USA > Vermont > The Lake Champlain and Lake George valleys, Vol II > Part 25
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the United States is to be saved from the fate of becoming a pre- ponderantly industrial nation in which there is not a relation of equal- ity between agriculture and industry. They must act in the faith that it will be good for the entire Nation if agriculture from henceforth advances on terms of absolute equality with industry. . . . The prob- lem is to clarify continually the vision of a well-rounded, self-sustain- ing national life in which there shall be a fair balance between indus- try and agriculture and in which our agriculture shall not be sacrificed to the building of cities."
Far from the crowded streets teeming with hustling, bustling human beings let us go to a Champlain Valley homestead for our Thanksgiving. As we proceed our trains become smaller and the tracks rougher, but we do not care. We are going Home! Our car sways and jerks, and passengers leave until we are practically alone, but each mile the day seems brighter and our hearts much lighter. It has been months since we have seen the folks-why, it has been nearly two years. We have been so very busy trying to make ends meet that we have not found time. We probably would not be going now but we are so tired and so eager to escape for a few days. Won't the folks be surprised ! I bet dad is milking now and doing the chores; no, it is too late for that. He is reading his paper while mother stuffs her turkey for the morrow.
Slowly the locomotive wheezes to a stop, as if each breath would be its last. Off we leap. We intended to phone for the family flivver, but one glance at the moon and a whiff of the peppy atmosphere tempt us to walk and make our surprise complete. Finally the road makes a turn over the brow of a hill and below us in the valley-yes, there is Home. From the kitchen windows warm lights twinkle, while over- head the moon bestows a glowing benediction. Across the valley the mountains hover protectingly. All is so peaceful, so serene, no noise disturbing the night air. Our weariness is lifted from us like a cloak, and our spirit is free and unfettered.
Down the road we go with quickened step until, when within a few rods of the house, my old collie bounds out of the shadows with a bark of recognition. It seems so good to see him and to hold him close. But the kitchen door opens and father looks out to deter- mine the cause of canine commotion. Here we are, home again. Tears of joy and happiness course down all cheeks unrestrainedly.
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Far into the night we sit and talk. Finally, completely stuffed with an unwieldy combination of apples, cider, butternuts and popcorn, we climb those familiar stairs, and sink contentedly into that feather bed.
Morning comes, and with it a thousand memories live again. There are those old familiar odors that never seemed so sweet before ; apples from the cellar, smoked ham from the shed, and buttermilk from the milk room. There are as few household improvements as before. The furniture is the same but somewhat older. Gray hair has turned to white. The milk company has just made another cut in price, forcing a still greater curtailment in the family budget. I don't go near the barn-my favorite pony has passed away. Compared with our city flat the house looks bleak indeed-or at least it would if real people were not living there. I have followed the crowded thoroughfares of life and I have known the famed and rich, but none of them are as happy as mother and dad with their simple comforts. Here is peace and understanding; here a heap of living has made a place called Home! Yes, and the same is true of the old neighbors.
Out of my reverie I arouse myself when the nice brown turkey is placed upon the table. We all gather around and when all is in readiness there is complete quiet until dad asks the blessing of the Creator of the universe and gives thanks for His bountiful goodness. Yes, the turkey and everything else is as good as only mother knows how to make them, and I eat more than my share, but my thoughts are not primarily of food. On this Thanksgiving Day my heart is filled with gratitude, that I am home, and that I have learned that success in living depends not upon external factors but on one's inner self. This after all is the message of the farm.
