In the years immediately following the Civil War the Town of Caroga, NY experienced significant economic growth due to the efforts of the Honorable William Claflin (1818-1905). Originally from Milford, MA and later Newton, MA, Claflin was co-owner with his father of a large shoe and boot manufacturing business. He first came to Caroga in the late 1840s to build Caroga’s first summer home on Irving Pond Road which became known as the Red House on the Hill and later Pine Knoll.
The leather industry in Fulton County, NY dates to 1809 when Talmadge Edwards moved from Massachusetts to Johnstown. As a trained practical leather dresser, Edwards provided the expertise needed to develop the leather glove industry in Johnstown and Gloversville. Claflin, being in the leather boot and shoe business, learned about the growing glove industry in Fulton County. In the 1840s he came to Johnstown for business reasons, discovered Caroga, and bought land from the Bleeker Lansing Patent for his summer home.
During these same pre Civil war years Claflin was in partnership with Jonathan Wheeler in North Becket, MA where they co-owned and operated a tannery that supplied the tanned hides to the Claflin business that had shoe and boot manufacturing locations in Milford, MA and St Louis, MO. During the Civil War, Claflin saw potential for tanning large amounts of hides in Caroga with the ability to ship them by rail from Fonda, NY east to Milford and west to St Louis.
In 1865 Claflin, realizing that the hemlock needed to run the tannery in North Becket was running out, purchased from the Bleeker Lansing Patent 20,000 acres of land in Caroga, spanning from Caroga Lake along Canada Lake to Pine Lake, plus two saw mills. Claflin then brought Jonathan Wheeler, Milton Barnes, and Henry Bidwell, all from North Becket, to Caroga to operate the tannery, lumber mills, and store respectively. Following the same model as they did with the tannery in North Becket, Claflin and Wheeler dammed up the stream that runs from Irving Pond to Canada Lake to provide the tannery with water and they built tannery buildings on the land that is now the Nick Stoner Golf course and the Nick Stoner Inn.
Claflin and Barnes built a larger lumber mill at Pine Lake, which was run by Barnes. Claflin and Wheeler then built a large company store which was run by Bidwell. Wheeler, the tannery manager, built a house next to the tannery barn which is now the Nick Stoner Inn. Bidwell also built houses for his family across from Wheeler's house and on Irving Pond Road. Claflin then turned his summer home on Irving Pond Road into a boarding house for the management team working under Wheeler. Additionally Claflin and Wheeler built 25 house in close proximity to the tannery for their workers, and the tannery and lumber mills total employment was 150. Finally, Claflin built a five story luxury hotel (The Canada Lake House) on the north shore of Canada Lake. Claflin's total dollar investment in Caroga was $500,000 which is $10,000,000 in 2021 dollars.
The Pine Lake Lumber Mill, plus the two small mills, provided the large amount of hemlock bark needed to tan the hides, and the water needed was also in plentiful supply from Irving Pond. The lumber mills produced three million feet of lumber per year, and the tannery produced 8,000 leather hides per month making it the largest tannery in New York State. A detailed description of the operation of the tannery, saw mill, and store can be found on pages 29 to 44 of Barbara McMartin's Caroga: An Adirondack Town Recalls Its Past (chapter 2). Jonathan Wheeler ran the tannery for the next twelve years, and in 1872 Claflin bought out Wheeler's share in the company. Due to poor health Wheeler left Caroga in 1878, returned to Becket, and the management of the tannery was turned over to Wheeler's brother, Levi. In the mid-1880s significant changes in the tanning industry caused Clalfin to reassess the operation. The large amount of hemlock bark needed became scarce, cheap chemical substitutes for the hemlock were developed, and the cattle industry relocated to the midwest causing raw leather hides to be less available. Also, transportation costs could be greatly reduced by moving tanneries closer to the manufacturing plants, so Claflin closed the Caroga tannery in 1888 and the store in 1893.
Claflin, now the sole owner, continued buying land in the area until he owned most of the property from West Caroga Lake to Stoner Lake. In addition, he purchased the land along what is now Route 10 up to and including Arietta and Piseco. By 1890 Claflin owned an estimated 90,000 acres in Fulton and Hamilton Counties. Through a series of real estate transactions beginning in 1892 and ending in 1912 all of Claflin's original property holdings in Fulton and Hamilton counties had been acquired by Cyrus Durey.
Milton Barnes continued to operate the Pine Lake lumber mill, and also became owner of the Fonda Knitting Mill and the Barnes and Richards mill in Valatie, NY until he died in Fonda, NY on February 20, 1889, at age 72. Jonathan Wheeler retired from the tanning business and died in North Becket, MA on July 22, 1889, at age 69. Henry Bidwell returned to Becket where he died on July 10, 1895, at age 80.
William Claflin became the Governor of Massachusetts in 1869, and then was elected to Congress serving in Washington, D.C. from 1877 to 1881. He was a lifelong abolitionist leader, an early advocate for women's rights, and a philanthropist. His father and he were the co-founders of Claflin University in South Carolina, and he sat on the board of trustees of a number of prestigious Massachusetts colleges and universities. He died on January 5, 1905 in Newton, MA, at age 86.
In 1887 Claflin wrote the following letter to his Johnstown attorney, J.M. Dudley:
It is our intention to have the lake shore surveyed and developed into cottage lots, in such a way that it will be agreeable place for summer residents and tourists. We think the lakes and the country about have natural attractions, attractions enough about to draw summer residents and excursionists. And as population increases in the valleys, there is a demand for such a place to go in the summer months. We are disposed to cooperate with responsible parties in some plan of development if it can be made mutually satisfactory. Please inform as to what you think might be done and how many there are in your town who would be likely to want land for building purposes.
The implementation of Claflin's vision for Caroga's future as a vacation destination area would be spearheaded by three men: Frank Sherman, Cyrus Durey, and attorney Alfred Dudley Dennison. The tannery existed for twenty-two years, and left a lasting economic impact on Caroga, setting the stage for the next steps in the area's significant development for residents, visitors, and vacationers.
Respectfully submitted by
Dudley Dennison Fincke
Spring, 2021
Sources: Dudley and Dennison family records, attorneys Dennison and Pulsifer records, William Claflin records, Cy Durey records, Fulton County, NY property records, Becket, MA historical records, Caroga: An Adirondack Town Recalls Its Past by Barbara McMartin, and various newspaper articles.