One of the earliest written accounts of Jock’s Lake in the Adirondacks (about twenty-five miles east of Boonville) was given by Jeptha Simms in his 1850 book Trappers of New York: A Biography of Nicholas Stoner & Nathaniel Foster:
“Jock’s Lake, so-called after Jock (Jonathan) Wright, an early trapper upon its shores, is a very pretty lake, five or six miles long, though not very wide; and is situated in the north-eastern or wilderness portion of Herkimer County, some ten miles from a place called Noblesborough. Its outlet is one of the sources of the west branch of West Canada Creek.”
The story of Jock Wright, woodsman, trapper, and early visitor to this lake would make a successful novel of early American life. He was born in Hinsdale, New Hampshire, a small community on the banks of the Connecticut River, not far from where the corners of that state, Vermont, and Massachusetts meet. According to a manuscript provided to Jeptha Simms by Daniel C. Henderson, Wright was 5 foot 10 inches in height, stoutly built, and good-looking. He was a man of few words, possibly from his long periods alone in the wilderness. His speech was said to be brief, forceful, and often laced with sarcasm. He was never known to wear traditional boots or shoes, he preferred instead moccasins or laced waterproof boots called shoe packs. He carried himself later in life with a stooped gait, probably from his years as a woodsman carrying the heavy loads of traps, game, and provisions. One writer listed his “outfit” for an extended trip as “a pound of tea, fifty pounds of cornmeal, gun, traps, and fishing tackle.”
While Wright’s exact year of birth is unknown, Henderson states that “he was a schoolboy just before the Revolution.” As a youth, he enjoyed being alone in the woods and by the age of 18, he was said to be familiar with much of the Northern parts of his home state of New Hampshire.
Jock Wright joined the fight for liberty in June of 1775, five days before the Battle of Bunker Hill. There he helped with the army’s preparation of fortifications for the battle. It was not long before he found military life too quiet and he returned home, though taking up arms again at the time of Arnold’s retreat from Quebec to Ticonderoga in 1776. There, under the leadership of Captain Benjamin Whitcomb, Wright became part of Whitcomb’s Rangers as both a scout and a spy. He served as a ranger until after the surrender of Burgoyne at Saratoga in the fall of 1777.
Returning to New Hampshire after the war, he again took up hunting and trapping, roaming at times as far as Eastern New York and Maine. As his hunting success diminished in New England, he moved westward and in 1796 he settled in Norway, Herkimer County, NY. By this time, he was reported to be between 45 and 50 years of age, and with him were his wife “Nabby,” a son Jonathan, and three daughters. Another daughter was added to the family after they moved to Norway.
In Herkimer County, his hunting partner was a hermit named Nichols, an inexperienced hunter who had come into the area just a few years before Wright. Together they became familiar with the sources of the rivers and streams in a large area of the Southern Adirondacks. They hunted and ran trap lines until 1803 when Nichols was killed while repairing a mill. During this time, Wright came upon the lake given his name, Jock’s, or Joc’s Lake. For years he kept the location of the lake secret, only proving the superior fishing it offered by displaying the magnificent trout he brought back from its shores. The story of this lake circulated widely, and it was not long before another trapper, Nicholas Stoner, decided that he too needed to “discover” a lake to be named for himself. The result was “Nick’s Lake,” the name that the lake, not far from Old Forge, holds even today.
Wright followed the life of a trapper and woodsman until the day he died, and he was known to leave on his trips prepared to be gone for months at a time. As a war veteran he received a pension and this seemed to encourage his willingness to leave his family and pursue his life in the forest. On his last such adventure, around 1826, he returned home sat down to eat and fell dead on the floor. His age was probably around seventy-six when he passed away.
Details of who besides Wright knew the location of this lake are now lost, though a couple of pieces from that puzzle have appeared over the years. First, Howard Thomas in an article for Upstate Monthly Magazine says that before his death Wright’s hunting partner Nichols had gone with Wright to the lake. That report in itself does not tell us much until put together with material from a series of pamphlets written in the 1930s by another with the same surname, Leon Nelson Nichols, titled Tales of the Early Mohawk Region. While a review in a St. Johnsville, New York newspaper described Nichols’ work as “a delightful semi-fiction,” and in the foreword even the author notes them to be “all fiction, except those parts that are true,” there was enough truth bundled there to merit including what it might offer in solving this mystery.
Volume one of this four-part series is titled “Nick Spencer Mighty Hunter,” and highlights the life of Nicholas Spencer, a woodman, and trapper in the mold of such notables in Adirondack history as Nat Foster, Nick Stoner, and our woodsman noted earlier, Jock Wright. The story goes that Spencer came into Herkimer County around the year 1800 on a visit to his sister Abigail and her husband Maze Nichols.
