In the summer of 1913, two principals of a company called The Oval Wood Dish Corporation, located at the time in Traverse City, Mich., took a vacation trip through the Adirondacks. When they passed through Tupper Lake, they immediately noticed the large stands of hardwood and learned “that little or no use was being made of it.” At this time, there was little demand for hardwood in this area, and the price for Adirondack timberlands was very attractive. Consequently, as an investment and with no thought of relocating in Tupper Lake, the O.W.D. management purchased in November of 1914 its first timberlands in the Adirondacks.
Timber supply in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, where the Traverse City plant was located, was beginning to be depleted, and the company was considering building a new plant in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, where they owned substantial acreage.
The late Gerald (Gerry) Hull, who was closely identified with the Tupper Lake plant from the outset and headed the firms as president for many years, describes the purchases this way (Simmons 1965, p. 151): “From the Santa Clara Lumber Co., we acquired the Follensby Tract, with the exception of Follensby Pond itself and its shoreline, together with a portion of the Mt. Morris Tract and lands in Township 22 adjoining the Follensby Pond Tract.
The news of this tract soon became generally known and we were immediately solicited to purchase other timberlands in the area. We sent cruisers from Michigan to the Tupper Lake area to take a hasty look at the timber, and some time in the spring or summer of 1915, we secured an option on lands owned by the A. Sherman Lumber Co. and the Racquette River Paper Co. – both of which firms were owned by the same individuals – and also for the timber on Township 19 which was owned by Charles Turner of Malone. The Santa Clara purchase, plus the later options, rounded out a total of 75,000 acres.”
History will record that the O.W.D was a financially successful firm, particularly during the 1940s when the war in Europe resulted in a great demand for wood products, and the popularity of its new “Ritespoon” line produced increased sales and production.
However, during the Depression years in the 1930s, with a choked economy, competition to their woodenware from paper plates and poor initial estimates of its hardwood supply (which proved inadequate from wood rot), the company was experiencing financial difficulties.
This situation caused the O.W.D. management to rethink its policy of allowing its lands to be open to hunters and fishermen. Increased taxes, which had steadily grown, made it necessary to lease those lands for the revenues that would be realized. This would be a major change for a traditional way of life in this community. Suddenly, if you had no access (through membership) to the recently leased lands, your only recourse was to hunt and fish state land, which in this area was sharply limited. The land affected compromised more than 40,000 acres lying in St. Lawrence County, chiefly in Townships 8, 9, 12 and upwards of 6,000 acres in Franklin County, largely in the vicinity of Mt. Morris, Big Simonds Pond and along the Racquette River.
Approximately 1,200 acres in the vicinity of the Oxbow section of the Racquette, between the Barbour road (Follensby) and the state holdings near this village were held open (recently offered for sale by O.W.D. real estate division and presently under lease to the Spring Hill Club).
In the immediate vicinity of the village, two leases were consummated, covering approximately 3,600 acres on the slopes of Mt. Morris and around Big Simonds Pond. A group of local men – Percy Alexander, George Delair, Aime Martin, Emile Themens, A.J. Deshaw and Karl King, leased 1,300 acres extending to the Litchfield line on Mt. Morris (Waukasha Club, now largely Sugar Loaf Club). A tract of some 2,400 acres, which completely encircled Big Simond on three sides, was leased by Dr. R.L. Cook of Sunmount and associates, who owned camps on the pond. This lease was to be called “Big Simonds Fish and Game Club,” and it stretched between the Read and Strange and the Barbour (Follensby) park lines. It was noted that it produced some of the best deer hunting in the area (now Simonds Pond Club aka Teachers Club).
An additional 1,400-acre section lying behind the Tupper Lake Country Club golf course and including Sugar Loaf Mountain was leased to John Wood of Rochester. Some other leases were: The Luke Usher tract (Jo-Indian Club), 2,400 acres; former Congressman Bert Snell (Kildare Pond), 1,600 acres; the Inlet Club, 5,500 acres; the Hollywood Club, 5,000 acres; Potter Brook Club (north of Kildare), 7,000 acres; F.R. Bates and I.H. Hollenbeck of Fort Jackson, N.Y., 7,000 acres (in Parishville, including two miles of the West Branch of the St. Regis River). The leases were to be for 10 years with option to cancel on one year’s notice on the part of either party.
Thus, practically all of the extensive O.W.D. holding in the north one-third of Township 25, which for years was noted for excellent deer hunting, was at once thrown into private hunting clubs. Fifty thousand acres, which for 20 years since being acquired by the O.W.D, was always open to hunters and fishermen without hindrance. It is to be noted that the company had received requests for leases for many years, which were refused so that the area could remain open to local hunters, and it was with great reluctance that leases were negotiated.
Note: Sixty-three years have elapsed since leased land and posted signs became a way of life here. Today, we are undergoing a swing in exactly the opposite direction. Once again, what has become a traditional way of life is suddenly changing. Only this time it is not the granting of a lease that presents the problem, but rather the loss of a lease and its attendant hunting camps – some having been occupied by several successive generations, which, regrettably, will be no more as New York State acquires private lands and sets a time limit on structure removal. Another factor is that as the available private land diminishes, lease fees rise that generate higher dues for members, which makes belonging to a private club increasingly expensive.
Thus, history proves that it is seldom stable. The dynamics of change are its framework, and who knows where the pendulum will next swing in this fast-paced society?