Town of Duane NY

Franklin County Historical and Museum Society Website Link

Town of Duane Historical Notes

Prepared by:  Gloria Gori, Town Historian

           " Fairly early in the spring of 1901,”  so says Orman Doty of Rainbow Lake, “my cousin, Seymore 

    Doty, and I decided to do a little trapping.  So we went onto the side of Loon Lake Mountain, and beyond,

    until we found a good spot for building a trapper’s camp in an area where we found plentiful signs of

    animal game.”

          Mr. Doty said that in those days most of the trapping camps were made from pieced spruce poles,

    with those for walls standing up-right, they, and the poles for rafters, being spaced about two feet apart. 

    Then slabs of spruce bark were used to cover walls and roof to make it fairly secure against the weather. 

    As they wandered around they remembered that they had been told by “old Mr. James Wardner” that

    near the end of one of the heavy-wooded hills, in this very area there was a cave where bears always

    denned up for the winter.  They remembered that he had told them that he, Jim and his brother Seth, had

    killed five bears, in that one cave one fall.  As Mr. Doty continued his story to me, he said “We weren’t    

    really looking for the cave but ran into it accidentally.  It was just a big dark spot, partly hidden, in the side of a hill.  We could see only darkness as we got down and looked into it.  We hadn’t looked for it, but  

    seeing we found it we were bound to explore  it before leaving, so we hunted around for some good

    pitchy pine roots.  We set fire to a couple of them and so had a pair of good torches, though a little 

    smoky, that would burn for hours.

        “We had to get down low and crawl into the hole, torch in hand, but when we were in about fifty feet or

    so the channel opened up into an enlarged uncomfortably fair-sized room.  We had already decided we

    were in the right cave for the smell of bear almost smothered us.”  “We were inching along, and looking

    around in the light from our torches, when we saw a second hole in one side of the room.  I was ahead of

    Seymore when we were startled from a roar that echoed, and re-echoed in our underground chamber. 

    Startled I looked around and there was a big black bear just coming out of the other hole of the cave,

    and Seymore hung tight to his torch, meaning to put up a fight if he had to.  When the bear passed by  

    him, heading straight for the outside, Seymore almost automatically reached out and gave a quick swipe

    with the torch along the bear’s back.  The bear hastened his half-awake gait that he had been using,

    growling and roaring continuously, lumbered out of the cave.  Seymore and I suddenly decided we had

    explored enough and we got down and crawled out too, as fast as we could manage it.”  “By the time we

    were outside the bear was some distance down the mountain—rolling, running, and tumbling, looking like

    a big ball of fire, growling and roaring all the way.  Hayes Brook was near the foot of the mountain about a

    mile below us and the bear seemed to know it as well as we did for he was heading there with all speed.  

        As we stood and watched we saw a very frightening thing happening, for the bear was leaving a

    trail of fire behind him as he went.  “It happened that “old Lyme DeBar” was fishing in the brook when he

    heard an amazing amount of snarling and growling.  He looked around and saw a big ball of fire coming

    right at him.  His eyes nearly popped out.  He threw his string of fish one way and his pole another and

    RAN.  McCollum’s Hotel was almost two miles away, but the old man headed in that direction as fast as

    he could go.  When he smashed through the door he fell in a dead faint.  When the folks got him brought

    to, all he could say was “Bear on fire, Bear on fire!”  It was several hours before he could tell them

    anything more.  Of course he didn’t have much more to tell for he hadn’t seen us, and he had no way of

    knowing how the bear caught fire.” “The wind was blowing some and every little fire the bear had started  

    soon all joined together and become a big one.  I tell you we were two scared young fellows.  We didn’t

    dare go back home from Onchiota for we would have been traveling the same direction the fire was.  Also

    if anyone knew we had been out there they might get the notion we had set it.  So we started up-wind,

    circled around and came out two days later at Jones Pond.” “For several years we never told anyone

    about seeing the bear, and then not about catching it on fire; and of course we never finished our camp.”

“After the fire some of the people from McCollum’s found the carcass of the bear near the brook with the most of the meat burned off from it.”