You will note this family also has the same last name as the hermit friend of Jock Wright. In the weeks before the visit by Spencer, a gang of thieves had been stealing horses and other goods from the farms in the Norway region of Herkimer County.
With Nick Spencer at the head, a group of men set out to regain what had been stolen, using Jocks Lake as their headquarters. The chapter even goes to the point of describing several known paths to the lake. This goes against the lake being unknown except to Jonathan Wright at that time. As in any good story, the goods were recovered, and the thieves were never a problem again in that area.
While some of this account has most likely been stretched over the years to make for a good story, the people involved were real. Both Nicholas Spencer and his sister Abigail are listed in Rhode Island records with their parents, and the Nichols are found in Herkimer County in the New York census around the period in question. While it is unlikely we will ever know when Wright and others first stood on the shores of Jocks Lake, it all makes for a good story from the early times in the Mohawk Valley.
“Dut” Barber at Jock’s Lake
The era of visiting sportsmen and winter solitude would continue at Jock’s Lake for another 70 years, and even then, the change was more about a person than the wilderness experience that the location offered.
That person was Amaziah Dutton Barber, known to his friends as simply “Dut.” In his early days he was one of the best known and popular young men in the Utica area, yet by the time of his death in a Penn Yan, New York poorhouse his name had already passed into obscurity, without a relative to mourn his passing. It is said that friends raised the funds to prevent his burial in a pauper’s grave.
He was born July 19th, 1851, in New London, NY, a hamlet of thirty houses about midway between Oneida Lake and the City of Rome, NY. His father, also named Amaziah Dutton Barber, was for a time the proprietor of a small hotel in that town. Amaziah Senior continued to improve his place in the world and gain personal wealth as he became increasingly politically active on both a local and state level. Starting as Deputy Sheriff, he soon became Superintendent of the Black River Canal and finally a lobbyist in Albany for the New York Central Railroad. As he continued to move up in New York political circles, in 1858 he was given the position of New York Harbor Master by the state legislature.
By 1857 a family had moved to Utica, a place that would be their home until after Amaziah Senior’s death in 1892. As was often the case with families of means, Barber’s son Dut attended a private boarding school, the Vermont Episcopal Institute in Burlington, Vermont. This school being only seventy-five miles to the West of St. Johnsbury, Vermont, the town where Dut’s father was born, could well have influenced the decision of choosing this school. An advertisement in the weekly Vermont Phoenix stated that the Institute “prepares for college or business” along with offering military drills and wholesome discipline.
In 1874, twenty-three-year-old Dut Barber, Junior was back in Utica and there partnered with F. W. H. Sheffield in a wagon-making business. Three years later he again partnered with others to start what would become the Utica Fire Alarm Telegraph Company. The 1880 United States Census reveals that he was married, still living at home with an occupation of Fire Alarm Operator, though his obituary states that he was also at one time the company president. His rise in this business soon ended, as by the end of 1880, he had sold out his part of both partnerships.
1880 was also the year that his connection to Jocks Lake began, though exactly how is explained in radically different versions from three different sources.
Understandably painting the best picture was his Obituary in the Utica Press on February 19th, 1923:
“Mr. Barber’s parents had wealth and there was no particular reason why he should tie himself down to business pursuits. He had married a young wife to whom he was devoted, and in 1880 he withdrew from business and decided to live in the woods, at least in all but the winter months. He went to Jocks Lake and there spent most of the time. He leased 1,600 acres of wooded land near the lake owned by the Blake heirs of New York and in time he bought 1,000 acres more. He was one of the Adirondack pioneers.”
In an 1891 issue of Outing Magazine, we have another version:
“About ten years ago A. D. Barber, of Utica, whose health had broken down, was advised by his physician to employ a good guide and make a camp at Jock’s Lake during the summer months. This he did, employing one of the best guides in that region, who added to his skill as a woodsman that of being a fair physician and an excellent nurse.”
In my opinion, the best of the explanations is in a book with the unlikely title Adirondack French Louie, Early Life in the North Woods by Harvey L. Dunham:
“Amaziah Dutton Barber, a rich man’s son, usually called “Dut” or A. D., first came to Jocks Lake sometime in the early 1880s. He had been sowing too many wild oats in the city and his father had the idea that it wouldn’t cost so much to keep him in the woods. As Jock’s Lake was on the large Anson Blake estate and Anson Blake was a friend of the family, Dut, who was a true lover of the woods, went to Jocks Lake just to look the country over. With him was Rouse B. Maxfield, a friend.”
