Dave and Mabel Conkey

The old-timers at Beaver River Station remember Dave and Mabel Conkey as something of a legend. They arrived about 1907 to establish a sportsman’s camp on the point that sticks out into the outlet of Big Burnt Lake on the north side of the Beaver River. They ran a camp at that location until they were evicted in 1916 [see my post of 06/05/21], then relocated into the settlement of Beaver River where they continued to host and guide visiting sportsmen into the early 1950s. Later in life, the Conkeys lived at Beaches Bridge just outside Lowville in the winter months, returning to Beaver River with warmer weather. In their fifty or so years at Beaver River they saw the community change from a way-station in the wilderness to the boom town of the 1920s then morph into the private camp community it is today. Few others have ever lived there so long.

David Lysander Conkey was born on Nov. 8, 1870 in Petrie’s Corners, Town of Watson, Lewis Co., NY. His parents were Emma Graves and John Lysander Conkey. His parents both had died by 1886 leaving 16-year-old Dave and his younger brother Carson orphans. In 1896 Dave and Carson moved to Big Moose Lake where they both got jobs as guides and laborers at the Higby Camp. Dave’s future wife Mabel Maud Puffer also worked there. Mabel was born in 1880 making her ten years younger than Dave. They were married on December 1, 1902. They had no children.

By the time Dave and Mabel moved to Beaver River they had already established a good reputation as outdoors guides and hosts. Undoubtedly, they had scouted all through the area for a location for their camp and settled on a spot easily reached from the train station. It had the advantage of being at the south end of the Red Horse Trail that led to prime hunting and fishing grounds on state land. Even though there were a number of competing guide’s camps along the Red Horse Chain, Dave and Mabel drew a steady clientele.

The Conkey Camp on Big Burnt Lake, early

Guiding, however, was a seasonal occupation with fishing in the spring and summer followed by hunting in the fall. Dave, like many guides, took whatever other work he could get in the winter. Most likely he did some trapping, and hired out as a laborer or a logger. Dave was fortunate to be appointed a state fire warden for the upper Beaver River in 1909. This led to his subsequent appointment as a state Forest Ranger in 1913. Although he is widely thought to have been the first forest ranger to serve the Beaver River country, he was actually the second. According to official records, Burt Darrow [see my post of 06/29/21] was appointed to the job in 1912 and held it for one year.

Dave and Mabel at Conkey Camp, Dave in ranger's uniform

Back in Dave’s day the ranger’s job was on an as needed basis. This gave him plenty of time to guide visiting sportsmen. Even after he moved his camp into the settlement of Beaver River Station, he kept a set of open camps far up the Red Horse Trail on Walker Lake outlet. Technically these camps were illegal as they were located on state forest preserve land. Enforcement of the prohibition on trespass, however, was the forest ranger’s job and Dave was the forest ranger. After the state posted a Forest Fire Observer on Stillwater Mountain, it became Dave’s job to supervise the observer. In addition, his duties included the oversight and protection of the state lands from timber theft, violation of fish and game laws, and other public misuses.

Dave remained a forest ranger until his retirement in 1930. He was especially active in the 1920s while the current Stillwater dam was being built. Over 4000 acres of trees needed to be cleared from the land about to be flooded. Lumber contractors moved in with hundreds of men in their crews. As the on-site protector of the forest preserve Dave had the job of overseeing the logging that occurred between 1922 and 1924. It is rumored that in his spare time Dave produced home brew to slake the loggers' thirst. In addition, Mabel kept busy at the Conkey Camp providing lodging and meals for some lumberjacks not housed in the logging camps or the other hotels.

 

Dave and Mabel continued to run their sportsmen’s camp after Dave retired as forest ranger in 1930. Dave built his own dock at Grassy Point and fiercely protected it from anyone bold or foolish enough to tie up there. Dave also staked out the best fishing holes and was known to drive off outsiders when he wanted to use them. In 1948 William Marleau, a local who already knew Dave and Mabel, was appointed the forest ranger for the Beaver River territory. One of Marleau’s first jobs as ranger was to go to the Conkey Camp and tell Dave to stop dumping his garbage on state land and to remove his house boat from the reservoir. Marleau recalled that after he delivered his message Mabel gave him royal hell for upsetting Dave. For his part, Dave refused to comply because at his age (77) he was too old to change; besides he believed the whole idea was just a test by the district ranger to see if Marleau was up to confronting him. With that unpleasantness out of the way, Mabel served tea and cookies.

 

The Conkeys were well-off enough by 1923 that they bought a brand-new Ford Model T station wagon. "Station" in the term station wagon refers to a railroad depot. Early station wagon buyers were often hotels that used the roomy vehicles to shuttle visitors to and from the train. Ford built the chassis and powertrains for its first wagons, but outside builders provided the bodies. Ford didn't offer complete factory-built station wagons until 1929. Dave’s plan was to use the station wagon as a shuttle for visitors and baggage between the railroad station and the docks a mile away on the river at Grassy Point. It was used this way for many years.

 

Before the Model T could be put into that service, Dave had to get it to Beaver River. With the Twitchell Creek bridge gone, Beaver River was only accessible by boat or by railroad. Dave knew that it would be quite costly to use a flat car to bring in the Model T on the railroad. Stanley Thompson, owner of the Norridgewock Hotel, remembered being told that Dave solved the problem by cutting down two big pine trees, removing the limbs and rolling the logs into the water. He then drove the car out onto the logs. He secured the car on top of the logs with rope and floated it across, towing it behind his fishing boat.

 

Believe it or not, the Conkey’s station wagon still exists and still runs. It’s owned by Doug Kelly. When Dave and Mabel decided to leave Beaver River in the early 1950s, they sold the station wagon to Doug Kelly’s father, Woody Kelly, who had a camp at Beaver River. He paid Dave $25 a year for three years to buy the car. In 1956 Fran Crowell borrowed a raft from the Rap-Shaw Club at Stillwater and floated the car out. In July of 2000, after many repairs, Doug drove the Model T from Perry, NY back to Stillwater. On the way Doug displayed it at the Lewis County Fair in Lowville. While at the Fair, Doug spoke with Lewis County Judge George R. Davis who recognized the car and who once long ago had employed Dave Conkey to serve legal papers.  

Doug Kelly with the Conkey station wagon at Stillwater Landing

From the mid-1950s when they left Beaver River until they died, the Conkeys lived in their house in the settlement of Beaches Bridge along the Black River just outside Lowville. Dave Conkey died in 1961. Mabel died in 1963.

 

Sources: William R. Marleau, Big Moose Station: A Story From 1893 to 1983 (1986)

Obituary of David L. Conkey, Lowville Journal and Republican, June 6, 1961

Facebook post by Doug Kelly on May 15, 2018

Real photo postcards of the Conkey Camp courtesy of Frank Carey