An Adirondack Stag Party
C. If. Eckcrman's Story of
An Outing Last Summer
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Ttie Oovfrnor went to hla Inland Kamp,
Whoop her lip, Rebecca!
The fire was warm ami the lake was damp,
Whoop her up, Rebecca!
lie paddled after a bg cow-moose,
Her nose hooked up r.nd her Hp hung loo.e.
And heading her off with many a ruse,
Cried, Whoop her up, Rebecca !
i 1 Knurr A was a big, wild, stilt-
I 1J I leRged, bump-faced, female iiio.bo,
I I ' who broke upon us darkly In tha
IJJHl early dawn, Just as we were turn-
i ' Hit ing over for a final beauty sleep on
the fragrant balsam boughs of an open
island camp on I-ake Kora, a part of Gov
ernor Woodruff's famous Kamp Kill Kare.
Every night the governor Invited a small
party of us to this island, far distant from
the main camp, so that we might rea'Ize
how deep we were In the heart of the
wilderness. Lying here, with only the shel
ter of an open "lean-to" above us and a
log Are blazing at our feet, we knew that
all the strange denizens of the forest were
prowling about us in the most approveJ
"deer-slayer" fashion. If any of us thought
we were drawing a bit on our Imaginations,
that Idea was startled out of us when Re
becca loomed up out of the lake in the
utarry dawn, looking as big as a block of
houses to our astonished gaze.
Wow, moose is big game and bull moose
Is sometimes dangerous game, but the
closed season and Rebecca's sex prevented
any shooting. Rebecca disappeared for the
time, but at daylight the governor sent
guides to beat up the bush and drive her
Into the lake, where ensued a lively canoe
chase, in which the governor skillfully
drove the creature on to the shore, where
one of the party managed to get a camera
hot at her curious elongated physiognomy
which here comes bunting eo lntruslvtly
Into the foreground.
The present utory turns upon Kamp
Kill Kare and the governor or, to be pre
cise, Hon. Timothy L. Woodruff, three
times lieutenant governor of New York, re
publican leader, successful nit re liant and
manufacturer and enthusiastic lover of
outdoor life.
If you read the papers you know that the
governor is always doing something, but it
Is never hla fellow man. If you imagine
him as only or chiefly a politician, you
nilss the larger side of one of the most in
teresting and forceful personalities In
American public life. Politics is only one
Item in his account. He is one of the few
who can hold politics in one hand and
business in the other without ever crossing
his hands. He has won his way manfully
step by step to prosperity, not through
politics, but by unflagging energy In com
mercial life and sound business Judgment.
He started after graduation from Yale col
lege as a clerk in a wholesale establishment
downtown in New York City. He is now a
director in many bunks and trust com
panies and president and treasurer of a
number of large manufacturing corpora
tions. Every affair he has touched has felt the
force of his enthusiasm and industry.
When the Birlth Premier Typewriter com
pany was reorganized last winter hi w
male its president and has accomplished
the feat of putting up a factory bu:ldiug
containing 'jw.WO feet of floor spare in
three months, when It was generally be
lieved it would take eight to ten months.
The company's branch office managrrs all
over the United Staid became imbued w.th
this spirit and were hustling for orders all
summer as they had never hustled before.
"Now," said President Woodruff, one au
tumn day, "stop hustling for a week. Come
fjp to Kamp Kill Kare and enjoy yourselves,
Tery man of you. Get out of the heat
nd dust and grlud; get away rum bikka
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GKNKRAl, PROSPECT
and mortar, Ftone pavements and larsalns
and sales. Come to the mountains for a
week and live." When the governor comes
Into that rort of game, the limit is off.
They came from all over; spent a dy at
Syracuse inspecting the new tig plant and
then "plunged" per Ad rondack si eclal Into
the wilderness. For a week those forty
men lived.
Kamp Kill Karo, on the borders of beau
tiful Lake Kora, is by long odd the most
picturesque of the famous Adirondack
camps. It 1 about ten mi'.03 from Ra
quette Lake station, and more than fifteen
miles in every direction from any human
habitation except the camps of Alfred G.
Vanderbilt and J. Pierpont Morgan, each
about three miles d stant. The country is
so wild that it cost from $4,00) to per
mile to build the twenty or so miles of
wagon roads leading to these different
camps.
Governor Woodruff's domain here consist
of 1.500 acres and the main camp is situ
ated In a clearing of perfectly kept grounds
In the midst of fragrant mounUtn balsams,
spruce, cedar and birch, and consist cf
nearly a dozen picturis:iue cottages and
other buildings, largo und small, built of
well matched, rough-sawn cedar logsi with
out, but finished and equipped Inside lo
the limit of civilized comfort and con
venient and consummate taste.
Some of the most prominent figure i in
public life have been among the fortunate
guests of Kamp Kill Kare. When Frank
T. Black was governor of New York In
'97- 98 he was here a great deal. Governor
Odell has been here several times, and twlje
for quite a visit with Senator Piatt. C. P.