Dunham, the author of the preceding quote, was an amateur historian, who in 1953 self-published the book mentioned earlier. This work was the result of 30 years of research and countless interviews with locals in the West Canada Lake / Black River region. While it was never recorded if he had known, or even met “Dut” Barber, he certainly was close enough to reliable sources that his observations offer the most potential for accuracy.
The property where Dut settled on Jocks Lake was originally part of the 200,000-acre Moose River Tract, of which Anson Blake owned 77,000 acres. Barber’s first 1600 acres were obtained in a lease from Blake, and later on, another 1,000 acres were purchased.
While exactly when Dut Barber first visited the Jock’s Lake is unknown, a look at the life of his friend Rouse Maxfield who was with him when he first visited and other records help to shed some light in that direction.
Maxfield was born in 1847 and was a native of Ohio, Herkimer County, the same town where Jocks Lake is located. In Our County and Its People, a Descriptive Work on Oneida County, NY, By Daniel E. Wager, 1896, we learn more of his life:
“On October 27th, 1862, he enlisted in Co. E, 97th N.Y. Vols., joining the same company in which his brother David E. had been fatally wounded at Antietam. He served until his discharge on June 15th, 1865, participating in the first and second battles of Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded in the right arm and taken prisoner. He lay in the enemy’s lines during the second-and third days’ fight and until they retreated, and then remained with his regiment until the close of the war, being present at Hatcher’s Run, Petersburg, Five Forks, and Appomattox. Returning home, he resumed his studies for one year and then began teaching district school, which he continued winters until 1875. In 1875-77 he taught the Union school at Taberg, NY, where he served as justice of the peace. In 1882 he was clerk of the Board of Supervisors of Oneida County, and in 1883 became a traveling salesman. His old wound broke out at this time and on Dec.1, 1883, his right arm was amputated, which incapacitated him for two years.”
From the Federal Census for Utica, NY we learn that in 1880 Rouse was married, and at that time had two children, Grace, age 3, and Bessie, one-year-old. With this information, we can conclude that his travels with Barber were close to the beginning of the decade, as it seems unlikely that he would have gone to the woods so soon after having his surgery.
At Jock’s Lake Barber found what he needed to recover from his problems. With financial assistance from his father, he secured an area that encompassed the lake and miles of the surrounding woods. By 1885 Dut had built “Forest Lodge,” on the shore of the lake, a structure large enough to serve as both his home and a hotel. His wife, who had been living at his parent’s home in Utica, joined him and Forest Lodge became their home for the next six years. Barber had known Ella since their youth together in Utica and was devoted to her during their years together. Though she walked with a limp from a childhood injury, she was active enough to help, it is even said that she at times was the one who released the dogs when they were used for hunting deer.
By 1887, the main structure, with outbuildings, guides and guide boats, and numerous rustic cabins were all in place. What was missing was paying guests. This it seems was by design. An article by Lloyd Blankman published in the July 30th, 1970, edition of the Clinton Courier supplies a first-hand account of a visit to the lake in 1885:
“In the early evening, from the camp across the lake, came a solitary boatman who proved to be Dut Barber, and who invited us to be his guests for as long as we would like. He was wearing a white cork ‘lion-hunters’ helmet, which was his habitual headgear, and held the habitual cigar between his teeth.
“Although neither of us had ever met him, he was known by reputation by us, as well as every native and visitor in all Wilmurt. His invitation to us revealed his outstanding characteristic, hospitality. Lynch and I received “no exceptional welcome; every woodsman who approached his camp was a welcome guest – it had no latch string.
“Our day extended into the fourth day, we were furnished guns and ammunition to participate in a deer hunt, along with the other guests who were by chance expected friends. Fishing tackle and boat were also at our disposal. Nothing was too good or too choice for his guests.”
An article published in the July 5th, 1888, issue of Forest and Stream Magazine gives the only timeline of the construction and improvements at Forest Lodge:
“On Jock’s Lake, there has developed a very comfortable well-kept hotel, the Forest Forest Lodge on Jock’s Lake, Ella Barber seated in the center, Dut seated on the right Lodge. Mr. Barber, a true lover of the woods, selected some six years ago, a charming point on this lake, and built for himself a bark shanty, and his wife, equally if not more than him in love with the woods life, joined him, and the next year they occupied a rough log cabin, using the shanty for an outhouse; the next a small frame building and turned the cabin into an annex; the next a dozen or more rooms were added and the little frame house became the dining-room of the Lodge, this year a great building of hewn logs, with quarters of perhaps fifty or sixty, it is hoped will be ready July 1st to receive guests. So great was the need of a public house in this vicinity that before entering into the business the Barbers were, except for the important element of receiving compensation, to all intent innkeepers, as in one year they gave shelter and entertainment to over eight hundred people.”
