VICTOR ADAMS, A MAN OF PAPER, AND THE EARLY HISTORY OF THE NORTH WOODS

By Darlene Smith

In the years when Little Falls was renowned in the Mohawk Valley as the center of the knit-goods industry, Victor Adams’ Box Manufactory provided employment opportunities to many of its local citizens with the manufacturing of paper boxes. The life story of Victor Adams, a third-generation papermaker, is presented in three sections throughout this narrative, with each encompassing a distinct aspect of Adams’ life. The first section of his life story is set on the streets of Little Falls. The second section follows Victor into the untamed North Woods of the Adirondacks. Lastly, in the third section, his life story culminates with a remarkable discovery: that his grandson possesses a historical document, an heirloom that expands the legacy Adams left behind.

VICTOR ADAMS OF LITTLE FALLS, NEW YORK

As Victor’s life story unfolds, this first section begins with his birth in Little Falls on July 19, 1845. He was the son of Franklin Adams, a bookbinder from Massachusetts, and Julia Waite Adams, a native of Little Falls. Franklin came to Little Falls at the age of fifteen in 1828 with his parents, Sarah and John F. Adams, a papermaker born in Ireland. At that time, John established a bookshop opposite the Little Falls Historical Society Museum on South Ann Street.

Victor spent his childhood in Little Falls at his family’s home on Third Street. He was underage when the Civil War began and ran away from home on two separate occasions to enlist as a soldier in the Union Army, and each time, his parents caused his removal from the muster roll. He soon developed a new scheme and fled his home once more, enlisting in the 215th Pennsylvania Regiment at the age of 17 under the fictitious name of “Richard Andrews.” He served for the duration of the war as a clerk in the Provost Marshal’s Office in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Victor, being a man of many facets, first served as a bookkeeper after the war in the office of E.B. Waite’s Paper Mill, which was owned by his uncle, Eben Britton Waite. After a time at the mill, he joined his father in his bookbinding business, which Franklin had begun in 1839. By 1870, this business was known as the Victor Adams Press and was located on the third floor of the Milligan building, situated on the corner of Main and North Ann Streets, now the present location of the circa 1917 Burrell Building.

In 1871, an unknown Frenchman began manufacturing knit goods at Little Falls in the old Anchor Mill on East Mill Street. This led to a need for boxes to package the garments, and Victor met this demand by expanding his bookbinding business to include the manufacturing of paper boxes. This new business venture became known as the Adams Box Manufactory.

In 1878, he built a mill on the south side of East Mill Street. Once settled into the new mill, he expanded his box business to include the manufacturing of wooden boxes and knit underwear for women and children. By 1894, the knit goods factory had outgrown its quarters, and Victor built a second knitting mill alongside his first mill, demolishing the northern arch of the 1822 Aqueduct to create space. The Adams mills were in the present-day area of George’s Lumber, and during his time, they were known as the Victor Knitting Mills.

According to the Evening Times …” On August 16, 1892, Victor Adams ordered cannons for the “Gun Squad” here at Little Falls.”

Victor led an active civic life in Little Falls, serving as a volunteer firefighter for many years and as a village trustee in 1874. He was elected fire chief in 1879 and served in that position until 1881. In May of 1882, Victor and fellow members of Galpin Post No.19 of the Grand Army of the Republic presented the Civil War Soldier Monument to the village president, K. E. Morgan, which still stands in Ward Square (Eastern Park) today. In 1884, Victor, as a dedicated Republican, played a pivotal role in Titus Sheard’s caucus victory over Theodore Roosevelt for the position of Assembly Speaker. He was one of the proposers for a modern waterworks system, which was installed in the village in 1888 and solved the water pressure problem for the newly installed fire hydrants. Also in 1888, the Victor Adam’s Hose Company was organized in his honor and was located next to the Milligan Building on North Ann Street. He was appointed postmaster during the administration of former President Benjamin Harrison, serving Little Falls from 1889 to 1894, and was sworn in as Police and Fire Commissioner on March 14, 1894.

