For those who are not familiar with E.J. Dailey, he was a trapper who lived in St Lawrence County close to the Adirondack Mountains in New York State.  During his life, E.J. was widely recognized as the foremost trapping expert.  I found the most challenging aspect of writing a book about E.J. was piecing all the trapping related activities together into a cohesive story.  He was involved with many varied trapping related activities simultaneously.  With this in mind, I based each chapter on one of his specific activities such as family man, trapper, partner, businessman, conservationist, professor or leader.  Some chapters are further broken down into components that were not easily incorporated into the story. 

                One question, I have been asked, is about the number of articles E.J. wrote compared to the amount of trapping he did.  The question is how could he have time to write that many articles when the amount of trapping he wrote about would take all his time.  I believe that anytime he was not trapping, he was writing.  There are several comments in his articles about writing in cabins or in his supply house.  Also, he recycled stories, parts of stories, changed names, changed locations or modified previously published articles to create new articles. 

                For instance, the information about trapping with Dick Wood at Cold River in the Adirondacks was reused in at least thirty different articles.  In some articles, Dick’s name was changed to Bill, Jack or Casey.  In other articles, the names of waterways, mountains and areas were changed.  The first article E.J. wrote about his Cold River experience was in May of 1920.  The article was called “On a Backwoods Trapline” and had several facts changed such as saying the location was in Canada even though a picture of the Cold River cabin was on the first page.  One interesting note about this article.  The author was noted as E.J. Bailey and under the photograph of the Cold River cabin it notes his name as C.J. Dailey.  E.J changed some component of other stories frequently in the early 1920s.  In the later 1920s and beyond, E.J. started calling persons and landmarks by their true names, but not always.

                E.J. continually learned and evolved during his life.  In earlier articles, he told of activities he did or did not do based on his beliefs at the time.  In a later article, E.J. may have said the complete opposite.  In the time between the two articles, he learned something that changed his belief and assisted with his evolution as a trapper.    

                The true measure of a man is not what they write about themselves, but what others write or say about them.  For that reason, I included as many published articles about experiences that others had with E.J.  Most are a synopsis of a specific event or day.  I also included personal interviews from people that knew E.J.

                I included every date, landmark, name, agency, association and anything else that assisted with telling the story.  I included every name of lake, river, mountain, hill and stream that E.J. used in his stories.  I purchased a map of the Adirondacks that included the geographical names, so I could see the places where he trapped.  This may be interesting for the reader to do.  One warning though, prepare to be challenged as there are many features in the Adirondacks with the same name.  For instance, there are at least three Dead Creeks that flow into the Raquette River and one that flows into the Grass River.  I had to find multiple features named in an article in the same area to make sure the location was correct.  If you need help finding a feature, let me know as I highlighted the ones I could find for future reference.

                If you have information contrary to what I have written in this book, I encourage you to send it to me at the address or email noted under Adirondack Dick Enterprises on the previous page.  If you just want to share information not included in this book, please do so.  I look forward to hearing from anyone who knew E.J. and receiving information not included in this book.

One thing to keep in mind, while reading this, is some activities occurred over a hundred years ago and would not be legal or ethical today.  At that time, the activities were not considered out of the norm.  All towns and features mentioned are in New York State unless otherwise noted.

Contents

Foreword…………………………………………………………………...……………...5

Chapter 1 - The Man………………………………………………………………………6

            Family…………………………………………………………………………….7

            Life………………………………………………………………………………..8

Chapter 2 - The Trapper………………………………………………………………….11

            Knowledge………………………………………………………………………12

            The Dirt Hole Set………………………………………………………………..16

Chapter 3 – The Traplines………………………………………………………………..21

            Solitary…………………………………………………………………………..22

            Spot Trapper…………………………………………………………………….51

Johnny Sneakem………………………………………………………………...52

St. Lawrence County Beaver……………………………………………………53

            Bear……………………………………………………………………………...57

Chapter 4 – Dick Wood and Cold River…………………………………………………59

            Influence………………………………………………………………………...60

            Cabin Life……………………………………………………………………….86

            Too Much Snow…………………………………………………………………87

            Safety……………………………………………………………………………88

Chapter 5 – Other Partners……………………………………………………………….91

Ned Fisher……………………………………………………………………….92

Jack Harper……………………………………………………………………...95

Ray Waite……………………………………………………………………….99

Edgar Altemus…………………………………………………………………103

Dune Burrows………………………………………………………………….105

“Frenchy” Madill………………………………………………………………125

Vaughn Tingley………………………………………………………………..129

Jimmy Cox……………………………………………………………………..131

Ansil “Dutch” Dailey…………………………………………………………..141

Hank McDonald………………………………………………………………..144

Gene Rheaume…………………………………………………………………147

Chapter 6 – Other Trappers……………………………………………………………..154

            Harry Phyffe…………………………………………………………………...155

Les Hammond………………………………………………………………….157

Johnny Raquette………………………………………………………………..157

Milke Brothers…………………………………………………………………157

Eddie Keith…………………………………………………………………….157

Glenn Rowe……………………………………………………………………158

Vernon O. Bailey………………………………………………………………159

Donald Jack Anderson…………………………………………………………163

Chapter 7 – The Professor………………………………………………………………165

            Schools in Session……………………………………………………………..166

Personal Trapping Instructions………………………………………………...167

Question Box Editor…………………………………………………………...169

Dalton Eddy……………………………………………………………………171

Bob Johnson……………………………………………………………………174

Alfred Gordon………………………………………………………………….177

Bill Gokey……………………………………………………………………...179

Keith Landies…………………………………………………………………..187

John Rockwood………………………………………………………………...187

Chapter 8 – The Businessman…………………………………………………………..189

            Business as Usual………………………………………………………………190

            Photography……………………………………………………………………193

            Field Specialist…………………………………………………………………194

Trapper for Hire………………………………………………………………..201

Leslie E. Smith…………………………………………………………………205

Lure…………………………………………………………………………….209

Sales Tax……………………………………………………………………….214

Chapter 9 – The Conservationist………………………………………………………..215

            Importance……………………………………………………………………..216

Poison…………………………………………………………………………..217

Gibbs…………………………………………………………………………...222

Red Fox………………………………………………………………………...226

Chapter 10 – The Leader………………………………………………………………..230

American Trappers Association………………………………………………..231

Bounties………………………………………………………………………..238

Stocking………………………………………………………………………..239

Pacific Coast…………………………………………………………………...240

Robert S. Oaks…………………………………………………………………244

Pennsylvania Trappers Association……………………………………………249

New York State Trappers Association…………………………………………252

Chapter 11 – The Anti-Steel Trap League and “Rich Fox and Raccoon Hunters”…….258

            Opposition……………………………………………………………………...259

South Carolina…………………………………………………………………261

Georgia…………………………………………………………………………261

Massachusetts………………………………………………………………….262

California………………………………………………………………………263

New Jersey……………………………………………………………………..264

New Hampshire………………………………………………………………..265

Arkansas………………………………………………………………………..266

Wisconsin………………………………………………………………………266

Maryland……………………………………………………………………….266

Ohio……………………………………………………………………………267

Kentucky……………………………………………………………………….268

Missouri………………………………………………………………………..271

Chapter 12 – Evolution of the Legend………………………………………………….272

References in Chronological Order…………………………………………………….275