CHAPTER XVI
The Development of Resorts
The resort business in this area has grown from a small beginning until today it promises to become the dominant enterprise. As we have seen, the lumber era is definitely a thing of the past. However important the mineral industry is today, its activity covers a narrower realm than previously, in the sense that it is confined to far fewer communities than was the case originally. As for agriculture in the Champlain Valley, it has been compelled by a variety of influences to shift from one type of farming to another rather than to concentrate long on one, and in spite of this resourcefulness of the residents a depressed and underprivileged condition exists. To supplement, and in some cases to replace, these three distinct economic interests has been, and at present is, the lot of the resort industry. The recent and present economic trend is clearly toward the development of the resort business. This tendency is evident almost everywhere. There are many townships where the dominance of the lumber industry was once complete yet where, today, practically the whole source of com- munity income is derived from the summer resort business, which lasts, in many cases, only from the Fourth of July to Labor Day. The money earned during the two summer months must support the resi- dents for the other ten. Even the minor winter occupations have dis- appeared, partly due to our machine age. One source of income, pro- viding labor for many, was the harvesting of ice on our numerous lakes; but the electric refrigerator has almost forced an end to that occupation. There are many towns so affected, particularly in the moun- tainous areas where agriculture is unprofitable; and the reader's attention has been called to them time and time again in the county chapters. Even in the most fertile agricultural districts, the number of farm houses catering to tourists to supplement the family income
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is constantly growing. The prosperity of our cities depends somewhat upon the buying power of the people on the surrounding farms and in the neighboring towns, and there are many indications that the eco- nomic leaders of our urban centers are aware of the importance of the development of this area as a huge resort. Chambers of commerce have become increasingly active in this respect and more and more are pooling their resources and their efforts.
(Courtesy Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce)
THE MT. VAN HOEVENBERG OLYMPIC BOB-RUN AT LAKE PLACID
There is no question but that the resort business in this section rests upon a firm and secure foundation. The attractions of this area are so great and varied that it is difficult to imagine how it can ever suffer a permanent recession, provided, of course, that the residents do not sacrifice their birthright in favor of temporary economic gain. There are three major reasons for this conclusion.
In the first place there are few areas in North America so rich historically. As long as our nation endures, no red-blooded American
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can be indifferent to the great heritage of this region. In the wars that decided whether the continent was to be primarily French or English, events taking place here between Fort Edward on the south and Crown Point on the north were of momentous importance. In the Revolution, the Champlain Valley, and the broad battlefields farther south at Saratoga and Bennington, may well be said to have consti- tuted the cradle of American liberty. In the War of 1812, events in Plattsburgh Bay were vital in determining whether our Nation should continue to be independent. Up and down these valleys marched some of the most famous armies of Europe. Here haughty British redcoats, kilted Scotchmen, sturdy Frenchmen and German merce- naries mingled with colonial frontiersmen and copper-hued monarchs of the forest. Here were once a great number of noted leaders and generals whose names will live forever on the pages of history. It is not necessary to call the roll anew; their memories are enshrined for- ever in our hearts and guarded by some of the oldest mountains in the world. In certain areas practically every feature of the landscape is associated with some deed of valor, or drenched with human blood. At the same time these valleys are hallowed by the lives of saintly men seeking nobly and unselfishly to spread the word of God. Today reconstructed forts, battlefields and museums make the past live again. Here Americans will forever wish to rededicate themselves to uphold- ing cherished liberties and institutions won here by so much sacrifice. Here, in the Champlain Valley, is our historical Mecca.
In the second place, a resort must have beauty. Not only does this section possess this quality to a delightful degree, but presents a wide variation of attractions. Practically every type of physical beauty imaginable exists somewhere in these eleven counties. There are lakes of all sizes and shapes, from huge Champlain itself to the tiniest Adirondack gem. There are several rivers, each with its own interpretation of beauty. There are all kinds of mountains, ranging from the gigantic and precipitous peaks of Essex County to the green, smoother summits of Vermont. The forests abound with fish and game. There are rich, rolling farm lands thickly populated with fruit orchards, crops and herds of cattle. There are clean, beautiful cities; and on the other hand there are old-fashioned New England villages, picturesque as they nestle in their valleys, with their church steeples rising above the horizon. In Grand Isle County, along the lake shore,
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we find all the refreshment and beauty of a seacoast drive. It would be exceedingly difficult to find an area of comparable size elsewhere possessing as much charm or as wide a variety of beauty as does the territory covered by this research. Each of our eleven counties con- tributes much.
