Annals of the Beaver River

Prior to the opening of the railroad in late 1892, it took a minimum of three days of hard travel to reach the upper Beaver River from Lowville, the nearest town with a transportation connection to the rest of the state. Once passenger trains started running, the trip could comfortably be accomplished in just hours from Utica where there were railroad connections to the rest of the nation. Dr. William Seward Webb, the man who financed the railroad, began to acquire the necessary right-of-way in early 1891. In the Beaver River area, he purchased about 350,000 acres lying between the St. Lawrence County line and the Fulton Chain of Lakes, including most of the land surrounding the upper reaches of the Beaver River.   Dr. Webb only required a small sliver of this property for the railroad. In the short term, he intended to harvest the marketable timber from most of this property. He also planned to set aside 40,000 acres around Smith’s and Albany Lakes to create Nehasane Park, his pri...

This post is a tribute to sisters-in-law Susan Elizabeth Benedict and Amanda Benedict. Susan Elizabeth visited the central Adirondacks with her husband Farrand during the 1840s up until 1855. Amanda visited every summer between 1852 and 1876 in company with her husband, Joel Benedict, Farrand’s younger brother.   Susan Elizabeth Ogden Benedict   In 1849 on a camping trip to Long Lake, Joel T. Headley, author of an early book about Adirondack camping,  The Adirondack; or Life in the Woods  (1849), happened to encounter his cousin, Prof. Farrand Benedict [1803 – 1880] and his wife, Susan Elizabeth Ogden [1810 – 1871] on their way to Raquette Lake. They were camping with two other couples. They had three tents: one for men, one for guides and one for women, all with beds of hemlock boughs covered by buffalo robes. Headley remarked that these women were quite enjoying themselves and were not the least bothered by being caught in a rainstorm out in the middle of the lake....

Anna Constable [1820 – 1906], pioneer of Adirondack family camping, lived at Constable Hall for much of her adult life. The Constable family was quite wealthy. Anna’s grandfather, William Constable, Sr., made his fortune in the shipping business. In 1792 he purchased a large portion of the Adirondacks known as the Macomb Purchase and as a consequence became for a short time the largest landowner in New York State.   In 1807 her father, William Constable Jr., inherited about ten townships of the Macomb purchase that had not yet been sold. He decided that it would be easier to sell these lands if he had a home in the North Country. He had toured the area he now owned in 1806 during which time he visited Shalerville in the southern hills of Lewis County. He never forgot the beauty of the place. After his marriage to Mary Eliza McVicker in 1810, the couple decided to build their country estate and farm, Constable Hall, just outside the village. Shalerville was soon renamed Co...

As more and more sportsmen visited Smith’s Lake during the 1870s, Beaver River guides developed well-appointed camps there consisting of multiple shanties for sleeping, complete with dining shelters and rustic furniture. The camps were situated at various scenic spots along the lakeshore near fresh water springs. They could be used by anyone so long as no damage was done and with the understanding that should the guide who built the camp show up, any other occupants would move elsewhere. For example, when H. Perry Smith and his party stopped at the Syracuse Camp during their visit in 1871, they saw the eight members of the Syracuse party and their guides “sweeping up the outlet” and promptly vacated the camp. By 1878 S. Boyd Edwards, one of the guides who helped build and maintain the Syracuse camp, had erected a two-story log bunkhouse on the west side of the lake near the Syracuse camp. He called it the Smith’s Lake Hotel. This rustic accommodation is mentioned in the 1878 edition of...

As noted in a prior post, the Wardwell family left their homestead at Stillwater in 1876 because of Sarah Wardwell’s illness. Sometime in 1877 Joseph Dunbar purchased the Wardwell place plus 100 adjourning acres. Dunbar demolished or repurposed Wardwell’s cabin and built a two-story frame hotel with finished lumber. The new sportsmen’s hotel was ready to open in 1878. Dunbar’s was the first purpose-built hotel at Stillwater. Published accounts praised its advantages. For example, William Morris, writing in   The Baldwinsville Gazette and Farmers' Journal,   July 14, 1887, noted, “Jolly Joe Dunbar, the proprietor of the hotel there, will receive you in hearty backwoods style. Joe will give you supper, lodging and breakfast of good quality for one dollar and fifty cents each.”     Raymond Hopper in an article titled “Primeval Adirondacks,” published in   Forest and Stream,   June 18, 1891, added, “Dunbar’s, the only house at Stillwater, is well kept and a fav...