Oh if our forest could speak, what stories they could tell.  Now ‘Old Lyme Debar grew up on the shores of Debar Pond.  In tribute to the Debar family, Debar Mountain was named.  Tammy Plawecki of E. Hampstead, NH, a descendant niece of the Debars, passed this story onto me.  This story was found in one of the early Saranac Lake papers.

                                                                                      Gloria Gori,  Town Historian

        At one time in the early 1900’s our Studley Hill held the distinction of being the most difficult road in the

    North due to its extreme steepness combined with several sharp curves.  James Duane, our founder,

    started building the road in 1824 to gain access to his property.  He constructed a brick kiln at the foot of 

    the hill and hired Mr. Studley to manage the kiln.  Due to the respect he held for Mr. Studley, he named 

    the infamous hill, Studley.  Mr. Duane then cleared 300 acres of land to build his residence, which was

    one of  its best in the county at that time.  This road also was the only road leaving Malone that went to

    Duane.  In In the 1920’s, Studley Hill Road became the testing grounds for the new-fangled contraption,

    the  automobile.

    The following story was written by Lawrence Gooley, “Studley Hill Road: The Waterloo of All Cars”, which

    was taken from the Adirondack Almanack, Jan. 17, 2011.

       There are many well known automobile testing sites- Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats and Colorado’s Pikes

    Peak come to mind, and some lesser known like Michigan Packard Proving Grounds, built in the 1920’s. 

    Dozens of official testing grounds have been used and by now, you’ve probably guessed it.  Yep… the

    Adirondacks once had their very own. While it didn’t have a national profile, Franklin County’s Studley Hill 

    was widely reputed as the most difficult road in the north- unevenly surfaced, extremely steep, and with

    several sharp curves.  Because hill- climbing ability was primary in determining a car’s quality, events and

    competitions became important  manufactures and very popular with the public.  Studley Hill is historically

    significant for many reasons, but the most unusual is the irresistible challenge it presented to some of the

    top car manufacturer’s of the early 20^th century. Well, the lure actually was resistible for a while, and for

    good reason: fear of failure.   alesmen wished tobrag that their product could achieve wonderful things

    that other cars couldn’t, but it was best   to first try     Studley on the sly.  If you didn’t conquer the hill, you

    didn’t talk much about it.  That made for a lot of quiet car salesmen in the North Country.   

      The automobile was still a new-fangled contraption that few people could afford, and folks traveling 

    south from Malone on the Duane Road occasionally provided great amusement to those living on or near

    the hill.  Some motored there for the challenge, and others came on joy rides, but from 1910 to 1920, no

    one made it up Studley Hill’s steep northern slope.  Only horse-or oxen-drawn vehicles could pull it

    off.Tradition so often gives way to technology, and that’s what finally happened.  Improvements in

    performance led to the inevitable, and in July 1920, Studebaker dealer J. Franklin Sharp of Ogdensburg

    officially became the first to make the climb in an automobile.  The real trick was to do it while keeping the

    car in high gear for the entire run.

       It was said that Packards had climbed Studley in the past, and that may have been true.  Prohibition 

    had been in effect for nearly a year, and the Packard was a favorite of bootleggers.  The Duane Road  

    was a route they commonly used.

      Sharp’s feat was easily achieved, but without drama.  As one reporter put it, “The eyes of the motor  

    world between Utica and the St. Lawrence River were turned this afternoon toward Studley Hill, the 

    steepest grade in the northern country.  “This was considered the first official test-drive at Studley Hill, 

    and looking at a map of the wilds south of Malone, one might argue that getting 159 people to such a   

    remote location was the biggest accomplishment of the day”.  

      The wagering was described as heavy.  On  the very first attempt, Sharp’s Studebaker Big Six (named

    for its six cylinders) sped across the flat road to  running start of 55 mph.  As quickly as it began the

    steep ascent, the speedometer plunged.  All the while, spectators cheered wildly.  Difficult curves slowed

    the  car, but after about a mile, it crested the hill. 

    The car’s lowest speed was said to have been 15 mph.  With  Melville Corbette (Sharp’s garage foreman)

    behind the wheel, the trip was made in high gear four more  times, carrying passengers that included 

    Syracuse Post-Standard writers based in Malone and Saranac Lake.

