growth of its one large settlement,
whose history is but little known, although, in view
of its location and surroundings, it is today a mar-
vel of enterprise and a wonder as a city built up in
the wilderness.

In 1840, the Adirondack region, that is, the in-

■ ft

terior, was almost as unknown as the interior of
Africa. There were few huts or houses and few
visitors. All traveling was done by means of boats
of small size and light build, rowed by a single
guide and made so slight that the craft could be
carried on his shoulders from pond to pond and
stream to stream. Lumbering old-fashioned stages
ran from Ausable, Plattsburg, Keeseville and one
or two other points, bringing the traveler to the
few inns or taverns, where guides were taken and
embarkation made in boats for further journeyings,
or to chosen camping points. Paul (Pol) Smith's on
Lower St. Regis was the termination of one of these
stage routes ; Hough's on Upper Saranac, and later
Bartlett's, were objective poipts for the hunters;
but the best known, perhaps, of these woodland
hostelries was Martin's on Lower Saranac, or, as
it is also called, "Lake of the Clustered Stars."
Before Martin's was built, in 1850, Blood's Hotel,
in Harrietstown, as the present Saranac Lake vil-

46 The Story of Saranac

lage was then called, had a good reputation as a
stopping place. Martin's was advertised as a point
of departure for stages "dailj^ and tri-weekly for
ApoUos (Pol) Smith's, Hough's, North Elba,
Keene, etc.," and, for the benefit of lady guests
presumably, it was added, "a fine croquet ground
is connected with the premises."

I must acknowledge my indebtedness for many
of my facts, in connection with the settlement of
Harrietstown and its development into the flourish-
ing town of Saranac Lake, to a short historical
sketch, written by John Harding, the genial and
enterprising former president of the town and now
president of its board of trade, in the Northern New
Yorker, one of the local papers; and to Dr. E. R.
Baldwin, for many years Dr. Trudeau's leading
assistant. The whole world owes to Dr. Trudeau
a debt of gratitude which it never can repay ; of his
labors and skill the sanatorium is a lasting monu-
ment, and the flourishing settlement under the pro-
tecting heights of Pisgah and Baker, his debtor, for
its marvellous growth and substantial prosperity.

In 1819, the first permanent settler built his
home in the eastern end of what is now known as
"Saranac Lake." His name was Jacob Moody, a
name, through his descendants, well known through-
out the North Woods, and here in the year of his
coming, was born his son Cortez, to whom belongs

View of Saranac

in 1907

The Story of Saranac 51

the distinction of being the first white child that
came into the world in this wilderness. Moody's
occupation was hunting, fishing and guiding, with a
little farming thrown in as a diversion, but as Hard-
ing says, "Adirondack farming, then as now, yield-
ed more mortgages and rocks than hay, grain or
potatoes." Four or five years later came Captain
Pliny Miller from Albany, a soldier in the war of
1812, who bought three hundred acres of land upon
which the principal part of the village is built. He
erected the dam and sawmill on the Saranac River,
and opposite the latter, where now stands the River-
side Inn, was his residence. The place soon be-
came the centre of vast lumbering interests, the
headquarters for the lumbermen of that district,
and the starting point of the spring drive of logs
down the stream to Plattsburg.

Miller's grandson opened the first store, which,
we are told, was a great convenience to the settlers,
as they had been obliged to send to Bloomingdale
and Ausable for all their provisions and even for
their clothing, of which the rigorous Adirondack
winters required an abundant supply. The little
place at this time consisted of the sawmill. Miller's
store, which contained the postoffice. Blood's Ho-
tel and the Berkeley — two small structures — and a
dozen or so huts or rude frame houses belonging
to the lumbermen and to the guides.

52

The Story of Saranac

In 1849, W. F. Martin leased the home of Cap-
tain Miller and converted it into a hotel, for the
better accommodation of the sportsmen. Two
years later, despite the protests of his fellow towns-
men, who regarded him as visionary and reckless,

Main Street and Riverside Inn in 1892

he erected, at the foot of the beautiful lake, a mile
or more outside the village, a two-stoiy frame build-
ing which was the nucleus of the famous "Mar-
tin's," the headquarters not only for hunters, fish-
ermen and campers but for the scientists and others
who were attracted to the lake region by its wild
grandeur and wondei-ful rock formations.

