Saw Mills of Caroga

Jeptha Root Simms in his Trappers of New York (p. 166) presents the following description of the area of Caroga towards the end of the first half of the nineteenth-century:

The southerly portion of country under consideration is hilly and in many places mountainous. The soil is generally stony, though in many instances, fertile; but far better adapted to grazing, than the production of grain. The prevailing rock is of the primitive order, consequently the shores of the lakes which sparkle here and there in the glens, abound in deposits of beautiful sand; which often afford good writing sand. The timber is principally beech, birch, maple, hemlock and spruce. Much of the hemlock is sawed into fence-boards, and acres of the spruce annually wrought into shingles or sawed into floor-plank; all of which find a ready market at the nearest accessible point on the Erie canal: and since the Garoga and Fonda plank road is favorable to its removal, not a little find its way to Fultonville, where considerable quantities were landed before the plank road was laid out.

Much of this country still had a primeval look, but its majestic forest lords and advantageous water powers, must in time invite in the thrifty artisan and hard-fisted yeoman, to subdue and cultivate it: indeed, the time may not be distant when this new country shall not only "bud and blossom as the rose," but with the rose. It certainly must be a healthy district; for it abounds in waters the most limpid, and breezes most invigorating. The lakes and their tributaries are stored with an abundance of trout....

Today life of the Town of Caroga revolves around the lakes. This is in marked contrast to the world documented by Simms's description and in the early maps of the Town of Caroga like the ones from 1856 and 1868.  On these maps, it is striking the absence of development along the shorelines of the lakes. The one structure identified on the shores of Canada Lake on the 1868 map is the hotel constructed by William Claflin in connection with the Wheeler Claflin Tannery in Wheelerville. Most of the development is in the southern part of town in the area of Newkirk Mills and North Bush, along the Caroga Creek and its tributaries.  As observed by Jeptha Simms, it is "the majestic forest lords and advantageous water powers [that] must in time invite in the thrifty artisan and hard-fisted yeoman...." The development of the tanneries at Newkirk Mills and Wheelerville depended on the ready supply of hemlocks and water power. Saw mills and grist mills were central to the economic development of the area.  The initials "SM" that dot the 1856 and 1868 maps document the number of saw mills in the Town of Caroga.  The streams with their "advantageous water power," not the lakes, were the center of the economic development of the town. This page documents some of these early saw mills. The map below locates these mills.

 

 

 

 

In his history of Caroga, Cy Durey writes: "The first positive date of settlement was at the time of the erection of a sawmill on the Conyantag Creek [now Peck Creek] in 1786 by Van der Cook which sawmill was afterward known as the Mills sawmill. There was also a grist mill in connection with it." While Barbara McMartin in her history of the town (p. 3) attributes the first saw mill to Cornelius Van Allen, both Durey and McMartin agree that the mill was later known as the Mills saw mill which is documented on the 1868 map of the town.

Isaac Peckham Christiancy refers to the Mills saw mill in his account of Caroga : "The exact place of my birth was in a small log house on the north side of the road (then called a "state road"), a few rods west from the top of the hill which crosses this road just west of the Mills place, where there was a grist mill and saw mill and where William Mills lived until recently and I think died there."

In the middle of the 19th century, Newkirks Mills was the largest settlement in the Town of Caroga. It had been settled by Garrett A. Newkirk in the 1830s. By 1840 he was running a saw mill (2) powered by a dam on the Caroga Creek upstream of the town. In 1843 Newkirk and John Littlejohn built the first large tannery in the Town of Caroga.  Jeptha Simms in his Trappers of New York  p. 161 presents the following description of the settlement in 1846:

At the present time (1846), the old trapper [Nick Stoner] resides in the town of Garoga, Fulton county; at a settlement which has recently sprung up, called Newkirk's Mills. He owns a comfortable dwelling in which he lives, draws a pension from the general government, and from keeping several boarders, who work in the mills, which the industry of a smart wife enables him to do, he passes down the evening of his life very comfortably. Garret Newkirk, the proprietor here, has an extensive tannery, and a saw-mill in which two saws are almost constantly rending asunder the trunks of the surrounding forest. The place has some fifteen or twenty dwellings, a schoolhouse, a post-office (called Newkirk Mills) &c., and is situated pleasantly on the outlet of the Garoga lakes, two crystal sheets of water, each several miles in circuit, located some twelve or fifteen miles to the westward of Johnstown. Since the above was written, a public-house has been opened at this place, several new dwellings erected, and a plank-road constructed from thence to Fonda, sixteen miles distant.

In his "History of Caroga, Cy Durey states; "[Newkirk] had there two sawmills, a tannery and a glove factory. A. O'Dell had a large hat factory. Wooster had a stave factory and there were two general stores, besides a considerable population.

The financial panic of 1857 forced the closure of Newkirks' tannery. Bankrupt, Newkirks moved to Saint Louis, and the land was sold to John Francisco, who continued the logging business.  The 1868 map of the Town of Caroga includes an inset map of Newkirks Mills.

For Newkirks Mills, see McMartin, Hides, Hemlocks, and Adirondack History, pp. 204-206 and Caroga, pp. 22-26.