       Meanwhile, Frank Sharp wasn’t finished for the day, deciding to attempt the hill in a lighter model, the

    Studebaker Special Six.  Much to the surprise of himself and everyone else, the car climbed ably to the

    top.  It was a great endorsement of the Studebaker brand for dealers across the North Country when

    headline stories later told the tale.

       Just as hiking down a mountain can sometime be as difficult as climbing up, descending Studley  

    Hill offered its own unique challenges.  Many accidents there involving cars or horse-drawn vehicles

    prompted some unusual signage.  Drivers approaching the steep descent to the north were cautioned by

    roadside warnings, the first which offered the standard Drive Slow.  A second suggested the harrowing

    drop that awaited Keep Your Head.  A third and very large sign was unofficially posted by someone with a

    sense of humor.  And who would dare question its effectiveness.  In large, handwritten red lettering, it

    said simply, prepare to Meet Thy God.

        In 1921 there were two successful assaults on the hill.  A huge touring car, the Paige Lakewood 6-66 

    (11  feet distance between the centers of the front and rear tires) accomplished the feat to great fanfare.

    (A Paige had won at Pikes Peak the previous year.)

        Paige representatives from Malone and Rochester were on hand, proud to point out that unlike the

    climb by Studebaker in 1920, their car did it without aerodynamics-the top and windshield were up, and  

    two passengers occupied the back seat.  The wind drag and extra weight (the car alone weighted 3,500 

    lbs.) were handled on several successful attempts.

       Six months later, an Olds Four climbed the grade in high gear.  Successful tries were often touted by

    the manufacture as some type of “first”.  The Olds people said theirs was the first “closed car carrying

    three passengers” to climb the hill in high gear.

       Technological changes led to even more impressive feats.  In April 1924, a Flint Six (made in Flint,

    Michigan by a subsidiary) tackled what one writer called “the Waterloo of all cars”.  This time there would

    be no running start.  With the car parked at the base of the hill, high gear was engaged, and remained so

    throughout the climb.  Despite sections of tire-sucking mud and slippery snow, the Flint crested Studley

    Hill  without dropping below 15 mph.

     A special thank you to John Streiff  for sending this article to me.

    Gloria Gori,  Town Historian

North Star Camp

This was a co-ed camp in Duane that was the only post-war “religious” Jewish camp located in the Adirondacks at that time.  The camp was situated on the Partridge Park property off Route 30, a short distance from Bedford Boy Scout Camp.  The major buildings were centered around Lake Florence on a 1,313 acre parcel.  The property was purchased from Bronson Trevor by Henry Pessar and Myron Gordon, both from New York City, in 1945.  By 1946, all construction was completed and the camp opened. 

The camp was limited to 140 campers with a staff of 60.  All staff had to be college trained or its equivalent identification with Orthodox Judaism and the Hebrew culture, with very selected character references.  The camp session was 8 weeks, at $500 per camper.

The camp program provided a well-rounded summer of sports, arts, spiritual life, hobbies, and crafts.  There were well-equipped-athletic courts, including baseball, basketball, tennis, handball, volleyball, badminton, archery, croquet and ping pong.  Water sports included swimming, rowing, canoeing, fishing and sailing, all made safe by the American Red Cross Licensed Life Guard Swimming instructors.

The Recreation Hall contained a fully equipped stage.  Campers learned all that was involved in the theater arts and had the opportunity to participate in musical, dramatic and dance productions.  The hall also contained a giant fireplace, a library, and area for indoor games.

A Synagogue provided Friday night and Saturday services in Hebrew language.  Informal Hebrew study groups were conducted in prayer, song, stories and dance to stimulate creative experiences in Jewish life.

Twenty cabins were equipped with electricity, hot and cold running water, bathroom and shower facilities with screened windows.  Lake Florence had its own dam and power house to generate the camp’s electricity.

There was an infirmary that provided a resident doctor and nurse.  A dining hall, with a well equipped kitchen, prepared meals of the highest standard of Kashruth.  The camp maintained their own butcher shop with large freezing units, besides its own bakery shop.  Not far from the camp was a stable filled with horses.  Instructors taught English riding and many campers refined their riding skills during the summer.  A Hobby House contained a Craft Shop, Nature Den, Photography Room and Sewing Center.