The Story of Saranac 53

V- C. Bartlett and Colonel Milote Baker were
the next settlers of note, who established themselves
here in 1851, Bartlett leasing Miller's old home
in the village, vacated by Martin. lie started a
stage line direct to Keeseville, then the only en-

Martin's Old Hotel

trance to that part of the wilderness, by a long,
rough road of sixty miles. Here he lived for three
years, and, in 1855, penetrating into the wilder and
less known portion of the woods, settled on what
was then called "Bartlett's Carry," between Round
Lake and Upper Saranac, and in his somewhat
primitive quarters, catered principally to the wants

54

The Story of Saranac

of the nomadic sportsman. What was once "Bart-
lett's," and is still called by that name, by the older
guides and visitors, is now owned by the Saranac
club.

Milote Baker built the house still . standing on

The Baker Cottage, once the home of Stevenson

the river's bank, on the outskirts of the village, at
Baker's Bridge, where, several years later (1888),
lived Robert Louis Stevenson, "railing against the
climate," says Hamilton Mabie, "and nursing a
big wood fire with much picturesque and miniatory
language."

The attractions of the Adirondacks as a resort

The Story of Saranac 55

for the pleasure seeker and the tourist were inter-
estingly portrayed by the Rev. Dr. Murray. He
first came into the mountains in 1867, and said of
Martin's that it was, "the best point for starting
into the woods, and my usual point. Here is found
some of the sublimest scenery in the world and the
Saranac guides are surpassed by none." Many of
the latter, doubtless, would eniunerate their quali-
fications as did one, of whom was asked the ques-
tion: "Are you a capable guide?" "Sure," was the
prompt response, "I'll do the shooting, bring home
the game and let you say you did — and lick any-
body that says you didn't do it."

In 1874, Dr. E. L. Trudeau came to Saranac
Lake a victim of tuberculosis, and supposedly
under a death sentence. He made the little hamlet
famous as a health resort, which is the key to its
present prosperity. "With a courage as intrepid
as Ney's," said Hamilton Mabie, in The Outlook,
of April 28, 1906, "he has accomplished a work
which puts him in the front rank of scientists in his
field, and has rendered a sei-vice to his generation
which places him among the foremost public men
of America."

Thirty years ago Saranac Lake was still a primi-
tive settlement, giving no signs of that rapid de-
velopment which has marked its history during the
past fifteen years.

56

The Story of Saranac

In 1877, William Shakespeare, Esq., a lawyer of
Philadelphia, was led to visit the place and in a
book called "Exiles in the Adirondacks," pubhshed
by him for private circulation only, gives his im-
pressions of Saranac Lake as he saw it. His de-

Saranac Lake and River in 1907

scription is picturesque and probably accurate as
to the conditions at that time, so I may be pardoned
for quoting it here.

"The miserable hamlet of Saranac Lake — its
present name twice changed from that of Baker's
and Harrietstown — consists of about fifty or sixty
log and frame houses, and has a population of

The Story of Saranac 57

three or four hundred. It is in a deep basin, with
hills on every side, and on the main branch of the
Saranac River. It is nearly forty miles from the ter-
minus of the branch railroad from Plattsburg to
Ausable and is reached by a daily stage. It is also a
telegraph station. ... It has two country stores
with the usual heterogeneous assortment of coarse
dry-goods, boots and shoes, groceries, hardware
and quack medicines. An old rickety sawmill sup-
plies the place and neighborhood with building ma-
terials and a steam mill occasionally makes shingles
and clapboards. There is a small grist-mill, and one
shoemaker, but no tailor. The barber of the place
is a peripatetic on crutches, going from house to
house, or room to room, on call, in the discharge of
his tonsorial duties, and doing the main headwork
of the community. To the everlasting honor of
Saranac Lake it must be said that it has ho law-
yers or newspaper editors. . . . One good doctor of
medicine Saranac Lake perforce has during the
winter, the intrepid and heroic Trudeau, who for
some years has here sought to regain his shattered
health and has not sought it in vain, despite the
wretched, lonely environments. . . . Saranac Lake
has one flourishing tavern, whose landlord, it is
needless to say, is the richest man in the place, and
who, publican and sinner that he is, gave us the
choice of a half acre lot on which to erect our

58

The Story of Saranac

church (Episcopal). A traditional blacksmith
shop and two large boarding houses complete the
list of our attractions." I will add to this account
by saying, what Mr. Shakespeare forgot to men-
tion, that the first school house was opened in 1838,

Main Street, Saranac Lake in 1895

and this was supplemented in 1843 by another,
when there were twelve pupils in one, and nineteen
in the other.