Those around him held Victor in high esteem and named a steamboat after him. According to the Cooney Archives: This Day in the History of Little Falls … On August 12, 1895, Manager Tittle of Camp Jolly launched the new barge, the “City of Little Falls,” to transport up to 500 passengers to the campgrounds located a few miles east of the city. The double-decker is 55 feet long and 14 feet wide and will be lashed to the “Victor Adams,” which can accommodate an additional 200 people. There is room on the barge for dancing.”

On September 25, 1899, Victor acquired the controlling interest in a parcel of land from the estate of Lorenzo Carryl, a cheese broker, for $200, which was identified in early land deeds as Lot No. 104—the “Iron Ore Lot.” The property lies within Irondale, a hamlet in the Town of Salisbury, situated in the Fourth Allotment of the Royal Grant, where mining activities on this lot date back to the mid-1870s. In 1900, the Salisbury Iron and Steel Mining Company was established to develop the mine and construct a railroad linking the mining site to the Dolgeville terminal of the Little Falls and Dolgeville Railroad. Victor sold his company shares in 1902, and by 1903, management of the mines had passed to another Little Falls native, William Switzer.

Curious about the history of the Salisbury Mines? Please join Bob Schmid of the Salisbury Historical Society for an engaging presentation on the history of the mines of the Salisbury Steel and Iron Company. The event, hosted by the Little Falls Historical Society, will take place on August 26, 2025, at 6:00 p.m. It is free and open to the public and will be held at the WCA, located at 534 Garden Street, Little Falls, New York.

Around 1902, Victor lost financial control of his mills at Little Falls. A New York City stock company then acquired the Victor Adams Mills for the sum of $84,000, which covered Victor’s debts of $80,000. After the transaction was completed, the mills became known as Little Falls Mfg. Co. Victor was retained as manager, and his son, Victor Adams, Jr., served as secretary for the newly incorporated company.

In 1904, he built a box factory on Erie Street in Utica, partnering with Theodore Foster, which became known as the Foster & Adams Box Factory, specializing in the manufacture of paperboard boxes. The manufacturers stated that they would create a new market for wastepaper, as they used recycled material to produce their paperboard boxes.

In 1907, he traveled to Dumont, Colorado, and purchased a gold mine from the “Dumont 40 Mine & Tunnel Company.” It was believed that a gold vein ran perpendicular to the hill of the mine. A hired crew spent laborious hours digging a tunnel into the vein. His funds ran out; the gold mine failed, and he returned home. At the time, it was thought that the mine might have been peppered with gold coin shavings.

In 1915, Victor served as a deputy clerk in the office of Francis Hugo, the U.S. Secretary of State.

According to the Evening Telegram …” On August 11, 1927, it was reported that four generations of the same family, all of the same name, Victor, were in an unusual condition of all being in one place, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Victor Adams, Jr., on Gansevoort Street in Little Falls. They are Victor Adams, Sr and Victor Adams, Jr (Manuf. of Knit Goods) of this city, and Dr. Victor Adams, 3rd (Doctor of Dentistry), and Victor Adams, 4th (Vic Adams Tractors & Machinery), of Detroit, Michigan who, with Mrs. Victor Adams, 3rd, are visiting the Adams and Dise homes. It is at least very rare for such a circumstance to arise.”

According to the Evening Telegram, a news article dated February 11, 1933, states, “As far as it is known, Victor Adams, then a 16-year-old youth, is the only living person to have been an eyewitness to former President Lincoln speaking here in February 1861.” Victor recalled Lincoln’s visit most clearly despite his advanced Years.” When this interview took place, Victor was 88 years old.

As a side note, he married Rozalia Boyer (1850-1899) in 1871 and was the father of two sons, Victor, Jr (1873-1955) and Bertram (1874-1925). Victor and Rozalia built their family home at 41 West Gansevoort Street in 1886. Rozalia died of heart disease at the age of 49.

By the 1940s, the demand for knit underwear began to decline due to the widespread use of central heating systems within homes. By 1946, the Little Falls Mfg. Company had come under new management and was then known as the Li Falco Company, which closed its doors in Little Falls in 1955. The Adams mills of yesteryear were demolished in 1959, marking the end of this section of Victor’s life story.

