Guides' Camps along the Red Horse Trail

 

J. Wilder's open camp at Crooked Lake 1896

The Iroquois established the Red Horse Trail centuries ago for use in their travels between their southern territories and the St. Lawrence River valley. It is one of the oldest footpaths in the Adirondacks. The southern part of this trail still exists. It begins on the north side of the Beaver River, now the Stillwater Reservoir. It follows the Red Horse Creek, connecting Big Burnt Lake, Trout Pond, Salmon Lake, Witchhopple Lake, Clear Lake and Crooked Lake. It formerly continued on northeast to the High Falls of the Oswagachie River, but this segment was buried by the big blowdown of 1995 and has not been reopened. I posted an article on this blog back on 03/01/21 giving the basic history of the trail. https://beaverriverhistory.blogspot.com/2021/03/the-red-horse-trail.html 

Detail from H. Beach postcard map, about 1910

 

In the early 1870s sporting tourists and their guides began to use the old trail. The first published account of the Red Horse Trail appeared in Edwin Wallace’s 1872 edition of his Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks. By that time local guides were already familiar with the main trail as well as a number of side trails. The Red Horse Creek and especially the cold, clear natural glacial lakes were teeming with native trout. A number of beaver meadows provided good habitat for white tail deer. Wallace does not mention the existence of any guide’s camps along the trail, but there is evidence that guides sometimes built temporary open camps at Salmon Lake as early as 1874.

 

When the Adirondack railroad started to deliver passengers to Beaver River Station in late 1892, all the property surrounding the Red Horse Trail was owned by Dr. William Seward Webb, the man who financed the railroad. Webb had a great camp and game preserve at Lake Lila that he named Nehasane. He posted his land against trespass and took other measures designed to keep the public out [see my post of 10/29/21]. Webb’s land was also patrolled by his game protectors to discourage public usage.

 

That situation changed in 1895 when Dr. Webb began to negotiate with the state to sell much of his land between the Beaver River and the St. Lawrence County line. During the summer of 1895 the Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission convened a special judicial hearing to decide the value of the 75,000 acres of land Dr. Webb proposed to sell to the state. Testimony lasted a week. 

 

Witnesses at that hearing testified that there was only one building or shanty anywhere along the Red Horse Trail at the time. That camp was owned by NY Assemblyman Lansing Hotaling. It had recently been built at Salmon Lake by Charlie H. Smith, a well-known local guide. Here’s a picture of Charlie Smith and his cabin with an unidentified fire warden.

 

Witnesses at the same hearing also noted the only other structure on the north side of the Beaver River on Dr. Webb’s land was Chris Wagner’s cabin on Big Burnt Lake. It’s unclear when he built his log cabin. Wagner had been guiding outdoor tourists for fishing and hunting since shortly after the train started running in late 1892. Since Wagner was popular with sporting tourists, some of whom were wealthy and influential, Webb’s game protectors left him alone. Here he is standing near his cabin in 1902.

Following the hearing the commissioners made a trip to the Beaver River as guests of Dr. Webb and hammered out the details of a purchase. The state legislature accepted the commissioner’s recommendation to pay Webb $600,000 and allocated the money. The sale was finalized in early 1896. The Webb purchase included a considerable number of special conditions.

 

As was relevant to the Red Horse Trail, the purchase agreement required Webb to bear the expense of clearing and extending the existing Red Horse Trail. Webb fulfilled this requirement early in 1896 by sending in his game protectors under the supervision of his Nehasane Park superintendent, Fitz Greene Hallock. The improved trail was clearly marked and was reported to be suitable for use as a guide boat carry as far as Crooked Lake at the height of the trail.

 

As soon as Webb’s trespass signs and game protectors were gone, local guides started to use the Red Horse Trail regularly. Open camps that were relatively easy to build appeared first, such as the one built by Jimmy Wilder at Crooked Lake shown at the top of this post. Jimmy Wilder and Harlow Young also built an open camp at Witchhopple Lake. Another open camp nearby at the same time was known as the “Professor’s Camp.”

Within a few years guides had constructed substantial camps at many places along the Red Horse trail. They hauled in lumber, shingles, kitchen supplies, stoves, and furniture during the winter using horses and sledges. The buildings were simple but comfortable. The most popular location was Salmon Lake. Perhaps the best known of those camps was Elmer Wilder’s “Camp Happy.” 

 Other early camps near Salmon Lake included the previously mentioned Charlie Smith / Lansing Hotaling Camp, the Cobb Camp, the Townsend Camp, and Burt Darrow’s Camp. It’s interesting to note that even though Burt Darrow owned a sportsman’s hotel near the Beaver River train station, he kept a simple camp up the Red Horse Trail for guests who wanted a few days out roughing it.

Jimmy Wilder, cousin of Elmer Wilder, built a large camp for the Rap-Shaw Club on Witchhopple Lake in 1902. The camp had multiple buildings, a dock, and an open boat house. The camp could easily house 20 people at a time in the clubhouse and three family cabins. By 1914 both the Elmer Wilder and the Jimmy Wilder camps had telephone connections to the Beaver River railroad depot.

There were also a few camps located at the south end of the trail on Big Burnt Lake, just off the Beaver River. That was the site of the previously mentioned Chris Wagner’s Camp. It was soon joined by the Dave Conkey and the Greely camps. 

 

Taken together these many camps could accommodate a fairly large number of visitors. By my rough estimate during a busy time as many as 50 people could be camped in some part of the area, likely making it the most popular outdoor destination in the Beaver River country. The Red Horse Trail was heavily used from 1896 until 1916. 

 

All these guides knew that their camps were on state land, but they simply ignored the periodic eviction notices that they received. Finally, in 1916, the Conservation Commission took legal action and within a year all the guide’s camps on state land along the Red Horse Trail were gone.

 

Sources

Marleau, William R. Big Moose Station (1986). p. 14.

Reehil, Roy E. and William J. O’Hern. Adirondack Adventures: Bob Gillespie and Harvey Dunham on French Louie’s Trail (2012). 

State of New York, Fisheries, Game and Forest Commission, Annual Report for 1897, p. 458.

Thompson, Pat. Beaver River: Oasis in the Wilderness (2000) p. 36.

Wallace, Edwin. Descriptive Guide to the Adirondacks 1872 edition, published as part of H. Perry Smith, Modern Babes in the Wood; or, Summerings in the Wilderness (1872).

Additional research on the Charley Smith Camp thanks to Roy Crego.

 

Photo credits

Real Photo Postcards of E. Wilder, and C. Smith camps from the Frank Cary collection

The Professor’s camp and Darrow camps from the ADKX collection

J. Wilder’s Open camp and J. Wilder’s Witchhopple camp from Rap-Shaw Club archive

Chris Wagner’s camp from 1902 Report of the Forest, Fish and Game Commission