Now note the changes from Mr. Shakespeare's
picture within the last twenty-seven years.

In 1880, he fixed the population at "three to four
hundred." In a decade it reached 768. In 1892,

The Story of Saranac 59

when the village was incorporated, the number was
1,161; in 1900, 2,594; in 1906, 4,000, and in 1908,
the total exceeds 6,000, of whom perhaps one-sixth
are invalids, seeking the shelter and comforts of the
town for the winter months after being scattered
throughout the region in summer^

In 1888, the Chateaugay railroad, the first rail-
way into the Adirondacks, and built by the Chat-
eaugay Iron Ore Company, extended its narrow
gauge to Saranac Lake. A few years later the
New York Central put in a spur from its Montreal
line at Lake Clear. Then the Delaware and Hud-
son railroad purchased the Chateaugay, made it
standard gauge, and the two roads united in the
building of a large, handsome and convenient sta-
tion.

The incorporated village occupied an area a mile
square. Dr. Trudeau was its first president. The
amount allowed to the village authorities for nec-
essary expenses, the first year, was $500; in 1907,
$22,000 was collected in taxes. The real and per-
sonal estate in 1892 was valued at $136,000; in 1906,
at $1,542,350.

In 1893, the board of sewer and water commis-
sioners put in a complete sewerage system at a cost
of $75,000. Three and a half miles of iron pipe, re^
quiring an expenditure of $150,000, was laid to
bring water to the village from McKenzie Lake,

60

The Story of Saranac

"fed by springs, in whose watershed there is not a
human habitation, surrounded by State forest land
and protected by the stringent rules of the State
board of health, prohibiting boating on or bathing
in its waters, or any camping on its shores."

The Berkeley, Main Street and Broadway

An appropriation of $75,000 was made last year,
(1908), for re-paving and re-surfacing the streets.
The work was begun in September, and it is in-
tended to have good roads throughout the town — ■
an example that might be profitably followed by
many places much larger in size, wealthier in re-
sources, and scores of years its senior in age.

The Story of Saranac

61

An extensive electric light plant has taken the
location on the river formerly occupied by the old
pioneer sawmill. There are two thriving banks
and a trust company is talked of. Two newspapers
give the news of the place and of the other settle-

The Bank in Saranac Lake

ments in the woods; several lawyers would compel
Mr. Shakespeare to withdraw his expressions of
gratitude for their non-existence; the talent and
excellent taste of many architects living here has
been recognized by the wealthy owners of "camps,"
cottages and more pretentious buildings not only in
this immediate region, but even in distant places.

62

The Story of Saranac

Your mail is delivered at your door, and you can
talk to your wife or broker, in any part of the
country, over one telephone system, and get an an-
swer over another. Trolley wires may at any time
make the city man feel thoroughly at home, and

Broadway, Saranac Lake

not only will he be electrically transported through
the streets of this "wretched hamlet," but in the
same manner he may be conveyed to the shores of
Lake Champlain — if he sits still long enough and
the plans of the promoters are carried into effect!
The business streets of Saranac Lake are lined
with large, handsome stores, of brick and stone, as

The Story of Saranac

63

abundantly supplied with all required commodities
as are the mercantile establishments in large cities —
and at about the same figures. Scores of attractive
and substantial houses will be found all through
the residence portion of the town, while in the new

A Residence in Highland Park

and beautifully located Highland Park, on the
hillside, off the Bloomingdale road, are fine homes
that would attract attention anywhere.

Five churches furnish food for the souls of men,
and a free public library gives sustenance to the
mind, while the High school takes care of one
thousand pupils, and thus meets the present educa-

64

The Story of Saranac

tional requirements of the towns-people. Twenty
years ago Dr. Trudeau built here the first labora-
tory in the United States for original researches in
tubercidosis.