VICTOR ADAMS AND THE NORTH WOODS OF THE ADIRONDACKS

A CHAIN OF LAKES

As Adams’ life story continues, the second section focuses on his role as a property developer, where he and other prominent businessmen from Little Falls had a profound impact on the tourist industry within the Adirondack Park. His business interests were in the Old Forge area of the North Woods, which is known today as the hamlet of Old Forge. Old Forge, the largest of the eight hamlets within the historic Town of Webb, experienced significant growth from the late 1870s to the early 1920s as it was transformed from a dense woodland into a bustling tourist resort.

The Fulton Chain of Lakes, lying partially within the Town of Web, attracts tourists with its scenic beauty, health benefits, and outdoor activities. The chain comprises eight lakes connected in an east-to-west, 16-mile chain-like formation in the middle section of the Moose River.

The chain of lakes was first altered in 1799 when John Brown, a wealthy Rhode Island shipping magnate, built a log dam at the eastern end of the chain of lakes. This dam formed the present-day Old Forge Pond, a reservoir located at the northeastern end of the hamlet of Old Forge, by raising the water levels in the natural, small, unnamed lakes within the middle branch of the Moose River by a few feet. Brown was the first person to attempt to establish a settlement in the Old Forge area in 1798, with the construction of a few houses, a sawmill, a gristmill, and a store. He died in 1803, and all his efforts came to an end.

In 1879, the State of New York constructed a new dam in the exact location of Brown’s dam, which expanded the total surface area of the lakes from 2,762 acres to 3,481 acres. This dam, now known as the Old Forge Dam, separates the Moose River from the Fulton Chain of Lakes and regulates the waters to the Black River, which in turn supplements the Erie Canal. This altered the middle branch of Moose River, forming a deep-water channel in the Central Adirondacks that was utilized by steamship lines and pleasure boaters. The unnamed lakes are known today as First Lake, Second Lake, and so on, up to Eighth Lake. The lakes were named in honor of Robert Fulton, an inventor who designed the first commercially successful steamship in 1807.

HERRESHOFF MANOR – ARNOLD’S INN

When the area around the hamlet of Old Forge began to establish itself as a tourist destination in the 1870s, only two known lodging options were available for tourists: the Forge House at Old Forge and Arnold’s Inn at Thendara. Arnold’s Inn, initially known as Herreshoff Manor, was constructed in 1815 by Charles Frederick Herreshoff, an aristocratic Prussian immigrant who spent from 1812 to 1816 attempting to establish a resettlement through farming. This venture failed due to the 1816 volcanic eruption of Mount Tambora, Indonesia, which caused the “Year Without a Summer.”

Hereshoff then attempted to smelt ore into iron and built a forge near the 1799 log dam, which had been constructed by his father-in-law, John Brown. That venture also failed, and he committed suicide in 1819. Herreshoff’s forge became the namesake for the hamlet of Old Forge.

Herreshoff Manor was once occupied for a short period in the early 1830s by the pioneer hunter and trapper Nat Foster before he killed Peter Waters, an Akwesasne Indian. In 1837, Otis Arnold, an impoverished farmer from Boonville, relocated his family to the abandoned manor, where they resided rent-free for the next 31 years. While living there, Arnold turned the manor into an inn, where guests were charged $1.50 a day for lodging. Thus, the name of Arnold’s Inn.

THE FORGE HOUSE

The Forge House was an Adirondack hotel built in 1871 by two speculators: Dr. George Desbrough, a druggist from Port Lyden, and John Milton Buell, a farmer from Westmoreland. They rebuilt Brown’s sawmill to provide spruce boards to construct the newly built hotel, which featured a rough-cut board-and-batten-style siding. It was the first hotel built on the Fulton Chain of Lakes and was opened to guests on May 1, 1871. The hotel was situated on the present-day site of the Forge Motel, located on the edge of the Old Forge Pond, which is just up the street from the iconic Old Forge Hardware store in downtown Old Forge. Historical artifacts from Brown’s grist mill and Herreshoff’s forge can be viewed at Point Park, located opposite the hardware store. As a side note, the Old Forge Hardware store was first established in the basement of the Forge House in 1901 by Moses Cohen, an itinerant peddler who rented the space for his business for a monthly fee of $15.

