‘Murray’s Fools’ at 150
The story of High Peaks crowds is familiar by now: jammed and limited parking places along Route 73, eroded and deteriorating trails on Cascade and Giant, poop in the woods.
The problem? Too many people and consequently a diminution of both the fragile wilderness and the wilderness experience that brought them here in the first place.
Where have we run into this before?
In 1869, a century and a half ago, the distinguished Boston publisher Fields, Osgood released a book that it hoped would make a buck or two but for which it had only modest hopes. This was “Adventures in the Wilderness; or, Camp-Life in the Adirondacks,” by a Boston clergyman, William Henry Harrison Murray. Much to the delight of publisher and author, the book struck a nerve and became an overnight bestseller. With its appealing tales about Adirondack fishing and hunting and, perhaps more important, with its detailed, easy-to-digest instructions on how to plan and execute a camping trip, Murray’s book