This little mountain town is one of the healthiest

The Ice Palace in 1906

places in the country, the total mortality, according
to Dr. McClellan, the health ofiicer, being about
11.82 per 1,000. In ten years there had been
twenty cases of diphtheria, three of small pox and
occasional ones of scarlet fever and measles, and
not a death from any of these diseases. It is of
course understood that these statistics do not apply

The Story of Saranac 65

to those who are brought to Saranac Lake already
ill, dr to sanatorium patients.

It is not my purpose to write of the wonderfully
successful cottage sanatorium, the first of its kind
in this country, founded in 1885, by Dr. Trudeau,
on the side of Mt. Pisgah "with Whiteface and
Marcy and their kindred peaks against the horizon
and the river flowing through the heart of the land-
scape." Its wonderful work is well known through-
out the land. "Stony Wold" on Lake Kushaqua,
for working girls and children; St. Gabriel's, near
Paul Smith's, and the State Sanatorium at Ray
Brook, are more recent institutions, on the same
general plan as to treatment and for the same pur-
pose, while the attractive reception hospital in Sara-
nac Lake is an adjunct to or complement of the
Adirondack sanatorium.

It is in the winter months, when "it is all a fairy-
land of supreme enchantment" that Saranac Lake
is seen in gayest mood. Beginning in 1898, the Pon-
tiac club has given an ice carnival every other year,
which has attracted visitors from different parts
of the United States and from Canada. In no
other place in North America, so far as I know,
since Montreal has given it up, is there built an
elaborate ice palace, whose walls are sometimes
found still standing as late as the month of May.
The most expert skaters in the country come here

66 The Story of Saranac

to match their skill and to take part in the ice races ;
hockey games are open to all comers and fleet horses
are daily seen on the race course laid out upon the
frozen waters of the lake. There are parades with
numerous descriptive floats, extended electric illu-
minations and elaborate fireworks; the days are
filled with social entertainments, and innumerable
sleighs with their heavily fur clad occupants glide
swiftly in all directions, "on fun and pleasure bent."
And all this life and animation in the town in the
heart of the wilderness which but a few years ago
consisted of "half a dozen houses and a small hotel."

So, with all its varied attractions — its gaiety
and life in the cold months and the beauty of its
surroundings in summer; the enterprise and ac-
tivity of its citizens and its steady growth and de-
velopment, together with the peculiar charm of its
winter social life — ^it is no wonder that the poet,
Thomas Bailey Aldrich, who lived here for three
years, in a letter to James Russell Lowell, should
have said of Saranac Lake: "When all is said there
is a charm in the place. There is something in the
air to heal the heart of sorrow."

The greatest natural attraction of the place and
the magnet that draws to it a multitude of pleasure
seekers in the summer months, is the beautiful lake,
studded with half a hundred romantic islands of
all shapes and sizes, from Eagle Island to Little

The Story of Saranac 67

Gull Rock ; its rugged shores indented by numerous
bays and distinguished by countless promontories;
"whose waters quaflf the light of heaven," while the
in-flowing and out -going river invites the oarsman
and canoeist to paddle 'neath the shade of its forest

Fish Creek

archways. "Fish Creek" winds its tortuous course
through the sombre woods, "in which the fantastic
forms of withered limbs that have been blasted and
riven by lightning, contrast strangely with the ver-
dant freshness of the younger growth of branches."
Few tragedies are hidden in the depth of these
waters — so placid and so beautiful in sunshine, so

The Smith Camp

The Living Room of The Smith Camp

The Story of Saranac 69

rough and terrible in tempest. To see a storm
coming up over the lake, the angry clouds reflected
in the darkened mirror below, flecked with white-
caps by the driving wind and the glare of the light-
ning flash, followed by the thunder's roll, echoed
through the suiTOunding mountains, is a sight of
appalling grandeur never to be forgotten and
equalled only by the unrivalled cloud paintings of
a succeeding sunset. I have often witnessed a sud-
den wind storm bow low the mighty forest trees
as though they were so many feathers, rushing over
the water, its course marked by the foam of angry
waves, with a roaring accompaniment like a con-
tinuous discharge of heavy artillery, yet leaving
behind, as it passed away, a wood and water scene
of unsurpassing beauty, colored with the richest
tints of an undimmed sun.

