The Wilders' Big Adventure
Elmer Wilder built “Camp Happy” sometime between 1895 and 1905. The camp was located on the north west end of Salmon Lake a short distance off the Red Horse Trail. The main cabin was a typical story and a half structure. The cabin’s porch was designed to accommodate an existing tree that extended through the porch roof. A smaller guest cabin sat nearby. Both buildings had tarpaper sides and hand-split shingle roofs. Judging from photos, the camp probably had a telephone connection to the outside world. Room and board cost $1.50 per day or $8.00 per week. Elmer charged an additional $1.50 per day for his guiding services. Elmer was a first cousin to Jimmy Wilder, the steward of the Rap-Shaw Club on nearby Witchhopple Lake [see my post of May 9, 2021].
Robert M. “Bob” Gillespie of Syracuse was a frequent visitor at Camp Happy. Gillespie worked as a manager for the New York Telephone Company. He and his wife, Ella Mae Stull, had two daughters who were about the same ages as the Wilder children. Over the years the Gillespies got to know the Wilder family fairly well. Wanting to return the kindness and hospitality shown to them, the Gillespies invited the Wilders to come visit them in Syracuse during the off season.
Elmer and Alice Wilder had never ventured farther out into the wide world than the small city of Lowville, ten miles from their farm. The idea of taking a trip to Syracuse was both daunting and alluring. After much discussion and a year of planning they took the plunge. During the last week of February 1915, the whole family set off on the most exciting trip of their lives. They boarded a southbound train in Lowville, switched trains in Utica and before long stepped down in the heart of the big city. I imagine Bob and Ella Mae Gillespie met them at the station.
The noise and bustle of the city fascinated the Wilder children. They marveled at the street cars, the electric lights, the paved streets and the roar of traffic. When a news reporter asked them what they liked the most they replied, “There is so much of everything, and we have seen so much that we can’t tell you what we like best, but it will be pretty nice to get back home away from the noise."
The Gillespie family relished playing the role of city guide to the Wilders. The next morning, while the Wilder girls stayed home with the Gillespie girls, Elmer Wilder and Bob Gillespie toured the Franklin Automobile works. Alice Wilder and Ella Mae Gillespie spent the morning making the rounds of the department stores. At the time downtown Syracuse had quite a number of impressive stores including Dey Brothers, Witherell’s, Chappell’s, and E. W. Edwards & Sons. At the Edwards store Alice Wilder rode an early escalator and noted, “it’s much nicer than an elevator because it doesn’t go so fast and doesn’t give you that queer feeling.”
In the afternoon the whole family went to their first ever moving picture show. The darkness at first overawed the little Wilders, and even had its effect on Elmer, who jokingly hesitated about “going into a cavern.” Later in the afternoon the Wilders were taken through the Post-Standard building to see the whole process of getting out a daily newspaper.
Mr. Wilder’s friends were determined that he should see a burlesque show before he went back home. Mrs. Wilder’s friends were equally determined that she should see a vaudeville performance. Accordingly, after their supper the couple separated for a few hours. While Mr. Wilder was at the Bastable, Mrs. Wilder was enjoying the bill at the Temple Theater.
Elmer must have known that the Syracuse sportsmen he had guided over the years were financially well-off, but the next day he finally had an opportunity to witness first-hand how important and powerful they were as they showed him through their workplaces. During the morning E. L. French, of the Crucible Steel Company, took Elmer on a tour of the plant in Solvay. Then Charles L. Stone and Douglas E. Pettit showed Elmer and Alice through the grand Onondaga County Savings Bank. Elmer was highly impressed by the sight of $35,000 in real cash. He stopped to figure how long it would take him to earn that amount, and “allowed he’d have to pack every day for thirty years at three dollars a day to earn that much.”
In the afternoon at the invitation of P. A. Atwood, Elmer was taken through the Alexander Grant’s Sons department store, to inspect the sporting materials and to pass upon their quality as an expert critic. Later in the day the Wilders toured both the County Courthouse and the Syracuse Public Library.
Laconic, modest and accepting of the new world he was exploring, Elmer had but one word for everything - “Fine!”
Three days in the city was enough to give them enough to talk about for years to come. On the train ride back to Lowville they all agreed that their home in the Adirondacks was so much better in the end, because it is home and because it is away from the hurry and noise and trouble and dirt. In fact, Elmer Wilder was later known to remark that he knows now why city men like to get up in the hills and woods once in a while, something he never understood before.
Sources: Roy E. Reehil and William J. O’Hern, Adirondack Adventures: Bob Gillespie and Harvey Dunham on French Louie’s Trail, Forager Press, 2012
“Saw Sights of City for First Time: Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Wilder and daughters in Syracuse,” Lowville Journal and Republican, March 4, 1915
“Innocents Abroad,” Black River Democrat, March 11, 1915
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