[at-l] BSH #9 of 10

[Arthur Gaudet]

(about lodging along the AT in the Whites, and the search of the shelter
registers.)

The Whites, the AMC and 1936
When first investigating the claim for the 1936 BSH I wondered if Max's memory
was off by a year or more in either direction. That's why I checked the AMC Hut
registers for such a large time period. As I learned more about the construction
of the AT and the yearly natural events I became aware that 1936 - 1938 are the
only years a thru-hike was possible for the years 1935 to 1947.

In 1936 the crossing of the Androscoggin River was done using a ferry operated
by the Willis House in Gorham, NH. I'm not exactly certain how a hiker would
cross as a southbounder but there may have been a bell or horn arrangement to
call from across the water. I believe this was a cable ferry. In addition the
blue-blaze trail from the top of Mt. Hayes (the Mahoosuc Trail) led to the
footbridge under the B&M Railroad about 1 mile W of Gorham. This bridge crossing
is still in use today. The AT continued south from the center of Gorham by
ascending Mt. Surprise from the Libby woodmill, then on to Moriah and then south
along the Carter Ridge.

In 1936 membership in the AMC cost $5 a year; there were 8 huts and 16 log
shelters for lodging hikers. The shelters were no charge, just leave dry wood
for others, a tradition that still extends to the AT shelters today. Currently,
though, the caretaker system costs money so the AMC now charges $8 per night for
the tentsite platforms and their shelters. Starting at Gorham, NH traveling
South to Glencliff (and a little beyond) Table 2 summarizes past & present
accommodations for hikers in the White Mountains. Note that 30 facilities were
available in 1936. Today only 20 facilities are available for hikers along the
Appalachian Trail.

Table 2
	Huts	Shelter	Other Facilities	Comments	
1		Rattle River		Built after 1936	
2		Moriah		Log structure, now gone	
3		Imp	Imp Tentsite		
4	Carter Notch				
5			Wildcat E Ski Cabin	Gone, CCC built 1934, public	
6	Pinkham Notch				
7			Osgood Tentsite	Built after 1936	
8	Madison Springs				
9			Tip Top House	On Washington, now gone	
10			Summit House	On Washington, now gone	
11			Camden Cottage	On Washington, now gone	
12	Lakes of the Clouds				
13	Mizpah Spring	Mizpah Spring	Nauman Tentsite	Shelter only in 1936,
later hut.	
14			Allen Spring Cabin	Now gone, 1/2 mi. N on Rt. 302	
15		Ethan Pond	Ethan Pond Tentsite		
16		Zeacliff Pond		Now gone, on AT in 1936	
17	Zealand			Not on AT in 1936	
18		Guyot	Guyot Tentsite		
19	Galehead				
20		Garfield Ridge	Garfield Tentsite		
21		Garfield Pond		Now gone.	
22	Greenleaf				
23		Liberty Spring	Liberty Tentsite	No longer has a shelter	
24			Whitehouse Br. Camp	On AT, now gone	
25	Lonesome Lake				
26		Kinsman Pond	Kinsman Tentsite		
27		Eliza Brook			
28			Beaver Meadows Camp	At Rt. 112, now gone	
29		Beaver Brook			
30			Jobildunk Cabin	Gone, on shoulder of Moosilauke	
31			Tip Top House	Gone, on Moosilauke	
32			Winter Cabin	Gone, on Moosilauke	
33		Jeffers Brook			
34		Wauchipauka Pond		gone	

While searching for evidence of the BSH I've looked at register books for Carter
Notch, Galehead, Greenleaf and Lonesome Lake Huts in the White Mountains.
There's a page missing for Greenleaf for June 28 - July 7, 1935, otherwise I've
scanned from 1935 to 1938, from the beginning of each hiking season to July 15
(some) or July 31 (most). There are no indications of Boy Scout Troop 257 from
the Bronx signing in.

Table 3
	Lonesome 
Lake	Greenleaf	Galehead	Zealand	Lakes of the 
Clouds	Madison Hut	Carter Notch	
1934			5/1 to 7/31	Not on AT 
In
1936			book in 
fragments,
 nothing 
promising	
1935	missing early
 season, starts
 9/ 21	5/30 to 6/28,
7/7 to 7/16 	3/22 to 7/31	Not on AT			3/25 to 7/20	
1936	5/2 to 7/31	6/1 to 7/31	1/11 to 7/31	Not on AT
5/24 to 7/13	
1937	1/23 to 6/12	6/4 to 7/31	6/12 to 7/31	Not on AT
1/28 to 7/16	
1938	5/23 to 7/31	6/6 to 7/31	6/7 to 7/31	Not on AT
1/16 to 7/18	

Of course the search isn't complete until I can look at register books for
Lakes, Madison and Zealand Huts. Unfortunately these registers aren't in the AMC
Library (as expected) but might still be in existence, either at Pinkham, in
storage, or at the originating Huts. There hasn't (yet) been a systematic
enforcement of archiving for the hut registers. In addition there may be
archived registers of guests staying at Pinkham during this period.

It should be noted that many Scout groups in the 30's took great pride in
signing these registers. Nearly every troop takes an entire page, adding
decorations, phrases, etc. to set them apart. Also I should mention that
visitors from the Bronx signed their names and then their home as "Bronx", not
New York City, making it easy to distinguish their entries in these registers.
 
While searching for Troop 257 in these registers I came across some comments
that I found fascinating:
In July, 1936 Herbert L. Malcolm, an Australian-born schoolmaster from Lake
Placid, NY finished the "All Huts" hike twice, in 22 h 3 m on July 7, and then
in 21 h, 43 m on July 23. This feat, a traverse of the entire White Mountains,
from Carter Notch to Lonesome Lake Hut, was considered a significant challenge
as a one-day hike. Malcolm's record held until the late 1950's. 

At Galehead Hut, July 22, Baucer H. Webster from New York, NY signed in and
stated "AT NY to ME". He should be counted as one of the first long-section
hikers. Assuming a May 15 start for the BSH it's likely that the scouts met this
hiker along the way.

As part of the search for Troop 257 I also searched back issues of "The Hutmen's
Resuscitator" a publication of the Old Hutmen's Association.  I scanned issues
from Summer 1936 to January 1938 and found no mentions of the Scout troop going
through the Whites. This publication is an interesting glimpse at the "inside
issues" of taking care of visitors to the Whites, and it highlights some of the
issues of concern to the hutmen. A large discussion during this period concerned
the excessive packloads the hutmen were carrying, and whether it was
contributing to heart damage seen in these hutmen as they aged.

(There are 23 footnotes for this section, mostly dealing with the details of
lodging in the Whites. The max pack load for all huts was 200 lbs for Lake of
the Clouds. This is a one-mile walk downhill. The max for a hike was 181 lbs for
Carter Notch.)
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