There may be an area of equivalent beauty elsewhere; there are sections of equal historical importance; yet I know of no territory of like size that possesses such a happy combination of these two attrac- tions. In addition to these, however, we come to a third major attrac- tion of the Champlain Valley which up to the present has been rather neglected, except in isolated instances. I refer to that great mass of local traditions that enriches our local history and lends color and meaning to beauty. Every town has its own peculiar story ; while fre- quently islands, mountains, bays and points have strange tales to tell. In some cases the narratives are true; in others they are obviously false; in still others we will never know. I have recorded many of them in the chapters on the various counties. They give us a picture of the early days and tell us what pioneer life was like. They record, sometimes, early community achievements which should stimulate town pride and better citizenship. Occasionally they explain a com- munity's development more forcefully than the pages of a history book. They add to beauty and our appreciation of a given geograph- ical feature. The story of Duncan Campbell of the Black Watch haunts Ticonderoga and all of Lake George. My own town of Bol- ton is more interesting than it would be otherwise because of a beau- tiful Indian legend connected with it. Perhaps it is untrue, but it unlocks the hidden past. It is possible that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet, as Shakespeare once wrote, but I am positive that Fort Edward would not seem the same were it not for the story of Jane McCrea. Throughout these eleven counties the situation is much the same. That courageous Chittenden County housewife who repelled an Indian attack with beer; the struggles of that free-love colony on Valcour Island; and a thousand and one other stories, accounts and legends make this area more beautiful and attractive than ever. This territory's beauty is not merely skin-deep-a matter of exterior polish; it has a soul as beautiful as its external features.
This list of factors, which seems to make the future of this area secure as a resort center, can easily be extended. Perhaps the most
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notable of these possible additions has to do with the mineral springs. There is no question of their importance as we shall soon see, but I have not included them among the major factors because they are very much confined to one county and are not of general extensiveness throughout this territory.
The communities of the Champlain Valley possess historical lore, beauty and traditions in varying proportions. In some townships one is dominant; in others a different attraction leads the way; in any case few towns exist without one of the three. Some resorts are quite new, while others have their roots deep in the past. Some sheltered ponds and streams of remarkable beauty are known but to a few, while other places have attained world-wide fame and have lured Europeans to our shores for more than a century. Some communities have no resort history other than that related in our county chapters, while others possess a vast storehouse of information. This is primarily a record of past achievement and only secondarily a description of our present day resort communities. Much as we would like to allot space to a discussion of all towns important to this economic field, that is manifestly impossible in a book that is history and not a guide. We are compelled here to confine our attention to those resorts which pos- sess historical importance in that economic sphere. The communities which possess the greatest resort traditions may or may not be the most attractive; that is not for me to decide; each reader and tourist has his own ideas.
The oldest, and one of the best known, of our resort sub-divisions centers around Saratoga Springs. Although at one time the mineral waters at Ballston Spa were paramount, they have long since been eclipsed by the development at the neighboring community. For cen- turies before the white man arrived, the springs were known to the Indians, who appreciated their wonderful healing qualities. As Dr. Ferris remarked: "It is indeed fascinating to think that while Conrad III of Germany and Louis VII of France were engaged in their unsuccessful attack on Damascus a band of red men were making propitiatory offerings to the Manitou of High Rock Spring about the year 1150." Here it was that the Iroquois brought Sir William Johnson in 1767. The general quickly recovered from a serious malady as a result, and subsequently wrote to Philip Schuyler that he had been cured by the waters of "a most amazing spring."
