Clearing squatters from the Forest Preserve

The era of the Beaver River guides’ camps came to an abrupt end in 1916. As I mentioned in earlier posts, during the first decade of the twentieth century almost all of the guides’ camps were built illegally on state Forest Preserve land. This had two distinct advantages: the guide did not have to bear the expense of purchasing land and the camps could be deep in the forest close to good fishing, hunting, hiking and boating. 

The one big disadvantage was that occupation of state-owned land in the Adirondacks was unconstitutional. All the state land in the Adirondacks and Catskills became part of the Forest Preserve in 1885. A constitutional amendment in 1894 made clear that the Forest Preserve was to be kept “forever wild.” There was no real question that erecting structures of any kind on Forest Preserve land violated this provision.

 

Beginning as early as 1902 the state publicly and repeatedly announced that it intended to evict all the camps occupying state land anywhere in the Adirondacks. Notices to this effect appeared in the newspapers. The state also posted handbills by the doors of the known camps warning of a pending eviction. 

 

Years passed. The state’s trespassing signs became little more than a conversation piece. Camp owners posed for postcards with the signs conspicuously in the background. No one expected the state to ever do anything to threaten the occupancy of the popular camps. As a result, the number of camps gradually increased. Some were modest tent platforms. Some were elaborate summer homes. Many were guides’ camps that provided accommodation for seasonal outdoor recreation. By 1915 the State Conservation Commission estimated there were 780 illegal structures on Adirondack Forest Preserve land.

 

Finally, in the fall of 1915, the Conservation Commission finally decided to crack down on all the squatters throughout the Adirondacks. According to the Lowville Journal and Republican, Nov. 18, 1915, all known illegal camp owners were served with formal notices that they must immediately remove their possessions or face having them destroyed. The notices made it clear that the Commission would give the occupants ample time to remove their buildings and possessions, but that the camps were not to be used in the meantime. The illegal occupants were urged to sign voluntary consent agreements rather than face formal trespass litigation.

 

As Conservation Commission employees made contact with camp owners throughout 1915 and 1916 to negotiate for removal, they discovered an additional 131 new cases of illegal occupancy for a grand total of 911 illegal camps slated for removal. According to the 1916 Annual Report of the Conservation Commission, almost all of the squatters agreed to voluntarily dismantle and remove their camps. A few refused at first because of boundary disputes or other legal technicalities. Forty-two owners of tent platform camps deeded their platforms to the State and applied for leases. At the time the 1916 Conservation Commission Annual Report went to press only a few camps had not yet been removed because they needed to wait for winter so they could be moved across the ice and frozen ground. 

 

At the beginning of the removal process there were at least eight guides’ camps on state land scattered around the lakes of the Red Horse Chain in addition to the larger Rap-Shaw Club camp at Witchhopple Lake. Apparently, all of the guides voluntarily agreed to dismantle or abandon their buildings and remove their possessions. The Lowville Journal and Republican, Oct. 5, 1916, reported that Elmer Wilder had removed the equipage from Camp Happy including most of the furniture before the state officials came to the area to burn any camps still standing. The Rap-Shaw Club negotiated a lease of private property at Beaver Dam Pond and relocated its camp off state land over the winter of 1916 - 1917 [see my post of May 16, 2021].

 

None of the guides’ camps were spared. The Beaver River Camps (the former Elliott Camp) and the other camps at the Sand Spring were demolished. The Thompson family dismantled their Loon Lake Lodge and used the salvage to build a two-story cabin on a lot near the Beaver River train station [see my post of June 2, 2021]. Monroe “Pop” Bullock disassembled his small hotel at Grassy Point then reconstructed it near the station adding a store and post office [see my future post about Pop Bullock].

 

The Conservation Commission claimed that there had been practically no destruction of camps by employees of the Commission. Their official position was that nearly all the squatters were cooperative and removed their buildings and possessions themselves. This may have been true in many cases, but it’s also true that Forest Rangers and other employees of the Commission systematically checked on the progress of removal and eventually burned down any structures left behind. We know that in August 1919 when Bob Gillespie and Harvey Dunham camped at Salmon Lake all the camp buildings were gone, although some docks were still intact. They combed the ruins and were able to salvage some furniture, a stove and even some potatoes and onions [Reehil and O’Hern, Adirondack Adventures, pp. 74 – 75].

 

As a direct result of clearing the camps off state land, a small village started to take shape on the private land of the Beaver River Block near the railroad. By the end of 1917 there were four sportsmen’s hotels operating only a short walk from the station. The people who worked at the hotels or for the railroad built themselves modest houses. A few seasonal visitors bought lots and built camps. According to the U.S. Census of 1920 Beaver River Station had thirty full-time residents. Fourteen more lived in a nearby lumber camp. It had been nearly twenty-five years since the railroad arrived. One hundred years have passed since. Some elements of that early village are still in evidence, if you know where to look.