William Claflin

In the years immediately following the Civil War the Town of Caroga, NY experienced significant

economic growth due to the efforts of the Honorable William Claflin. Originally

from Milford, MA and later Newton, MA, Claflin was co-owner with his father of a large shoe and boot

manufacturing business. He first came to Caroga in the late 1840s to build Caroga’s first

summer home on Irving Pond Road which became known as the Red House on the Hill and

later Pine Knoll.

Claflin’s interest in Caroga dates to 1809 when Talmadge Edwards moved from Massachusetts

to Johnstown. As a trained practical leather dresser, Edwards provided the expertise needed to

develop the leather glove industry in Johnstown and Gloversville. Claflin, in the leather

business himself, learned about the growing leather glove industry in Fulton County. In the

1840s he came to Johnstown for business reasons, discovered Caroga, and bought land from

the Bleeker Lansing Patent for his summer home.

During these same pre Civil war years Claflin was in partnership with Jonathan Wheeler in North

Becket, MA where they co-owned and operated a tannery that supplied the tanned hides to the

Claflin business that had shoe and boot manufacturing locations in Milford, MA and St Louis,

MO. During the Civil War, Claflin saw potential for tanning large amounts of hides in Caroga

with the ability to ship them by rail from Fonda, NY east to Milford and west to St Louis.

This 1868 map of Caroga documents the extensive landholdings of Wheeler & Claflin.

In 1865 Claflin, realizing that the hemlock needed to run the tannery in North Becket was

running out, purchased from the Bleeker Lansing Patent 20,000 acres of land in Caroga,

spanning from Caroga Lake along Canada Lake to Pine Lake, plus two small saw mills. Claflin

then brought Jonathan Wheeler, Milton Barnes, and Henry Bidwell, all from North Becket, to

Caroga to operate the tannery, lumber mills, and store respectively. Following the same model

as they did with the tannery in North Becket, Claflin and Wheeler dammed up the stream that

runs from Irving Pond to Canada Lake to provide the tannery with water and then built tannery

buildings on the land that is now the Nick Stoner Golf course and the Nick Stoner Inn.

This photo of Wheelerville shows the millpond on the left.  The store which became the Golf course clubhouse and the barn which became Nick Stoner Inn are clearly visible.

Claflin and Barnes built a large lumber mill at Pine Lake, which was run by Barnes. Claflin and

Wheeler then built a large company store which was run by Bidwell. Wheeler, the tannery

manager, built a house next to the tannery barn which is now the Nick Stoner Inn. Bidwell also

built houses for his family across from Wheeler’s house and on Irving Pond Road. Claflin then

turned his summer home on Irving Pond Road into a boarding house for the management team

working under Wheeler. Additionally, Claflin and Wheeler built 25 houses in close proximity to

the tannery for their workers, and the tannery and lumber mills total employment was 150.

Finally, Claflin built a five story luxury hotel (The Canada Lake House) on the north shore of

Canada Lake. Claflin’s total dollar investment in Caroga was $500,000 which is $10,000,000 in

2021 dollars.

The Pine Lake Lumber Mill, plus the two small mills, provided the large amount of hemlock bark

needed to tan the hides, and the water needed was also in plentiful supply from Irving Pond.

The lumber mills produced three million feet of lumber per year, and the tannery produced 8,000

leather hides per month making it the largest tannery in New York State. A detailed description

of the operation of the tannery, saw mill, and store can be found on pages 29 to 44 of the book

Caroga by Barbara McMartin. Jonathan Wheeler ran the tannery for the next twelve years, and

in 1872 Claflin bought out Wheeler’s share in the company. Due to poor health Wheeler left

Caroga in 1878, returned to Becket, and management of the tannery was turned over to

Wheeler’s brother, Levi. In the mid-1880s significant changes in the tanning industry caused

Claflin to reassess the operation. The large amount of hemlock bark needed became scarce,

cheap chemical substitutes for the hemlock were developed, and the cattle industry relocated to

the midwest causing the raw leather hides to be less available. Also, transportation costs could

be greatly reduced by moving tanneries closer to the manufacturing plants, so Claflin closed

the Caroga tannery in 1888 and the store in 1893.

Claflin, now the sole owner, continued buying land in the area until he owned most of the

property from West Caroga Lake to Stoner Lake including all the land surrounding Canada

Lake, Green Lake, Pine Lake, and Stoner Lake. In addition he purchased the land along what

is now Route 10 up to and including Arietta and Piseco. By 1890 Claflin owned an estimated

90,000 acres in Fulton and Hamilton Counties. Through a series of real estate transactions

beginning in 1892 and ending in 1912 all of Claflin’s original property holdings in Fulton and

Hamilton counties had been acquired by Cyrus Durey.

Milton Barnes continued to operate the Pine Lake lumber mill, and also became owner of the

Fonda Knitting Mill and the Barnes and Richards mill in Valatie, NY until he died in Fonda, NY

on February 20, 1889, at age 72. Jonathan Wheeler retired from the tanning business and died

in North Becket, MA on July 22, 1889, at age 69. Henry Bidwell returned to Becket where he

died on July 10, 1895, at age 80.