Earlier it was noted that Dut’s father’s wealth supplied the majority of the funds for the building and operation of Forest Lodge. What could have been the reason behind that support can be found in another quote from Dunham’s book French Louie, Early Life in the North Woods.
“Barber kept open house and gave food, shelter, and entertainment without charging a cent. Barber Sr was a lobbyist at Albany, and through him, easy money found its way to his son, enough to keep him contented and satisfied to be away from the attractions of the city. Folding money came by mail and small heavy packages of hard money by express. And also, at the Poland bank, Dut had a checking account with a balance of a few thousand dollars kept in healthy condition by his father.
“Money was so plentiful that the first year or, so everything was free, with no charge for anything, and Dut had all of his old friends and acquaintances up from Utica. They brought lots of money with them and fancy drinks. Barber bought his liquor from Smith & Brown in Utica; and in the backroom were several barrels of fine whiskey, the best, no “scratch all,” with spigots on them. Take your choice! Sometimes, on special occasions, under a little rustic roof like an open summer house, a keg of whiskey with a spigot and a tin cup on a chain were there for those who wanted to help themselves.”
Lumberjacks, gum pickers, and trappers were all welcome. No class distinction at Barbers!
Special guests too were coming, probably on invitation from the old man, from anywhere east of the Mississippi. Barber was running it like a hotel, except for the important element of receiving compensation.
It was mentioned in more than one of these accounts that Dut Barber was a gambler and poker player, at times winning or losing thousands of dollars in one hand. He would wager on almost everything, from the outcome of a flip of a coin to who would get water from the spring based on the cutting of a deck of cards.
As with all things, nothing lasts forever, and changes started in Dut’s life at Forest Lodge in the late 1880s. By 1887 room and board started to be charged, which not surprisingly led to fewer guests for the hotel. It could be that his father, who was by then in his 70s, was no longer able to support the hotel and his son’s lifestyle. The next change was the unexpected death of his wife in 1891, followed a year later by the death of his father.
By 1893, Barber had sold all of his real estate and property on Jock’s and surrounding lakes to the Adirondack League Club, whose objects were preservation of the Adirondack Forest, scientific forestry, and maintaining a preserve for the benefit of their members. Barber continued as the manager of Forest Lodge until at least 1906 and was listed in records also as postmaster for Honandaga during that time. He may not have been living there year-round as he is listed as boarding with his mother in Utica in both 1904 and 1905. It was soon after that the club moved its main headquarters from Forest Lodge to another lake in the preserve. The lodge remained until taken by fire in 1954.
Alfred Donaldson’s history of the Adirondacks gives the price that the Adirondack League Club paid for the property that included Forest Lodge as $475,000. It is not reported how this money was dispersed, so what part went to Dut Barber is unknown. In the whole chapter, there is no reference at all to Barber or his contribution to the development of the property on the lake.
Once Barber’s connection with the lake ended, following his life was left to piece together clues in occasional local newspaper articles and the scant details from census records. A list of North Lake dam gatekeepers has “A. D. Barber,” and the 1900 Federal census of Wilmurt gives his occupation as gatekeeper State Reservoir. The last two references that were found are the 1910 Utica census where he was listed as a boarder with his “own income,” and the 1920 census for Penn Yan, NY, three years before his death, listed as a boarder and employed as a manager of a private estate. Amaziah Dutton Barber passed away in 1923, by then a resident of the local poorhouse, and as mentioned earlier, due to the efforts of friends was laid to rest in that town’s Lakeview Cemetery.
Jock Wright’s secret spot, now called Honondaga Lake, is still under the stewardship of the Adirondack League Club where it is kept as an oasis of wilderness for future generations.
Illustrations, from above: Map of Jock’s Lake is taken from the 1876 E. R. Wallace Map of the Adirondack Wilderness from the author’s collection. Nick Spencer Mighty Hunter is the front cover of Tales of the Early Mohawk Region, No. 1, by L. Nelson Nichols, published by Enterprise and News, St. Johnsville, NY, and published in 1932. “Nick Spencer stalking the Horse Thieves” is from page 4 of the same pamphlet from the author’s collection. The photographs of Dut Barber & Forest Lodge are taken from Harvey L. Dunham’s book Adirondack French Louie, self-published in 1952.
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