The tourists who visited the Fulton Chain of Lakes area in the late 1870s gave the Forge House greater prominence as their preferred lodging choice. As word spread among the elite of the Gilded Age, the need for better transportation to reach the Forge House arose. At that time, there were only a few rough wagon roads built by Brown and Herreshoff, which were a little more than Indian trails that led tourists to the hotel.

In 1888, two investors from Lowville, Alexander H. Crosby, a noted surgeon, and Col. Samuel F. Garmon, purchased the Forge House property for $10,000. The 1,358-acre property became known as the Forge Tract, as large parcels of land were referred to as tracts during this time.

According to the Watertown Daily Times…” On June 12, 1893, the Forge House was struck by lightning, causing a passage from the chimney to the basement water pipes to tear open. The shoes were torn off a laundress’s feet in the basement laundry, but she was not seriously hurt. The house did not catch on fire.”

WEBB’S RAILROAD

Dr. William Seward Webb, the namesake of the Town of Webb, also played a significant role in developing the Adirondacks as a tourist destination. By 1892, Webb, the son-in-law of William H. Vanderbilt, had amassed sufficient wealth to finance the construction of the Mohawk and Malone Railroad. This rail line extended from Herkimer to Malone, located just north of Tupper Lake. It traversed the northern Adirondacks, with one of its stops located in the hamlet of Thendara at the Fulton Chain Station, known presently as Thendara Station.

On July 1, 1893, Webb purchased 16,338 acres along the shorelines of Second Lake, Third Lake, and Fourth Lake, with the intention of selling land lots for summer homes and for the rustic “Great Camps” of the ultra-wealthy. Adams purchased two of Dr. Webb’s land lots in 1895, which totaled five acres of undeveloped woodland on Fourth Lake in the area presently known as the hamlet of Eagle Bay.

AN ADIRONDACK VACATION FOR FORMER PRESIDENT HARRISON

In early July of 1895, former President Benjamin Harrison stopped at Little Falls, which was one of his many planned stops while en route to his summer destination of Dodd’s Camp in Old Forge. He was received by the citizens of Little Falls with a 10-gun salute, fired hourly from the cannons of Victor Adam’s gun squad of the Galpin Post No.19 of the Grand Army of the Republic.

Harrison was scheduled to arrive at the Forge House in Old Forge on July 16th. In anticipation, Adams made his arrangements and departed Little Falls with his gun squad. They reached the hotel on the morning of the 16th, just ahead of Harrison’s planned afternoon departure aboard the steamship “Fulton.” Crafted locally in 1888 by master boatbuilder Theodore Seeber, the Fulton was set to carry Harrison to his final destination.

Harrison, accompanied by his entourage, traveled from Herkimer to the Fulton Chain Station in Thundara aboard the Mohawk & Malone Railroad. From the rail station, nearing the end of their journey, they engaged in a scenic two-mile ride by horse-drawn carriage to the Forge House. From the docks of the Forge House, Harrison’s group boarded the Fulton.

The steamship had just left the dock on the Old Forge Pond when the thunder of ten cannons echoed across the water. Victor Adams’ gun squad, lined shoulder to shoulder on the hotel’s lawn, fired salutes in Harrison’s honor. The Fulton steamed ahead as it made its way toward Dodd’s Camp, located on DeCamp’s Island at the end of First Lake.

While in residence at Dodd’s Camp, Harrison preferred the services of Adams’ naphtha-gas steamboat, the Olga May, over the services of the larger steamships and formed a lifelong friendship with Adams. Harrison was instrumental in arranging the “mailboats,” which delivered mail to the summer homes on the chain, extending from the pond up to Fourth Lake. Also at this time, there were “pickle boats” on the first four lakes, which delivered groceries and supplies to the camps.