The origins of the Glasgow mill are not certain. It was built on a pond on a stream flowing east into the Caroga Creek. A small dam was built at the east end of the pond. Barbara McMartin (Caroga, p. 27) identifies the first miller as Benjamin Buel. The 1856 map identifies Beebe /Wemple as the owners.  By the 1868 map, J. V. Wemple is identified as the owner. McMartin provides the following description: "The mill, in the late 1800s, was a large wooden structure and the mill wheel was run by water power. Several types of wooden products were manufactured at the mill, broom and mop handles, wagon spokes, and clothespins." A small community of houses including a boarding house for the workers grew up around the mill. Before 1888, the mill was sold to Ralph Glasgow. In September, 1888, the saw mill and clothespin factory were destroyed by fire. Glasgow rebuilt the factory, but the lumbering operation ended in November, 1898.

Josiah Durey, the father of Cy Durey, had a sawmill on his property.  Cy Durey in his "History of Caroga" states: "The Durey Mill was not built by Robinson, its first owner, until 1832." This property can be identified as 140 Putman Rd.

Cy Durey in his "History of Caroga" states: "There was another grist and sawmill owned by Gage on the Durey Creek in the rear of the house where Mrs. John Dorn now lives."  This can be identified with the property on the west side of Beech Ridge Road on the stream leading out of Beaver Flow.

 

 

James Irving (1817-1883) moved to the area around 1855, and built a dam on what was then known as Mill Pond which became known as Irving Pond. Beside the dam he built a sawmill which he ran until he moved to Johnstown in 1872. Apparently, the mill was run sporadically after Irving's departure by various lumbermen. In 1901, John Peters took over the sawmill, but between 1910 and 1912, the sawmill was torn down (McMartin, pp.111-115).

According to Cy Durey, there had been a sawmill and gristmill on the Canada Lake inlet as early as 1794. The mill was then owned by James McKinley and Jay (?) Watts Cady, Elizabeth Cady Stanton's cousin.   The mill was frequently called the Cady Mill. This would become the site of the Wheelerville Tannery.

The Holden Lumber Company bought land in Wheelerville in 1918 from Cy Durey and built a sawmill. They created a larger millpond  in the area adjacent to the old fire house in Wheelerville.  The mill ceased operations about 1929 (McMartin, p. 118).

According to Barbara McMartin (Caroga, p. 29), a saw mill at the outlet of Otter Lake was built by Robert Stewart in the 1820s. It is documented on the 1856 map of Fulton County as belonging to J. D. Stewart.

The 1856 map documents a series of sawmills connected with the Stewart family. The principal one was located a bit upstream from the current Stewart's Landing Dam. According to Cy Durey, this sawmill was taken over by Jonathan Wheeler as a part of the Wheeler & Claflin Tannery.  The photo below dated to 1897 shows the Stewart's Landing Sawmill when it was owned by Alfred Dolge.

After the Dolge bankruptcy, the mill was acquired by James C. Livingston, and he ran the dam from 1902-1907. W.D. Watt acquired the dam in 1907. A postcard from 1907 shows “The W.D. Watt Lumber Co., Stewerts [sic] Landing, Stratford, N.Y.”

The mill was run only for a couple of years. By 1913 Guy Beardslee was buying property in the area for his East Creek Electric and Light Company. For more, see the webpage on the CLCA website dedicated to the dam and water level.

Two sketches dated 1896 from Rufus Grider's Canada Lake album document an abandoned saw mill upstream from the Stewart's Landing mill. In the lower sketch, the silhouette of what is likely Kane Mountain can be seen in the distance. As suggested by George Dieffenbacher in his history of the Stewart's Landing Dam, this upstream dam and saw mill was likely located at the west end of Lily Lake at the beginning of the channel leading down to Stewart's Landing. The remains of a stone dam are still visible.

In chapter two of her Caroga: An Adirondack Town Recalls its Past, Barbara McMartin includes the following account of the Pine Lake Mill that appeared in the October 20, 1870 edition of the Gloversville Intelligencer:

        PINE LAKE, WHEELERVILLE,  AND THE TUNNICLIFFS

 But few people are aware of the immense lumbering and tanning establishments which are in active operation in Fulton County. A week ago last Saturday we visited two of these –Messrs. Wheeler and Claflin, in the Town of Caroga.

            The Pine Lake Saw-Mill is not far from the Hamilton County line, and five years ago the road to its present location was almost impassable, through swamps, trees, bushes, and stones. At about that time the owner of the tract (whose name we did not learn) was killed by the falling of a tree, and the property was purchased by Messrs. Wheeler and Claflin, in connection or partnership with Mr. Barnes. The latter gentleman, with eighteen or twenty men, then went to work with their axes and put up a log house among the large sized and very thickly growing trees, the stumps of which now remain so closely together that it requires careful driving to avoid or turn around amongst them. Building the house was but a play spell, compared with keeping possession of it. “Possession” is said to be “nine-tenths of law,” and seventy-five millions of mosquetoes, assisted by twenty-five millions of black flies, were not to be frightened out of their hereditary rights and possessions by nineteen ordinary mortals, without a desperate and bloody flight. The new log-house was full of cracks in the side and roof. All night hosts of mosquetoes tuned their bagpipes and rushed to the fray. Lucifer himself never had a more numerous or sulphur-deserving army. Smudge fires were burned to keep them off and helped a little, though Mr. Barnes assured us he would not spend another summer like that for five thousand dollars. How much the flies would ask we did not learn, for they had just gone into winter quarters for the season.

