Pop Bullock

Monroe H. “Pop” Bullock was born in December 1846 in the village of Worth high on the Tug Hill Plateau in Lewis County, NY. During the Civil War young Monroe ran away to join the Union army, but his father pursued him and brought him back to the family farm. In 1867 Monroe, now 21 years old, married a neighbor, Sarah L. Hitchcock. They had three children, Edwin, Arthur and Berdett, who they called Bert. Arthur died as an infant. By 1875 the family of four was living on Sarah Hitchcock’s family’s farm in Worth.

In addition to work on his father-in-law’s farm, Monroe made some additional cash from the lumbering on the Tug Hill. One day when he was driving a fully loaded lumber wagon across a bridge, the load shifted dumping everything into the river. The horses were killed but a log jammed keeping most of the timber from hitting Monroe, who escaped serious injury. He also worked in a loggers’ hotel in the Worth area during the logging boom. One day a customer slid a loaded gun across a table for Monroe to examine. It accidentally discharged as he reached for it resulting in eight pieces of buckshot lodging in his hand and body.

 Nonetheless, Monroe enjoyed life in the woods. He probably started hunting and guiding along the upper Beaver River around 1880. When market hunting on a very cold Thanksgiving Day 1882, Monroe slipped and fell into the Beaver River at Little Rapids. His matches got wet so he couldn’t build a fire. He knew help was nearby at Smith’s Lake, but his frozen clothing made walking nearly impossible. He sat down to rest propped against a tree and fell asleep. A short time later his gun slid off the tree trunk and fell on him. This woke him up and he managed to struggle on to safety but suffered severe frostbite to his toes, some of which had to be amputated. 

 

Although now unable to walk long distances, the next year he returned to guiding at Smith’s Lake but restricted himself to fishing and hunting from a boat. Bullock continued to work seasonally as a guide at Smith’s Lake for the next ten years. He became so well regarded that in 1893 the Beaver River Club hired him as their first club manager. His son Bert, now 18 years old, worked as a guide for the club. Familiarly known as “Pop” at the ripe old age of 47, Bullock was also appointed the first postmaster of Beaver River. 

 

In 1901 Sarah Bullock died of Bright’s disease. Pop Bullock was apparently not able to manage the Beaver River Club without her help, so he resigned. With the assistance of Bert, he built a small hotel, the Grassy Point Inn, along the bank of the Beaver River where a one-mile road led straight to the train station. He recruited a younger woman from Worth named Delia Weaver to serve as cook and housekeeper. In its early years the Grassy Point Inn was a simple two-story clapboard building.

The Grassy Point Inn quickly became an important way station for many visitors. Business was good thanks to the steady stream of sporting tourists arriving on the train. Bullock offered convenient buckboard transport from the station to his inn. Visitors bound for the camps along the Red Horse Trail would take a boat across the river from Grassy Point. Members and guests of the Beaver River Club at Stillwater caught the club steamer at Grassy Point. Outdoor guides stored their boats and gear at Bullock’s. Pop Bullock prospered. After a few years Pop reconstructed the inn into a more capacious three-story structure. 

Pop, with Delia’s indispensable help, continued to operate the Grassy Point Inn until 1916. Meanwhile, Pop’s son Bert had been successfully running the Norridgewock Hotel near the Beaver River train station [see my post of June 8, 2021]. As early as 1901 the Bullock family was prosperous enough to be able to purchase the Norridgewock Hotel and the entire 384 acres of the Beaver River Block. Things went well until May 8, 1914 when the Norridgewock Hotel caught fire and burned to the ground. Bert, his wife Julia and son Clyde decided they had had enough of backwoods living and moved to Thendara.

 

At age 68, Pop Bullock was so much a confirmed woodsman that he decided to stay in Beaver River. When the state evicted him from Grassy Point in 1916 [see my post of June 5, 2021], Pop Bullock cut his hotel in half, hauled the halves to a lot he owned next to the train tracks, reassembled the hotel and resumed business. Pop and Delia continued to run Bullock’s Hotel, complete with store and post office, until 1923.

At 77 years of age, Pop sold the hotel to George Vincent. He and Delia moved in with Bert’s family in Thendara. Unfortunately, in May 1924 Vincent’s newly acquired hotel burned to the ground. Monroe H. “Pop” Bullock had died February 19, 1924. He is buried in the Worthville Cemetery, Worth, Jefferson County, NY along with his wife Sarah L. Hitchcock (1848 - 1901) and their infant son Arthur (1869 - 1869).

 

An early version of this article appeared in the Adirondack Almanack on February 3, 2018 with the title “Pop Bullock: Notable Beaver River Guide.”