THE OLD FORGE COMPANY

During the summer of 1895, Crosby and Garmon approached Adams with an investment proposal tied to their newly established venture aimed at developing the Forge Tract. The company’s holdings consisted of the Forge House, lakeside docks, and a sawmill on the Old Forge Pond. Also included was the ownership of 1,358 acres of land, which controlled the forest surrounding the outlet at First Lake. It was reported that Adams paid $25,000 to acquire a stake in the existing Forge Tract enterprise, which is equivalent to nearly $1 million in today’s dollars.

By October of that year, Adams had convinced a syndicate of wealthy industrialists and politicians from Little Falls to invest as property developers in the Forge Tract. A few of the investors who joined Crosby, Garmon, and Adams were J. Judson Gilbert, David H. Burrell, Nelson Rust Gilbert, Titus Sheard, Hadley Jones, and Homer P. Snyder.

The investors from Little Falls owned fifty percent of the shares of the newly formed company, known as the Old Forge Company. The company’s main goal was to open up the Adirondack wilderness as a major tourist vacation and recreational destination. The shareholders planned to achieve their goal by enhancing the area’s infrastructure by creating a resort area surrounding the Forge House, improving transportation to the hotel, and expanding the hotel’s facilities.

A land survey of the Forge Tract was completed in 1896, and the hamlet of Old Forge was subsequently laid out. Many of the shareholders’ names were used as street names, such as Adams Street, Crosby Boulevard, Garman Avenue, Gilbert Street, Harrison Street, Homer Street, and Sheard Street.

Initially, the main avenue through the hamlet was known as Harrison Avenue, which was developed from one of John Brown’s wagon roads and is known today as Main Street, State Route 28. By the early 1900s, Old Forge had become a highly sought-after resort area for affluent tourists.

THE FULTON CHAIN RAILROAD

The shareholders of the Old Forge Company resolved to improve access to the Forge House, which they achieved in 1896 by forming the Fulton Chain Railroad Company and constructing a short line branching off the Mohawk and Malone Railroad at the Fulton Chain Station. The 2.2-mile railroad extension spur to the Forge House, known as the Fulton Chain Railway, was designed to eliminate the 2-mile horse-drawn carriage ride to the hotel. The newly formed railroad company had a capital stock of $60,000, consisted of shares of $100 each, and the directors were Victor Adams, Titus Sheard, Homer P. Snyder, J. Judson Gilbert, Nelson R. Gilbert, Victor Adams, Jr., and Bertram Adams, all of Little Falls: Alexander H. Crosby, Samuel F. Garmon, Ladetta A. Bostwick, and Frank C. Doig, all of Lowville. The company’s principal office was in Little Falls.

The Fulton Chain Railway transported tourists and their luggage, as well as freight, to the docks of the Fulton Navigation Company, situated adjacent to the Forge House at the base of the Fulton Chain of Lakes on the Old Forge Pond. The navigation company, organized by the shareholders of the Old Forge Company at Bagg’s Hotel in Utica, provided steamship lines from First Lake up through the winding channel to the top of Fourth Lake, utilizing a fleet of steamships built locally in a boatyard in the area of the present-day Water’s Edge Inn.

Adams served for a time as both a director and president of the Fulton Chain Railroad Company and the Fulton Chain Navigation Company.

FOURTH LAKE AND MORE …

In 1896, Adams hired his brother-in-law, master carpenter Charles D. West, to build his summer home, “Camp Sunnyside,” on his property at Fourth Lake. Additionally, in 1896, West directed the construction of a $20,000 extension at the Forge House, which doubled the hotel’s size and increased its capacity to accommodate up to 300 guests. When completed, former President Benjamin Harrison spoke at a dedication ceremony on behalf of the Old Forge Company for the newly remodeled Forge House.

The Old Forge Company successfully achieved its goal of developing the Forge Tract and played a pivotal role in transforming the Adirondacks into one of the most sought-after vacation destinations in New York State, a status that remains true to this day.

In 1901, several of the investors from Little Falls sold their stock in the Old Forge Company. In August of 1915, the Forge House was sold to Charles I. Thomson, a horse breeder from Holland Patent; the Old Forge Company was dissolved in 1919.