In 1960, the camp was run by Benjamin Sacks of Brooklyn, and he changed the name to Star Lake.  In 1961, H.J. Goldenberg took charge of the camp until it closed in 1962.

Jim Gadway, a Duane resident, was camp caretaker for many years.  His daughter, Carol, drowned in Lake Florence in 1954.  She was 12 years old and one of my best friends.       

DeBar Mountain Game Refuge

             In 1926 New York State established its first game refuge located near Minerva, in Essex County.  By 1928, the  

         number had grown to ten.  This was also the year the state purchased 10,000 acres of land on and around DeBar

         Mountain for the DeBar Mt. Game Refuge.  The state’s goal for the refuge was to provide protection and a food

         supply so wildlife important to hunting and fishing in the area could propagate successfully.  It was also the most

         active state effort directly undertaken to maintain elk that had been introduced into the Adirondacks.  This property

         was the largest and best adapted for elk to succeed.  The property was just recovering from a forest fire leaving

         portions suitable for crop plantings and it had natural meadows.  A large portion of this parcel was originally part

        of the Rockefeller Estate that the Reynolds Co. had purchased and had extensively lumbered. The parcel included

         all the southeastern corner of Duane bounded on the east by the Franklin town line, and on the south by Brighton,

         the  west by Meacham Lake property and extended north almost to DeBar Pond.  The purchase covered the

        southern slope of DeBar over to Sable Mt. and included the headwaters of Hayes Brook and the west branch of

        Hatch Brook.

           The Reynolds Co. reserved a section that included all of DeBar Pond and its south inlet, besides all the

        Schroeder estate buildings.  The company had a vision of turning the Schroeder estate into an exclusive private

        club.  They felt it was more feasible for the new macadam road, old Rt. 99, from Duane Center to Loon Lake had

        been completed.  Many town residents found employment with the construction of this road.  Francis Earle, my

        dad, his brother, William worked as water boys.  Estelle Earle, my grandmother, prepared meals for the crew.

        It took four long years of hard labor to prepare the refuge grounds.  Conservation Officer George Buckley and a

        crew first has to establish the boundary lines by cutting out all the underbrush and all other obstacles 10 feet inside

        the line, and then strung wire fence.  Then the line had to be heavily posted.  Mr. Buckley was assisted by summer

        crews from the CCC, the Civilian Conservation Corp., that helped in developing access roads, water supply

        projects,  cultivation of feed plots, and the building of sheds.

            March of 1932, six elk arrived at the refuge.  There are discrepancies on the origin of the elk that were released

   on the refuge.  An ADK trail guide cited that 6 elk were donated from a governor of a western state to Gov. Dewey. 

        However, Conservation Dept. records stated the gift of 5 cows and one bull was made by owners of the Blue Mt.

        Game Preserve, formerly the Blue Mt. Forest Park, located in Newport, New Hampshire.

        The experiment to release elk in our woods almost came to an abrupt end that very day.  Immediately after arrival,

         the bull leaped over an 8 foot coral fence, clearing it by more than a foot and disappeared into the woods.  Mr.

        Buckley with two helpers tracked the animal through the snow and after many hours they accomplished the

        seemingly impossible feat of lassoing the bull.  They bound him securely, placed him on a toboggan and then had

     torag him back to the coral.

            The state had hopes that this donation of 6 elk would make a nucleus of a large herd.  The elk were fed alfalfa

        in a feeding shed during winter.  During the summer and fall they had a smorgasbord of feed plots of buckwheat,

        oats, and corn to graze on, so they were contented not to roam off the refuge grounds.  Three elk calves were

        born the next year.  By 1934, the Conservation Dept. reported 16 elk survived through one of the severest winters

        the region had ever known.  A report in 1936 noted that elk had rambled as far as Mountain View, Partridge Park

        and Tupper Lake.  It was difficult to estimate the number on the refuge, but their tracks were numerous.   

         An article from Saranac Adirondack Enterprise, 1984, described the refuge, “A wilderness Disneyland

      ----- a mischievous but harmonious madhouse of deer, bear, snowshoe hare, beaver and grouse. 