Around the lower end of this sylvan lake are
many beautiful "camps" as they are called in the
language of the woods — a term which gives no idea
of their durability of construction, picturesque ap-
pearance and luxurious outfittings. Among the
most elaborate, as well as the most recent of these
"camps," are those belonging to Mr. Smith and to
Mr. Floyd Jones. The latter particularly is a
model of artistic beauty in perfect harmony with
its forest surroundings. The late Senator Mark
Hanna's attractive bungalow and pretty boat

The Floyd Jones Camp

Interior of the Floyd Jones Camp

The Story of Saranac 71

house was for some time his son's simimer home,
and near by is the "camp" where Mark Twain
spent two seasons. The Limburger Camp is built
of stone and, with its beautiful grounds, seems
somewhat of an anomaly in the Adirondacks. Fur-
ther up the lake, on the western shore, "KnoUwood"
with its six picturesque Swiss chalets and central
casino and boathouse combined, planted right in
the midst of and almost hidden by the dense forest,
is tasteful and original both in its design and in its
execution. All the "camps," and the two summer
hotels, are located at the lower end of the lake, while
the upper end is as wild and practically untouched
by the hand of man as in the days when the Indian
skimmed its waters in his bark canoe.

But a short distance away, at the foot of rocky
Ampersand, lies Ampersand Pond — "most lovely
in its isolation, most bewitching in its loveliness."
Here, where in olden time the magicians of the Sar-
anac Indians are said to have held their mystic rites
for raising the spirits of the dead, was built bj^
Martin what was known as the "Philosophers'
Camp" where Emerson, Lowell, Judge Hoar, Dr.
Howe, Stillman, Binney and Agassiz, sought that
rest and peace and re-invigoration found in close
association with the works of nature.

In The Century for August, 1893, W. J. Still-
man gives a most interesting history of this brainy

72 The Story of Saranac

camping party and its daily life in the woods — a
story told at length by Emerson in his poem, "The
Adirondacks," which Stillman calls "the most Ho-
meric and Hellenic of all nature poems ever writ-
ten." Their first camp, in 1858, was at FoUanshee
Pond, a small lake of the Raquette Chain, and was
called by Lowell "Camp Maple." Of their journey
to this place, Emerson says:

"Next morn we swept with oars the Saranac
With skies of benediction, to Round Lake,
Where all the sacred mountains drew around us

Pleased with these grand companions, we glide on,
Instead of flowers, crowned with a wreath of hills.
We made our distance wider, boat from boat,
As each would hear the oracle alone.
By the bright moon the gay flotilla slid
Through files of flags that gleamed like bayonets,

On through the Upper Saranac, and up
Pere Raquette stream, to a small tortuous pass
Winding through grassy shallows in and out.
Two creeping miles of rushes, pads and sponge
To Follansbee water and the Lake of Loons."

Here the summer was passed with so much real
pleasure and happiness that:

"We planned
That we should build, hard by, a spacious lodge,;
And how we should come hither, with our sons
Hereafter."

The Story of Saranac 73

Mr. Stillman has certainly drawn a most attrac-
tive picture of these great brainy men enjojdng
their vacation, like school boys, in their Adiron-
dack camp. At first the philosophic Emerson, al-
though he had brought a rifle, could not be persuad-
ed to join in the hunting, but, after Lowell had
killed his deer, Emerson caught the fever and tried
night-hunting. When the guide had brought him
within easy rifle shot however, he could not decide
to shoot, and his companion had to secure the cove-
ted vension. Emerson could not understand why
he did not seem to be able to see the quarry and
said: "I must kill a deer before we go, even if
the guide has to hold him by the tail." He never
realized the gratification of his desires. In the
mornings Agassiz and Wyman, aided by Howe and
Holmes :

"Dissected the slain deer, weighed the trout's brain,
Captured the lizard, salamander, shrew,
Crab, mice, snail, minnow and moth."

Lowell, Judge Hoar, Stillman and sometimes
Emerson, hunted and fished:

"All day we swept the Lake, searched every cove

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.

74 The Story of Saranac

At the close of this first summer a permanent
camp and meeting place was selected at Ampersand
Pond, which became known throughout the region
as "Philosophers' Camp," and this was continued
until the outbreak of the Civil war.