            Mr. Barnes gave many interesting facts concerning the Lake, the woods, the roads, and the buildings. The Sawmill is put up in the most substantial manner. It is 106 feet long by 65 wide, and proportionately high, and suitable for doing an immense amount of work. A gang of 29 saws were, and are, tearing through two or three logs at one time; the logs are at first slabbed on two sides, down to the same thickness, but a circular saw, then placed on and between /p. 35 rollers that hold them firmly and shove them against the gang-saw. As soon as far enough along, more logs are placed at the end of these, and thus every 10 or 12 minutes 20 to 30 inch and a quarter boards are made. During the year between 1,000,000 and 1,500,000 feet of pine and hemlock lumber is run through, and furnishes to the farmers and other citizens of the county a large amount of team work during the winter. The lumber is mostly drawn to Fonda, though portions of it are purchased by Johnstown and Gloversville dealers. Incidentally, the question comes up, “why do they send to Canada for lumber, where there are immense quantities at hand?”

            Large quantities of lath are made during the season. Perhaps all of the readers of the Gloversville Intelligencer have noticed the advertisement, “500,000 Good Lath For Sale By Wheeler & Claflin.” We were shown large piles of broom-handles, sawed of suitable size and length, to be turned out into that very necessary article of household utility. An army “with banners,” in our estimation, would not be near as terrible as an army of women numerous enough to make the “dust fly” with all these broom handles; there were 200,000 of them. To the mill a wooden railway, half a mile or more long, is used to bring in logs. It has a sad history; last season Mr. Barnes and his son, a young man of 22, were engaged on the car running in logs; a light rain fell, making the track slippery, and car could not be checked. They run off the track; Mr. Barnes was thrown about 50 feet, but not injured. He turned and saw his son lying on the ground, but before he could reach him the immortal and priceless soul had fled. The story was a simple one, but it touched the heart, and the hope went heavenward: may He who gave, and Hath taken away, again unite these earthly ties and loves in that land wherein shall enter no sorrow.

            From the mill we went to a large barn, 40 by 80, then to the Lake. Pine Lake is a mile or more long and about a half a mile wide. A dam has been constructed at the outlet for reservoir purposes; the water is clear and quite deep in some places. In a grove, near by, were seats and a speaker’s stand, recently used for a Sabbath-school celebration. The mountains rear at hand are about 200 feet high of rather smooth ascent, and covered with large growth of timber. Messrs. Wheeler, Claflin, and Barnes, as we are informed, at an expense of about $7 per rod. About five miles of “corduroy” road have also been built, and the common roads in every direction, greatly improved –all under the direction and at the expense of Messrs. Wheeler & Claflin.

            Not having time to go further to the large tannery owned by the same gentlemen on the Sacondaga; in Hamilton County, we bade Mr. Barnes adieu and made a short call at the one at Wheelerville.

 

The Thursday February 9, 1905 edition of the Fulton County Republican announced the construction of a new saw mill at Canada Lake.   The Caroga Land and Lumber Company composed of James Ireland, David Wells, Cyrus Durey, and Frank Sherman had acquired at auction the previous September the lands of Alfred Dolge. The company, which in 1912 would become the Durey Land and Lumber Company, planned to lumber the newly acquired lands and divide the shoreline into lots that would be sold for summer camps.  A 1919 postcard shows the sawmill at the base of Kane Mountain.

While the other saw mills depended on water power, the new Canada Lake saw mill would be powered by  "a 150 horse-power engine and a 150 horse-power boiler." The 1905 newspaper article presents  the following description:

...machinery...which is about to arrive consists of a circular mill with steam feed, a gang edger, a surfacer, a matcher and a lath mill. The mill has the capacity for sawing 30,000 feet of lumber per day. One of the most economical features of the mill will be the mechanical stoker which feeds the boiler automatically with sawdust and it is expected that the sawdust from the mill will be all the fuel that is needed. This furnishes a means of disposing of the sawdust, which is often a great annoyance, and saves a large expenditure for fuel.

It was expected that the saw mill would be in full operation by the fall of 1905 and employ fifty men with twenty working at the mill and thirty in the woods. Frank Sherman would have entire charge of the plant.  The lumber used in the construction of the new mill would come from  Newkirk Mills. By May of 1905, The Fulton County Republican reports that construction was under way and the foundations for a new house for Frank Sherman adjacent to the mill had commenced. None of the lumbering would be done near the shores of Canada Lake. The article states:

...[T]he local company will do all in its power to make the resort attractive, and are in position to furnish cottage sites with clear titles which has been much desired for years. The shore line has been mapped out into cottage lots which will be placed on the market at reasonable figures. 

Julius Breckwoldt leased the mill beginning in 1919. The mill was destroyed by fire on the morning of May 20, 1926.