[at-l] BSH part 8-a of 10

[Arthur Gaudet]

Part 8-A of 10 -- evidently my morning email was too long and was rejected.
(I know this one is complicated but it defines the starting point for the Boy
Scout Hike, and points out an error in the original story...) 
Condition of the AT in Summer of 1936
The ATN article "The Summer of 1936" states that the AT was nearly completed
when the boys did their hike and that "All but three miles of the 2,054-mile
trail had been cleared and blazed as of 1936: a one-mile stretch between
Davenport Gap and the Big Pigeon River in Tennessee, and a two-mile link between
Spaulding and Sugarloaf mountains in Maine." The article goes on to state that
"The Maine section was the last to be completed, and the Trail was opened as an
unbroken footpath on August 14, 1937." Mr. Gordon correctly states he ended his
trip at Mt. Oglethorpe in Georgia, the southern terminus of the AT until 1955. 

I've examined contemporary ATC records in order to determine more exactly the
state of the trail in Maine as the boys headed South in 1936. I've introduced
into this analysis a significant flood that occurred in March 1936 that affected
the AT from Baxter State Park to Pennsylvania and I'm also including in this
analysis a fire near Moxie Bald in 1932 and the Great Hurricane of 1938.

AT building in Maine can be dated from the construction of the Mahoosuc Trail
(1918-1926), from the first forays of Arthur Comey (1925), the initial markings
of Judge Perkins in the 100 mile Wilderness (1927) or the first study of the
Barren-Chairback Range by Shailer S. Philbrick (1931). For many, though, the
construction effort began on August 19, 1933 with Myron Avery, Philbrick and 2
PATC members planting the first AT sign at the summit of Katahdin and then, in
the next 2 weeks, clearing & blazing 118.7 miles of the trail to Monson. Four
years later, on August 14, 1937 the last leg of the entire trail was completed
on the south slope of Mt. Sugarloaf.

There are 3 ATC documents, a column from Raymond Torrey, a section from the AMC
White Mountain Guide, and a summary of the 1935 CCC effort in Maine, that come
to bear in the discussion of trail conditions in Spring 1936. I’ll present these
items chronologically before suggesting what I think is a reasonable, and
surprising, conclusion. All of these documents and my subsequent analysis are
consistent with the Watermans’ account of the activities in Maine to complete
the AT.

First the CCC report from James W. Sewall reports on the construction & repair
activity for the Maine section of the AT: “During the year (1935) all the
existing trail, with the exception of sections from the Kennebec River to
Blanchard and Pleasant River East Branch to Nahmakanta Lake, was materially
improved, blazes repainted, much additional work done and new trail constructed.
In addition, a very exact location of the route between Maine highway 4 and
Grafton Notch was made. The Flagstaff CCC Camp also partly completed an
alternative route, from Pierce Pond to Mt. Bigelow via the Carry Ponds, known as
the Arnold Trail. New trail from Saddleback Mt. to the Andover-South Arm Road, a
distance of 27 miles, was opened by the Rangeley CCC Camp. Seven lean-tos were
built. The Flagstaff and Greenville Camps were discontinued in 1935, but it is
hoped that the remaining, unfinished trail in Maine will be completed by the
Greenville and Rangeley CCC Camps during 1936." The Watermans state that in 1936
Sewall has six crews of 15 CCC workers on the AT.

Next is an ATC report from January 15, 1936 stating that in Maine there are two
sections to be constructed (my Italics):
· from Sugarloaf across Spaulding and Abraham to the summit of Saddleback
· from Andover-South Arm Road (ME 5) across Baldpate to Grafton Notch.
And two areas to be improved:
· From Kennebec River to Blanchard, "requires improvement".
· On Moxie Bald Mountain, “where the forest fire of 1932 has made the trail
route through an extensive stretch of fire-killed timber a very real problem. To
be done in 1936”.

And third the AMC Guide for the White Mountains for the 1936 hiking season
states: "By 1935 this master trail (the AT) had been completed, marked and
measured except for two sections of approximately 20 miles each in western
Maine. These are from Mt. Sugarloaf, Maine's second highest peak, to Saddleback
Mt.; and from the Andover-South Arm Road to Grafton Notch. They will probably be
completed in 1936." 

These 3 documents indicate the 18 mile section from Caribou Valley Road to the
summit of Saddleback have not been marked, constructed or measured prior to the
1936 hiking season. Note also that the 20-mile section from South Arm to Grafton
Notch is in rough shape, having been only marked during 1935. To support this
claim there are 3 more documents to consider: 

On November 17, 1936 Raymond Torrey reports, in his column The Long Brown Path,
a summary of the November 7, 1936 meeting of the ATC Board of Managers. The
points he covers includes:
· Maine is now complete except for a few miles South of Bigelow.
· The 1937 meeting for the ATC will be in Gatlinburg, the 1939 meeting is
scheduled for Maine.
· The Green Mountain Club Summer Patrol cleaned out the crossover from the
Connecticut River to Sherburne Pass "last summer". 
· MA and CT have maintenance issues: In MA it's unclear who is responsible for
maintenance so no one is doing it. In CT there is no one to help the one active
maintainer.
· The NY/NJ sections are in "good shape". 
· Eastern PA sections are in "fair to good condition". As are the remaining
sections down to Georgia (except for some remote sections under PATC in
Virginia).