     Anything lived trapped in the southern Adirondacks and considered a nuisance was brought north and

     released into DeBar Refuge.”  One article stated a golden eagle had been trapped in a quail trap on there

     refuge.

     Another report stated over 200 beaver living on the refuge.  These busy little engineers had constructed

     dams which had resulted in the formation of a least a dozen new ponds on the refuge.  A story from the

     Malone Farmer stated that Officer Covey released the heaviest beaver to be trapped in the state.  A

     female tipped the scales at 67 pounds.  A previous record of 52 pounds had been broken.

     The size of the elk population dwindled in the 40’s.  There was no further mention of elk after 1943.  The

     last evidence of the elk in the Adirondack Mts. Was a report of one killed by a William Vandivert in Essex

     County during the fall of 1946.

         An announcement in 1945, due to a change in a conservation law, the state decided to open the refuge

      for hunting antlered deer and bear from Nov. 10-30^th.  Permits would be issued at the easterly entrance

      at  Rt. 99 and the entrance at Meacham Lake Campgrounds.  This created a public uproar.  The Franklin

     County Bd. Of Supervisors chaired by Francis Earle condemned the action.  The Board felt there would be

     a mass slaughter of deer that had been protected for many years.  Mr. Earle released a statement to the

     press condemning the decision stating, “action was contrary to the belief and teachings of all true

     conservationists”.  The Conservation Dept. conducted an investigation.  They felt the game refuge was noserving the purpose it was set out to do.  The change in the law was stated as “bad timing” and the

     decision was made that the refuge would not be open to hunting.

         During the years caretaker George Buckley lived on the refuge, he conducted extensive studies on the   

     behavior of the white-tailed deer, their natural browse, and winter habits.  He collected annual sheds, jaws

     with teeth that were all sent to Delmar Conservation Lab.  He raised four fawns saved from a forest fire. 

     The refuge became a great tourist attraction for the wild deer would come in and mingle with the tame.

     Plausible reasons for the elk disappearance were perhaps the heavy hunting pressure, illegal hunting, and

     the war years.  The Dept was working on a skeleton crew.  The planting of feed-plots were greatly curtailed

     and the feed supplements were not distributed through the winter months.  Soybeans and molasses

     considered as war essentials were not available and they had been a stable for a winter supplement.

   I could not find when the state abandoned the refuge.  I do know caretakers lived on the grounds in the 

     seventies.  Another article in the Adirondack Enterprise in 1984 stated, “when Debar was turned back to

     public hunting the slaughter drew rave notices from opponents who described the land and water running

     red with the blood on the innocents”. 

     Research from Malone Farmer,

     Adirondack Enterprise, Adirondack Journal of Environmental Studies 997

                                                                                        Gloria Gori

With our Newsletter titled “The Guide” picturing Duane Guide Trim, I felt what would be more fitting to acquaint everyone with another Duane Guide, William Sprague.  I could

never be as eloquent as Mr. Sprague’s obituary that was taken from the “Malone Farmer” June 27, 1917.  The article is such a contrast on how obituaries are written today. 

The article states so much about the character of this gentleman who called Duane his home.

WITH THE GRAND ARMY OF IMMORTALS

Wm. H Sprague Honored GAR Veteran and Adirondack guide has gone to his reward.

The world lost one of the most honest, sincere, frank, loyal, sympathetic but sturdy souls Thursday evening (June 21, 1917) when Wm. H. Sprague of Malone. For many years a leading citizen of Duane, passed out of life.  Bill Sprague was a man of the Lincoln type – strong and rugged as an oak with a heart that was never tempted to dissemble and was as simple and tender as a child’s.  For years he followed the life of a small farmer and a Adirondack guide in Duane and his tall muscular, willowy form was as much a part of the Meacham Lake country as the tall pines about the hotel, which have braved the storms that swept the Lake for more than two centuries, or DeBar Mountain itself which

stands sentinel over its waters.  Bill Sprague was a man of high intelligence and stalwart purpose, possessed of a nature that reflected the sunshine of the Meacham landscape and of a droll, irresistible humor that made him one of the most delightful companions as a guide through the forest recesses by 100% because he was a fit colleague for the influential men seeking rest for tired nerves and the delights and quiet of woodland scenes and sports, when he had so often rowed or paddled through the best fishing places, or accompanied on the hunt.  These men during the years that Meacham has been popular as a resort, have embraced some of the most conspicuous figures of the country and half of their anticipation in looking forward to their vacation was that they would have Bill Sprague for company.