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The first white habitation here was built by Dirck Scoughten in 1771, near High Rock Spring. At this time there were fifteen or twenty Indian cabins nearby and the entire area was more or less a wilderness with all varieties of wild animals very much in evidence. Famed Gideon Putnam came to Saratoga in 1789. At first he leased a farm and ran a sawmill. Later, in 1802, he built seventy feet of what was for a long time known as the Union Hall, where the Grand Union Hotel now stands. It was opened in 1803. From that time on, the growth of Saratoga as a watering place was steady and continu- ous, although slow. In 1820 there were but three habitations near the springs and these consisted solely of log houses. They were, how- ever, always filled with strangers and it was almost impossible to obtain accommodations. At that time the surrounding neighborhood was still a thick forest. We are indebted to James Stewart for a descrip- tion of the village in 1828 : "It consists of a fine broad street, fringed with trees, having so many large and splendid hotels that it appeared to me that there were more extensive accommodation for company than at Harrowgate. Fifteen hundred people have been known to arrive in a week. They come from all parts of the States, even from New Orleans, at the distance of between two and three thousand miles, to avoid the heat and unhealthy weather which prevail in the southern part of the States during the end of the summer, and to enjoy the very wholesome and pleasant mineral waters at Saratoga." As time went on this community became the social center of the élite. It was the fashion for men and ladies of importance to spend sum- mers here. Elaborate carriages with prancing horses thronged the main street of the village in the day of hoop skirts, when Saratoga stood as the "glass of fashion and the mold of form."
During this period of constant growth there was no attempt at undue commercial exploitation of the springs, the flow being utilized mostly at the fountain heads for those who would come for it. Bottling was conducted on a very conservative basis with the springs being allowed to flow only under their own natural pressure. In 1900, how- ever, the history of the springs entered another stage, it being found that the carbonic acid gas could be profitably separated, liquefied and sold. As a result deep wells were bored everywhere and water from the flowing wells was wasted in increasing quantities as the demands for gas developed. Ultimately, pressure decreased and deep pumping was
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resorted to, a practice that affected the level and quality of all the other springs. Saratoga Springs, thereupon, was faced with a decade of rapid and marked decline as a health resort, a situation that I hope will not be lost on those who today would selfishly sell out other sec- tions of our resort area, consisting of these eleven counties.
The depressed situation existing at Saratoga continued until the State Legislature took action in 1909. Then the State Reservation was created, and provision was made for the purchase of the springs by the State. Three years later every principal spring had been taken over, pumping had been stopped entirely (a drastic change from an output of 150,000,000 gallons per year), and the mineral waters had begun to return to their usual levels. If the State had not intervened the springs would have been lost forever. In 1916 the control of the waters was vested in the Conservation Department. Later, in 1929, Franklin D. Roosevelt, then Governor, decided that the time had come for a complete development for Saratoga and persuaded the Legisla- ture to appoint the Baruch Commission to formulate a program to that end. As a result of that committee's report in 1930, Saratoga Spa was made a part of the State's public health service, and an initial appropriation of $2,000,000 was made. In 1933 a loan from the Reconstruction Finance Corporation was secured to make it a self-liquidating project, and a special corporation, entitled the Sara- toga Springs Authority, was created by the Legislature to receive the $3,200,000 secured from the Federal government and to administer it.
At present only nineteen springs are allowed to flow, in order to protect their quality and their future. The waters of three-the Gey- ser, Hathorn and Coesa-are bottled. Seven flow for springside drinking, including Old Red, which has been in continuous use since 1774. The waters of six are reserved for use in the bathing establish- ments, while three are allowed to play as spouters.
Saratoga's mineral waters have a wide range of medicinal quali- ties, and it would be not the part of wisdom to partake of them indis- criminately and extensively without a physician's advice. Hathorn water is a cathartic; Coesa is mildly laxative; Geyser is an antacid, used for gout, arthritis, diabetes, etc. Mineral water has been used successfully for a wide range of human weaknesses. It would require extensive discussion to describe the buildings, accommodations and equipment found here. It is sufficient to say that Saratoga is the first true spa the United States has ever had, and is open the year around.
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A watering-place such as Saratoga is naturally a resort commu- nity. Here people can combine health and pleasure. This particular spa has the added advantage of being in striking distance of the north- ern lakes and peaks and cool mountain retreats, and at the same time geographically situated in such a way as to be readily accessible from the thickly populated cities of the Atlantic seaboard. With multitudes of people swarming to the springs each year, it is inevitable that all manner of recreation would thrive here. Most famous of the by-prod- ucts, supplementary to the springs, is the sport of horse racing.
