66 ADIRONDACK LIFE September + October 2019
They all saw what they hoped to. Ver-
planck Colvin, the great Adirondack sur-
veyor, would not pack his long reports to
the state assembly with news of the 100-
some local guides, woodsmen, surveyors
or packmen in his employ. His interest
lay elsewhere. He kept his focus firm.
Labor stays as same-faced in his pages
as Pharaoh’s slaves (though one work
crew did invite his notice when, failing
to win a raise, they walked off the job in
“soleless, gaping boots”). Variety, individ-
uation, detail, so exquisitely observed in
Colvin’s trees, rockslides, trails and sum-
mits, were in his workers of no interest.
William H. H. “Adirondack” Mur-
ray, whose legendarily influential 1869
Adventures in the Wilderness inspired the
first great flood of visitors to the region,
was more generous with his descrip-
tions, making a positive virtue out of the
poverty which, as he saw it, enabled the
entire Adirondack traveler’s idyll. Where
would visitors be, after all, without hired
hands to set them up with boat and bait
and wilderness adventure? This wasn’t
Vermont or Maine. In these woods, the
watery terrain made an underclass of
paid guides and helpers a necessity.
“Your guide paddles you to the spot, and
serves you while you handle the rod.
This takes from recreation every trace of
toil.” The local guide nursed your camp-
fire, grilled your trout, led you to your
shot, and was, in all practical respects,
the key to your getaway’s success. More
even than the healthful air, the clarity
of starlight, the brilliant fishing or jolly
repartee, an on-site serving class was the
cherished “peculiarity” that “elevate[d]
the Adirondack region above all its rivals,
east or west.” Here, visitors were boss-
es, and service underpinned the culture
of Adirondack rest and recreation from
the get-go. Hence Murray’s devotion of
a book chapter to picking out the help.
Vet your guide as closely as livestock, he
advised. “As a rule avoid an old guide as
you would an old horse.”
The writer-photographer and Adiron-
dack advocate Seneca Ray Stoddard
stressed the importance of good help,
too, and very particular he was. A wit-
less and distracted teamster was grist for
comedy; the poor, over-talky caretaker
at John Brown’s historic home invitedA POOR VIEW
Continued from page 47Nils Edward Luderowski Architect
Keene Valley, New York / 518.576.4446 / http://www.luderowskiarchitect.com
RESIDENTIAL ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN IN AN ADIRONDACK VERNACULARAPA SITE PLANS
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