According to the Schenectady Daily Gazette…” On July 2, 1924, the Forge House at Old Forge in the Adirondacks was destroyed by fire, causing a loss estimated at $100,000. The blaze started along the roof of the west wing and spread rapidly…” The rebuilding of the stately hotel was decided against as the times were changing. Smaller, short-stay hotels and cabins had begun to replace the grand hotels as short-stay vacations became increasingly popular among tourists traveling by automobile.

VICTOR ADAMS, A CIVIL WAR VETERAN

The Adirondacks remained an essential part of Adam’s life until it became too difficult for him to live independently. Nearing the end of his life, he resided with his oldest son, Bertram Adams, at 86 West Gansevoort Street, where he passed away on November 8, 1938. He was one of the last surviving Civil War Veterans of the Galpin Post No.19 of the Grand Army of the Republic at Little Falls. His funeral was held at this residence, officiated by Reverend J. Harold Thomas. His burial took place at the Church Street Cemetery, where military honors were paid, which concludes this section of Adams’ life story.

AN ONE-HUNDRED-AND-SEVEN-YEAR-OLD INDICTMENT

Nearing the end of Victor’s life story, the third section reveals the astonishing discovery of a 107-year-old document that his grandson, Donald Adams, son of Bertram, had in his possession in 1941. The document, dated February 3, 1834, was the original indictment of Nat Foster, a legendary Adirondack frontiersman, for the murder of Peter Waters, a Saint Regis Mohawk Indian who was the last of his tribe in the Central Adirondacks. The document, initially in Victor’s possession, had become somewhat tattered and worn as it was passed down from one generation in the Adams family to the next.

According to a newspaper article in the Utica Observer-Dispatch…” Dated September 21, 1941, Donald Adams, the grandson of Victor Adams, possessed a one-hundred-and-seven-year-old document. The faded document states that Nathaniel Foster, Jr., resided in the Town of West Brunswick (Town of Webb), and Peter Waters, A.K.A. Drid, was killed on September 17, 1833, by Nat Foster, a woodsman. The description of the crime is that he (Foster) not having the fear of God before his eyes but being moved and seduced by the instigation of the Devil, with a certain gun called a rifle, to the value of $10, then and charged with gun powder and two laden bullets, did make the assault; the said Peter Waters dying instantly.” It is said that Waters was laid to rest in a grave beside Brown’s 1799 dam, which is presently marked with a memorial stone.

Whether it’s fact or fiction, the story goes that Foster was preparing to guide a group of wealthy sportsmen on a hunting excursion on the Fulton Chain when he and Drid began quarreling; Drid had repeatedly threatened Foster’s life over the past year. The argument escalated and ended with Foster being knifed in the arm by Drid. Following this, they separated, and as Drid accompanied the hunting party up the lakes to hunt and fish, Foster lay in wait for their return, hidden in the underbrush at a place known today as “Indian Point.” As Drid approached Foster’s hiding place in his canoe, Foster stood up and shot him with his “double-shooter” rifle. Foster’s trial for the murder was set for September 15, 1834, and after 2 days of testimony, he was surprisingly acquitted, as no witness would claim that they saw Foster with a rifle. Foster’s rifle, crafted by Willis Avery of Salisbury, is said to be part of the Adirondack Museum’s collection of artifacts.

Legend has it that in 1787, Foster entered a tavern in St. Johnsville clad in buckskins and, while there, announced that his name was “Leatherstocking.” Between 1823 and 1841, James Fenimore Cooper, an author from Cooperstown, wrote a pentalogy of novels known collectively as the “Leatherstocking Tales.” The fictitious character, “Natty Bumppo,” was portrayed as a frontiersman who may have reflected Foster’s life and served as the protagonist throughout the engaging stories of frontier life set in the 18th century.

Lastly, in this third and final section, as Victor Adams’ life story ends, it becomes apparent that we may never know how the historical document of Nat Foster’s 107-year-old indictment came into Victor’s possession so many years ago.

Article written by Darlene Smith, a member of the Little Falls Historical Society.

Photos: The Victor Knitting Mills, courtesy of the Little Falls Historical Society. All other photos, source unknown, as they are postcards from the early 1900s of the Adirondacks.