The Saratoga Race Track was established in 1864 by John Mor- rissey, who was a combination of prize fighter, sportsman and Con- gressman. It is today one of the most beautiful tracks in the United States, and in 1939 celebrated its Diamond Jubilee. Horsehaven, opposite the course, accommodates nearly 2,000 horses in a season. Here we find each August some of the world's most famous horses and jockeys. Here we see thrilling race classics as we sit in the vast and comfortable grand stands. Here the crowds congregate to hail the new kings of the turf as they collect their huge purses.
As a social center, Saratoga Springs needs no introduction. It is still the gay, glittering, cosmopolitan Saratoga of the past except for the leveling influence of the automobile. It is still the center of wealth and fashion. In August its proud hotels abound with millionaires, bankers, politicians, statesmen, handsome women and gilded youth. New York's social register is particularly prominent. During the rac- ing season the whole sporting fraternity seems to move in en masse, not only the owners with their expensive strings of horseflesh, but also jockeys, stable help, race followers, sport writers, horse lovers and gam- blers-certainly a heterogeneous assemblage. In any case Saratoga Springs today remains one of the major resort attractions of this entire area.
The second major resort development to take place was around Lake George. Long before the coming of the white man it was well known to all Indian tribes as one of their main highways of travel. Beginning with Isaac Jogues, far back in 1646, it has been a subject of rhapsody among the leaders of the white race. As one author has said: "Writers and travelers, dog-eared black-letter and modern guidebooks have vied with each other in the use of adjectives to describe the beauties of Lake George. It is unnecessary. Those who
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have seen the lake know its charm and loveliness; those who have not can gain no adequate conception from the printed page." Whereas early steam navigation on Lake Champlain was based upon the carry- ing of freight, on Lake George its dependence was almost exclusively centered on passenger traffic. In fact, 93 per cent of the revenue was derived from the carrying of tourists on the southern lake, leaving but 7 per cent to be divided among freight, mail and express charges. In
THE MODERN MINERAL WATER BOTTLING PLANT OF THE SARATOGA SPA
all, Lake George steamboats have carried over 6,000,000 passengers. There is no way of estimating the much greater number of tourists who have seen this waterway from the roads along its shore since the day that the automobile came into vogue. Lake George had a reputation in many sections of Europe over a century ago.
The first hotel located on Lake George was the famous Mohican House, erected at Bolton soon after 1800. It remained in operation
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until 1898, when it was converted into the beautiful Bixby home. In this alteration the foundations were left unchanged and today they remain the same size and shape as was the base of the old hotel. The oldest of the large hotels that still exist is Fort William Henry, on the edge of Lake George village near the site of the historical fort of the same name. Built in 1854 and 1855 it catered for many years to high society exclusively. Another of the lake's unique and famous hotels is the Sagamore, located on Green Island near Bolton. Here there have been three buildings bearing the same name, the first hav- ing been erected in 1883. The present one is a member of the Abbott chain of hotels. In addition to these there have been many others scattered here and there along the shore of the lake, catering particularly to the steamboat passengers.
Compared with Lake George, the development of Lake Cham- plain as a resort area was fairly recent. The first large hotel erected here was Hotel Champlain at Bluff Head in 1899. The scenery here is radically different from that found on Lake George, and it even varies considerably from one section of the lake to another. Stod- dard described Lake Champlain as being very much like a long, slim radish in shape, with long roots and outbranching river fibers. While this certainly does not do justice to the peculiar charm that is Cham- plain it at least indelibly fixes the shape of its geographical contours in one's mind. Whether we face the broad, rolling farmlands that constitute much of the Vermont shore or such rugged features as Split Rock, whether we prefer the river-like extremity in the south or the broad oceanic bosom of the north, Lake Champlain's most dis- tinctive attribute is its majesty.
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