Next an ATC summary letter report for January 2, 1937 states:
· "
trail uncleared on the high ridge crest between Mts. Sugarloaf and
Spaulding; this section, however, is roughly blazed and passable, as it was
traversed with the measuring wheel
"
· "
between Davenport Gap and the Big Pigeon River, a distance of 1 1/3 miles.
It may, however, be traversed by an abandoned logging railroad and the NC
highway 284. The Smoky Mtns. Hiking Club 
has been endeavoring to put through
the trail along the ridge crest, which would be the hypotenuse of the triangle
formed by the RR and the highway."

And finally the ATC Gatlinburg meeting report for June 1937 states: 
· "Maine is completed except for 2 miles 
 at the end of 1936". 

These 3 documents effectively state that the 1936 work season made progress on
the Sugarloaf-Spaulding section and that the South Arm-Grafton Notch section was
completed. It occurs to me that the ATN article may have used the January 2,
1937 letter (or a similar document) as an indicator of trail conditions in early
1936. This is a mistake since the boys would be in Maine early in the hiking
season. For our purposes it’s important to use the information about the state
of the AT in Maine at the end of 1935. This means 18 miles of trail from
Sugarloaf - Saddleback could not be traveled, and that the 20 miles from South
Arm - Grafton Notch were in a “roughly blazed” and “passable” state.

The All New England Flood began on March 9, 1936 when temperatures in northern
NH rose from -2 to +50 in 24 hours, accompanied by heavy rains. The resulting
flow of snow, rock, ice and snowmelt caused severe damage and killed 24 (some
references state that more than 100 died), made homeless 77,000. It was worse
than the Western New England flood of 1927, a flood that had been the worst in
many people's memories. In Rumford, Maine the Topsham Bridge over the
Androscoggin collapsed, closing railroad traffic until the summer. The New York
Times reported 29 dead outside New England. By the next week serious threat of
flood danger is past in New York & Pennsylvania except that the Susquehanna
River is still a threat around Wilkes-Barre and the Schuylkill River is still in
flood stage. More rains on March 16 then precipitated the Second Johnstown Flood
on March 17. Both floods had effects on AT travel in the spring since many
bridges were destroyed by the formation of ice dams. In NH ice & rock falls
closed every notch in the White Mountains, some for up to 2 weeks. Evidently the
effect was not long lasting, however. Torrey reports trail repair happening in a
timely fashion for the region MA - PA by early June in his daily columns. In ME,
NH and VT the major river crossings (Androscoggin, Saco, Pemigewassett,
Connecticut, White, river near N. Adams) all have made accommodations for hikers
in one way or another. Those bridges that share foot travel with auto or rail
traffic are repaired within weeks for those more important purposes. Those
bridges dedicated to foot traffic only usually have not been repaired but hikers
have alternative routes marked along the AT to help them along.

It's pretty clear from the earlier documents that a large fire in 1932 went
through the area near Moxie Bald Mountain. I also have some obscure notes that
another fire occurred in Maine, during 1936, late in the hiking season, and this
closes a noticeable section going towards the Kennebec River from Blanchard.
(the area where Moxie Bald Mountain is located). It might be that my notes are
confused about the later fire but there was certainly a large fire-damaged area
over Moxie Bald in 1936 due to the 1932 fire. The ATC report for January 15,
1936 clearly indicates this area will be difficult to hike through until the
area is repaired sometime in 1936. By the end of '36 the area has been repaired
as indicated by the lack of any mentions in the 3 documents I examined. If there
was a later fire it would limit hikers for the 1937 hiking season and not affect
the BSH.

Whether of not another fire occurred in late 1936, a significant event occurred
in Fall 1938 that would close the AT in VT/NH for several years - the Great
Hurricane of 1938. Earl Shaffer in his book indicates that in 1948 he is walking
through (uncleared) sections of downed trees in the crossover from Sherburne
Pass to Mt. Moosilauke. Other sources need to be consulted to tell this story
more completely. For this analysis the hurricane is additional evidence of Max
Gordon's credibility. This is why:

With all of this information in hand it’s clear that Max had a window for
walking the AT as he claimed. If he claimed 1935 as the year of his hike he
could not claim hiking in Maine at all, or at best to only claim the very small
section from Grafton Notch south to the NH line, about 14 ½ miles. If he had
claimed any of the years 1936 - 1938 he’d be on pretty firm ground. Any claim
for the year 1939 to 1947 could be easily dismissed because of the Hurricane
damage. This is a surprisingly narrow window for a valid claim, narrower than I
expected to find when I began this analysis.

One surprise in this analysis is the limit it places on the beginning point for
the BSH. According to the ATC, and other, documents Max Gordon could not have
started at Katahdin and walked south, the boys could only begin their thru-hike
at the town closest to Mt. Saddleback -- at Rangeley, Maine, at Maine Rt. 4.
>From there they could walk uninterrupted all the way to Mt. Oglethorpe in
Georgia during 1936.

This analysis also changes the amount of rough terrain the boys had to travel in
Maine. Instead of a 2-mile section of rough trail, near Mt. Sugarloaf, the boys
actually had to travel 20 miles of rough trail from South Arm to Grafton Notch.
To me this makes a couple of mysterious statements in the ATN story very
believable: “There was snow most of the way through Maine
” and “It took two
weeks for the boys to reach New Hampshire
” Both statements have an impact on
the distance the boys could make each day as they traveled south. The distance
from Rangeley to Gorham is about 78 miles.
(continued in part 8-b)
__________________
"The pellet with the poison's in the flagon with the dragon; 
the vessel with the pestle has the brew that is true." 
The Court Jester (1955) 

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