Huntington, who had a camp In Raquette
Lake, in which he died two years ago,
often came here.
In front of the main camp a green slope
reaches down through a balsam to Lake
Kora, a mile long mirror, wherein the hill
gods make their daily toilet, where the
wild deer and moose swim unmolested till
the hunting t-eason opens, and spe k.ed
trout Joyously wag their little tails and
sometimes swallow a gorgeous ily with a
governor or a United States senator at
the other end of the line. Two big bl ick
bears Dick and Marie are chaineJ neir
the lake and a beautiful little spot e 1
fawn trots confidently about the piths
and grassy banks and even occasionally
ventures Indoors.
To this woodland parndise came the
forty weary and dusty typewriter pluggerj
to "loaf and invito their souls," and, as
one of the forty, the writer can attest that
while our s iuls may have lit e:i along
they never gave us a moment's uneasiness
from the instant of entering the char i el
domain. Our stomachs were, the ptineipil
features In evidence. The air, clear, cold
and tonic as rare wine, gives one a raven
ous uppetite und when we were not eating
or drinking we were generally getting
ready to.
We fished, swam, paddled or rowed, and
roamed at will over the beautiful grounds,
or, accompanied by proficient guides, ven
tured deeper into the forest. At nlht we
were duly installed under much-needed
blankets in the various cottages of the
main camp, except those of us who pre
ferred an open camp, or "lean-to," on
balsam boughs before one of the roaring
log fires, blazing everywhere about the
camp, indoors and out, after dark until
morning. And h re we slept the sleep of
the JuHt-ari Ivtd.
One day we climried the mountain west
of the lake to a smaller camp with a bal
cony built over the sheer face of the
mountain and from which w behold a
AT KAMP KIIX KAUIi
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ON BEAUTIFUL
magnificent prospect of shining laxrs and
bills beyond hills, stretching away, in
all shades of green and misty blue. This
wonderful observation point Is well called
"Krow's Knest." (It is the fashion of
the Kamp to spell everything possible)
with a "K.") It Is .perched on tlu back
bone of hills which form the watershed
between the Hudson and St. l.awrenco
rivers, and overlooks two or three lakes
which mark the points of un equal-sid-d
triangle, exactly two miles between each.
One lake is a rart of Mr. Morgan's camp,
the second of Mr. Vanderbilt's and tho
third Is Lake Kora, one of the head
waters of the Hudson and part of our
ownv Kamp Kill Kare. Our own we
called it, because our host and hostess
made It ours with n complete and tactful
hospitality which captured all our hearts.
In lis general aspect the camp is similar
to other large Adirondack camps, but u,
captivating note of individuality prevail
throughout the entire scheme of Kami
Kill Kare and Is manifest In every func
tion of the exquisitely perfect entertain
ment offered to its guests. The Kamp I
everywhere pi rvaded by the rare spirit of
its unique host and charming hostess.
You see and feel at every turn the hearty,
spontaneous, democratic good-fellowshi,
which has made Governor Woodruff at
once a comrade and a leader of men.
To one who has not visited the Kamp It
Is Impossible to convey on paper mo e
than the faintest idea of its Inlinlte variety
of charm, both of nature and art. The
site was evidently an old Indian bunting
ground long before the days of Fenlmor.i
Cooper's faniou t heroes. Many of the In
teresting relics and oddities usel In lha
decoration or construction of the Kamp
buildings, such as arrow heads, uxes,
hatchets, knives and moose horns, were
found In excavating for cellars, In plow
ing the gardens or in dynamiting stumpi
to make pasture. With few exceptions, u.'l
the rustic furniture und the ur'ously
wrought iron work, everywhere In evidence,
were made here by Governor Woodruff's
force of bandy men, all natives of tho
woods, who have learned to handle a saw
or use a forge as well as an axe.
On the island In Iike Kora, reached by
a long rustic bridge, lighted at night wlUi
hundreds of colored lanterns, is Kill Kare
Kabln, a huge cusUc playhouse equlppcl
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LAKE KORA.
WATCHING REBECCA
with every means of enjoyment and en
tertainment which u lively stag party could
Imagine or desire. Here the "boys" gath
ered daily on the wide piazza overlooking
the lake and nightly around the great
stone fireplace to swap yarns, or about tho
piano to acclaim melodiously that classic
locality "Down Where the Wurxburger
Flows" with appropriate Illustrations
drawn from a keg skillfully conveyed Into
the scene on a wheelbarrow.
One of the most Interesting things about
this whole hilarious expedition is the fact
that it was a sterling example of the mod
ern spirit in business affairs which brings
the heads of great enterprises and their
employes together upon- a high plane of
mutual respect and recognition, not only
to the benefit of humanity and go. d
fcllowshlp, but to flic Immense advantage
of the business In which they are mutually
Interested. C. W. ECKERMAN.
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