Referring to the "Philosophers' Camp," or "Ad-
irondack Club," as he calls it, Dr. Henry Van Dyke
says: "In 1878, when I spent three, weeks at Am-
persand, the cabin was in ruins, and surrounded
by an almost impenetrable growth of bushes. The
only "philosophers" to be seen were a family of
what the guides; quaintly call "quill pigs." [Shades
of Emerson, Agassiz, Lowell, Hoar and the other
worthies who hallowed this spot, pardon the genial
Doctor for this descent from the sublime.] The
roof had fallen to the ground; raspberry bushes
thrust themselves through the yawning crevices be-
tween the logs ; and in front of the sunken door-sill
lay a rusty, broken iron stove, like a dismantled
altar on which the fire had gone out forever."

Of the rugged mountain which dominates this
pond. Dr. Van Dyke says, in his chapter on "Am-
persand" in "Little Rivers": "It has been my good
luck to climb many of the peaks of the Adirondacks
— Dix, The Dial, Hurricane, The Giant of the Val-
ley, Marcy, and Whiteface — but I do not think the
outlook from any of them is so wonderful and lovely
as that from little Ampersand." Dr. W. W. Ely,

The Story of Saranac

75

of Rochester, a sportsman and lover of the Adiron-
dacks, was the first to blaze a trail up Ampersand
Mountain.

The glory of the forest is at its height as the

Along the Saranac River in Summer

summer passes away. Then comes what Whittier
•calls :

"Nature's holocaust
Burned gold and crimson over all the hills,
The sacramental mystery of the woods."

No country can compare with ours in richness of
its autumn scenery. The mountains of the eastern
Tvorld are not so thickly wooded and cannot there-

76 The Story of Saranac

foi'e exhibit such a mass of foUage. Stand on a
hill above "Salaranac," overlooking the vast wilder-
ness, at this season, and marvel at the striking
beauty of the scene before you. The maples, a
mass of red, blaze like fire among the evergreens,
while the j^ellow of the beeches, the purple of the
black ash and cherry are interspersed throughout
by the magic touch of Him, revealed in Nature and
by Nature, as the Great Artist whom man. His
own creation, can only imitate; never rival.

So ends my story of the region I love so well ;
where for nearly a score of years I have found new
life and renewed my health and strength. And to
my readers, as my endorsement, I quote the words
of the poet Longfellow:

"If thou art worn and hard beset
With sorrows, that thou wouldst forget;
If thou wouldst read a lesson that will keep
Thy heart from fainting and thy soul from sleep,
Go to the woods and hills ! No tears
Dim the sweet look that Nature wears."

NOTE.

Moose in the Adieondacks

I have heard many times considerable discussion as
to the game of the North Woods, and as to the existence
or non-existence, now or at any time, of any numlier of
moose. I find in The Century for January 1894! an inter-
esting article, by Madison Grant, on "The Vanishing
Moose and its Extermination in the Adirondacks." As
bearing on this matter I will quote a few passages from it.
Mr. Grant says : — "So complete has been the disappear-
ance of moose that one actually hears people question the
fact that they ever lived in the Adirondacks, where forty
years ago they were well-known. . . . Twenty years ago
(1874!) the wolves all vanished from the North Woods
in one season, without any known cause, and the similar
disappearance of moose from the same region is the
strangest incident in the natural history of New York.
Before the advent of the white hunter, the moose are
believed to have exceeded in number the deer in that beau-
tiful country. . . . There are • still many Moose rivers,
creeks, lakes, and ponds. . . . The country south of Mud
Lake was their headquarters long after they had vanished
from the surrounding region. . . . The Adirondacks were
the hunting grounds of the Six Nations and of the Cana-
dian Indians for their winter supply of moose-meat and
the bones of many a dusky warrior, slain in the savage

78 The Story of Saranac

combats between the rival tribes, lie under the pines and
spruces by the lakes he loved so well. . . . The year 1861
appears to have been that of the final disappearance of
the moose, although Verplanck Colvin asserts that 1863
is more correct. In the autumn of 1861 a cow moose
was killed on the east inlet of Raquette Lake (by a guide
named Palmer) 'the last known native of his race in New
York State.' The father of Reuben Reynolds, a Saranac
guide, told of killing a bull moose which was mired in Fish
Creek on Lower Saranac. In October, 1866, a young bull
was shot on Long Lake, but he was undoubtedly one of
several turned loose by a Game Club near Lake Placid.
. . . There is no doubt but that the moose could be re-
stored to its former haunts in the Adirondacks with very
little intelligent outlay."