015 - The Adirondack Dream

Why did people come to the Adirondack region searching for The American Dream?

Transcript

The Adirondack Dream

Preview Segment 

You have probably heard of the ‘American Dream’. It’s the belief that as a nation the United states offers freedom that will include the opportunity for success. Many of those same people that immigrated to the US and travelled through Ellis Island in the 1800s eventually moved to the Adirondacks. They were still pursuing their dream of a better life. 

This episode will explore the challenges and successes involved in following a dream of prosperity to the Adirondacks. Did the Adirondack Dream come true for immigrants?

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast Intro - Ready to earn some extra credit? You are listening to ADKX-tra Credit, a podcast for students about the history of the Adirondack Mountains and the people that have lived, worked, and played here. The Adirondack Experience, the Museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is located in the heart of the Adirondack Park of New York State. 

CONTENT

Adirondack residents come from all over the world. Indigenous people have lived here for  over 12,000 years. The first settlers in the 1700s were immigrants from Europe and Canada. 

If your class has studied immigration into the United States you know that of the people that chose to come to this country of their own free will most have been pursuing the American Dream. This continent has represented an opportunity to find things that were not obtainable in the country they were born in. For example, people from Ireland, Scotland and England saw an opportunity to have land of their own. To have a farm that they owned, and not work their entire life on a farm that was owned by a wealthy aristocrat. Other people from other countries had similar ambitions. 

Since this country was viewed as a land of economic opportunity there were lots of reasons to leave the old country behind and seek prosperity in a new place. Some of the reasons were crop failure, job shortages, high taxes, and famine. Some people were seeking another type of freedom as well. They were escaping political or religious persecution.  

James Truslow Adams created the term “The American Dream”.  In 1931 he defined it this way:

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 "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth."

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You may be asking yourself ‘But, how did they end up here?” What does the Adirondacks have to do with all that? If you have ever been to the Adirondack Experience you know that we are pretty far away from any cities. If you listen to a previous episode of this podcast titled Are We There Yet? You will hear just how long it took to get here in the age before automobile travel. So, what made people think “I’m going to leave the city and travel to the mountains where there are no stores or anything and start a new life.” 

Once again there are many answers to that. As I mentioned before some were looking for land that they could call their own. And though it took a couple of days to get to the heart of the Adirondacks it was still closer to cities, like NYC and Boston. Most immigrant people entered the US through the ports in those cities, so they probably had family and friends in those places. And think of what they got for their effort once they got here to the mountains! Beautiful lakes and rivers full of fish, a forest heavily populated with animals for hunting and trapping. And acres and acres of trees that could be harvested to build a home. All of it available to anyone willing to put in the time and work. People who wanted to live in a place that had clean air and plenty of space did well in the Adirondacks. 

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“French Louie” Seymour was a well-known guide, lumberman, and trapper that immigrated from Canada to the West Canada Lakes area of the Adirondacks. Like many Adirondack woodsmen, Louie earned money trapping, maple sugaring, and guiding sportsmen. His reputation as a colorful backwoods character no doubt served to attract clients. He kept snakes as pets, wore clothing several sizes too big, and had a knack for imitating all sorts of woodland creatures; he could scream like a panther, howl like a wolf, and make calls of the loon, hawk, and wild cat. 

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As time went by, industries began to prosper in the Adirondacks. Logging and mining were big business and hired many people at a good wage. Well, a good wage for the time period. A dollar or two a day doesn’t seem like much today, but back then to the poor that had immigrated to the US in the middle of the 1800s it was good money. Well worth leaving behind the old country. 

Another industry that flourished was shoe leather tanneries. That seems odd but the bark from Hemlock trees was used to tan animal skins, making it into leather. The Adirondacks had lots of hemlock trees to use for this purpose. 

Also, as more people moved to the area those people needed things. They needed goods and services for their daily life. That opened up opportunities for people to peddle goods, open stores or other businesses. Blacksmiths, wheelwrights, shopkeepers, and even school teachers are all people that provide a service and are paid for doing so because people needed their skills.

It’s just like simulation games where you build a civilization. Except these people weren’t playing on a phone or laptop. They were out there in the woods being bitten by black flies and doing physically hard work for ten or twelve hours a day.  The people that populated this civilization were immigrants. People that had done the same type of hard work in the country they came from. They used their skills here in the Adirondacks to make new lives for themselves. 

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Mose 

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That was part of an interview with Mose Ginsberg. He immigrated to the US from Lithuania. Mose became a peddler in the Tupper Lake area in the 1880s when he was only twelve years old. He eventually was able to stop walking door to door and when he was a young man opened a department store. He was a successful person and a leader in his community.

Today we often think of prosperity as being extremely rich, like a movie or recording star. So, when we look back on the people of the Adirondack Mountains of the 19th century it’s harder to determine if they were prosperous. Their work was very hard. They didn’t have easy access to goods. But, weren’t their lives rich and full as defined by The American Dream?

There are plenty of stories of people doing well for themselves. One of the things the Adirondacks is known for are the Great Camps that were built in the late 1800s by very wealthy businessmen and their families. Great Camp’s were more like a fancy resort than like a camp. They were a fancy resort that was only for one family. They had to have a year-round staff with a long list of skills needed to maintain the buildings and grounds and provide a home for the family. The Great Camps were completely self-sufficient. That means they didn’t need any outside help for anything. Because of this they had a very large staff, most of whom were immigrants. The Adirondack Experience has a lot of pictures of Great Camps and the swanky people that owned them. Not as many of the vast number of people that worked at them. Some of those workers were able to turn their humble careers into ownership of resorts and vacation getaways of their own. 

Another industry that brought many people to the area looking for a better life was Tourism. As I said before, earlier episodes talk more about how the Adirondacks became a popular vacation destination. So, I’ll just tell you that it did and it still is a very popular place for people looking to have fun doing outdoors activities like boating, fishing, hunting, skiing, you name it. And all those people looking for fun need goods and services too. 

That means more jobs opened up for workers willing to provide those goods and services. Lots of people opened hotels and resorts. Those hotels needed housekeepers, cooks, and other service people. There were opportunities for Guides to take people on fishing, hunting, and hiking adventures. Railways needed workers on the trains that brought the people to the mountains. It’s a long list. But you can see how one thing leads to another and more people found that they could pursue their American Dream in the Adirondacks. 

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All those people from all those different areas of the world shaped the region. Each group brought their traditions and culture. Many are still celebrated today. How do you see that heritage today? Look at the celebrations, food and style of building that has been around a long time.

The town I live in celebrates St. Patrick's Day. Many of the families that populated the town originated in Ireland. There are a lot of hints like that to local heritage. Not just celebrations but other traditions, street names, and the variety of religious institutions. With all of that heritage are stories of the people that brought their culture with them here to the Adirondacks, following a dream.

TRANSITION - ADKX Podcast conclusion - Thank you for joining us for an episode of ADKX-tra Credit. This podcast is brought to you by Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake. Our mission is to expand understanding of Adirondack history and the relationship between people and the Adirondack wilderness, fostering informed choices for the future. If you want to learn more fun Adirondack history visit our website theadkx.org