As long as he followed the occupation as a guide, he never lacked employment, for if Bill could be had, no one else would do, though Meacham had others just as good hunters and fishermen.  He was running over with good nature and had a great fund of good stories, yet he was steady and serious and knew when to work and sweat and when to laugh and play.  Mr. Sprague was a man of positive convictions, with a backbone like a rail, and his influence upon community in which he lived was for the best things and had very large weight for he was greatly loved and respected.  He was one of the finest types of the Adirondack Guides of the thirty to forty years ago to be found anywhere, imbued with the simple tastes and naturalness of the denizens in and of the forest country – fearless, God loving, sympathetic, warm-heated and hospitable.  The type is fast disappearing.  Irving Bacheller in his search for strong characters for his charming stories that he weaves would find nowhere in all this North Country a better subject, or one which would appeal to the emotions of the reader, than in the life of Mr. Sprague. He was our friend – always our friend.  We knew we could always count on him, for he knew the things we stand for and he could never be deflected from his loyalty by rues or subtleties.  The overpowering thought of standing for what he believed to be the right thing was always with him.  He had the strength of the hills, among which he had lived the greater part of his life, in them.

Mr. Sprague was born in Peru, Clinton County, nearly 75 years ago, and had been a resident of Duane since his 17^th year until coming to Malone to reside 3 years since in order to be where he and his family could have more convenient medical attendance.  He was a member of a large family which settled in Duane in its pioneer days as a hamlet almost at the top of things in the nearby wilderness.  Amid these surroundings, he grew to manhood, farming and hunting and fishing, a vocation which he deeply loved and continued to follow as long as his health would permit.  He still owned the farm of the Meacham Road on which he so long resided.  After the breaking out of the Civil War, he enlisted in the Cavalry and earned the honor of being a brave and patriotic soldier – and patriotism and love of country burned brightly within him to the day of his death.  His love of his GAR comrades and loyalty to them was proverbial and no man in the organization was held in deeper affection by his associates. For 14 years he gave to his town unsparing and selfish service as supervisor and was one of the best known and most highly regarded members of the Franklin County Bd. of Supervisors.  His colleagues had great confidence in his good sense and integrity.  He served on many important committees and was clothed with many responsibilities by the Board.  He was long prominent in local Republican circles and many times represented the Republicans of Duane in County conventions.  During the latter years of his life he

was one of the pillars of the Methodist Church in Duane, and after coming to Malone was, as long as his health permitted, a regular attendant on the services of Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church. Mr. Sprague married Charlotte Ames of Duane.  They were congenial spirits and their married life was a happy one.  Mrs. Sprague, three daughters and a son survive to cherish the memory of an affectionate home loving husband and father.  The daughters are Mrs. Dora Clark of Oklahoma; Mrs. Frank Murphy of Duane and Miss Cora Sprague who resides with her mother.  The son Frank, of Gabriels.  Four brothers and a sister also survive.  They are John of Bloomingdale; Joel of Leicestershire, N.Y.; Alfred of Duane, Warren of Brighton and Mrs. James Powell of Schenectady. The funeral took place from the home on Elbow St, Saturday afternoon, Rev. C.M. Gearhart officiating; interment in Duane Cemetery. Mr. Sprague has been in failing health all winter but a few days ago rallied sufficiently to be about the streets again, though far from well and suffering from weakness.  Experiencing a relapse, he failed steadily until it was realized for a couple of weeks or more that he was near the end.  He fought a good fight; he kept the faith and sleeps the sleep of the just.

History of Duane, New York
FROM: HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF FRANKLIN COUNTY
AND ITS SEVERAL TOWNS
BY: FREDERICK J. SEAVER
PUBLISHED BY J. B. LYON COMPANY, ALBANY, NY 1918