The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1901-12-29
ADIRONDACK'S GREAT HUNTER
ELIJAH SIMONDS, THE LEATHER
STOCKING or NORTH WOODS.


/ EI~IZABEIHTOWN, ~ H., 70 >"
died in Ehzabethtown not long ago a trapper
OF the old school, in many respects resem-
bling Cooper's Leatherstocking' EhJah
Simonds, or 'Lge Simonds. as he was com
monty called, was a Revolutionary type WIN
clear-cut features, Roman nose and mig
forehead. He was mild-mannereo anu
retiring in disposition. but n shrewo Juueo
| of human nature, and a man VINO e,ooo wen
in The regard Of his neighbors. lie never
boasted of his hunting exploits. and as no
was always neatly dressed, generaiy WIN
white shirt and starched collar, IL was hafu
even for those who knew hin TO reahze
| ,hot his livelihood was gained by trapping
| Though so wears Of age at the time OF his
| ,Iea,b, Siinonds carried on his favorlte
nursuit 10 the last, and there are at the
present time a number Of his fox and bear
| o,d sk,ink traps scattered around in the
woods where they are not likely TO be iouho
simords came Ut good old Yankee stock
| Mia father and grandfather having emil
Grated from the New Hampshire grants,
crossing Lake Champlnin on the ice and
| erecting a pioneers cabin In the eastern
~Adirondacks, Just south OF the present
! village Of Elizabethtown.
Simonds's father was q hunter and ms
| three uncles were all passionately fond OF
m, chase. and the hoy came naturally by
| the trait which proved tho ruling passion
~ bis life. At he set his first deadfau
| md framed his first mink In the brook
which ran by the cabin door. When he
yy,s N \ settler named Willis Gates lost a
borso There were signs OF wolves in the
r,;ohborhood. and young Simonds set
a iran and the next morning caught a
,,o,r and became the most talked about
! how IN tho county. Two years previously
No mastered the art OF trapping foxes.
| ond before he wal II he had not only broueht
down two deer with his rife. but had also
achieved the GROWING act OF his ampitioh
and killed a bear.
For more than seventy years Simonds
hunted and trapped, and II Ia said that IN
| this time he killed 5000 deer, 5000 foxes
$50 bears, 7 panthers and u wolves Dc
sides a great number OF otter, beaver
martin and mink.
Though Simonds loved the Adirondacks
and thought no other region could COM
nare with IL as a resort OF game and iur'
he made a number Of trapping trips 70
Michigan and Wisconsin. In 1897 he visited
Spring Harbor, fifty miles west OF Detroit
and in n short time captured twenty-five
beaver, eight otter. a lot OF mink and two
or three hundred muskrats.
The neighborhood has long been a fertile
| farming section, with and selling for 500
an acre. but in 1897 land was a drug on the
market at IS cents an acre. Simonds loved
o tell of the increase in valuation and prided
himself on the fact that he had not taken
| advantage Of il. 1t WAS an illustration
80 -. ,lot tranDinn WINS he ODR thing
he cared for.
simonds knew every foot Of the Adiron-
| dack wilderness as possibly no other man
has known it. He hunted and trapped
at the headwaters Of Beaver River,
Long Lake. Blue Mountain Lake, upper
lake. North Elba. the Boreas Country
| and a. the intervening sections. His tran
| c-isscrossed the toughest country. and he
| oamped on all the high mountains. One
| morning when he awoke in his camp
under the ledge on the summit Of McComb
| no looked of to the south n east and saw
now lake he had not known before.
He rubbed his eyes and looked again. and
presently the sun burst over the eastern
rm OF the Green Mountains Of Vermont,
and tho lake vanished n he realized that
he had seen his first and only mirage.
One of SltnOnus : uNOflNt 'hihln "" WI
a hard wood ridge between the north and
south branches Of the Boquet River which
,oLos lis rise on the sides Of those great
! mountains. Nippletop, DIX and Mc'omb.
Naar by was a bear wallow where bruin
came on hot days 90 revel in the mud. In
nno,her direction il the only laurel bed
known in this part Of the Adlrondacks
TIE n~eighborhood wss a famous feeding
ground Tor the dear, which wintered IN the
hirh crgro clothed ridges, and years
when th. beech nuts were plenty II was
the mecca Of beaIr for miles around.
Near Lily Pad Pond, half q mile from his
camp. Was n tree eaten haf way through
a. the result 81 bi'cs 81 Jealous old mar"
b,arz. a. In the notch that beads Ca the
brad ~ Nes, Mil Brook wa a patti worn
d..D INTO tie ground by the feet 81 bears
vhI.h had passed over IL. This bear trail
iu planrs r~.semhl"d an ordinary path,
In, moi, often II wa "a rUccy -siou ~ clrcu-
l,T d.prrs-iIus made ~ each beN following
u thr foot tiacks II HI pr"h"cosspf, on
IN, t~riucipal - crossing ahfDok on stepping
.,nf'r. Slmuuds frequently caught bears
ly slukiug d stsel trap ln one 0t th''rs' de-
pre-.iun- wiuh"ut trouGhns 10 lai o.
b. Only occasionally thAt there b. an
aI.ldlnt iAnust ~ ls-sh nuts in the for
,-f such ,aau- all he sid animals con
srrgafp 40 thr hand wood ndsrs and ih"
lace and marisn and other oafuiNufa
aufapntlv enjoy the mute a. murh az the
. HNH""N MN|A wv - 49, H ~ -m
.~,atrrIf b-ap 90" ,nordinately food 4
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and huHak dnNu hfanrlsSu up ~ ~" sis' ~
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