Photograph of Moody Pond and Mt. Baker, probably by Winchester MacDowell, undated. Courtesy of Marsha MacDowell Morgan. Mount Baker is a 2457-foot mountain east of Saranac Lake. Moody Pond lies at its foot.
It is one of three small mountains surrounding Saranac Lake: the others are Mount Pisgah and Dewey Mountain.
The first recorded ascent of Mount Baker on skis was made by Edwin R. Stonaker on March 11, 1916. 1
There were major forest fires on Baker in 1903 and 1908.
The Mt. Baker Club was a speakeasy at the foot of the mountain that offered a "red hot orchestra" and featured "girlie shows from Montreal and a healthy sprinkling of semi-mobsters hiding out from prohibition day vengeance."
Plattsburgh Republican, June 16, 1906
The burning of Mount Baker, 1915. Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 11, 1999
Twenty burros arrived this week at the Mount Baker Burro livery and several parties have made the ascent of Mt. Baker on these sure-footed little animals. Burro rides promise to be one of the features of the summer season at Saranac Lake.
View of Moody Pond, Lake Flower, Dewey Mountain and Saranac Lake village from Mount Baker, between 1901 and 1906. William Henry Jackson
Mount Baker from Kiwassa Road Lake Placid News, May 15, 1914
Mount Baker in Winter, between 1905 and 1920
Planted Baker's Slopes
A big force of men and boys of the High School started out last Friday to plant the fifteen thousand Scotch pine secured by the Fish and Game Club on the slopes of Mount Baker. The trees were obtained from the State nursery at Saranac Inn and cost about four dollars a thousand. It would cost an equal sum to put them into the ground, the labor was all donated, with the exception of a few paid men who saw that the lads did the work right.
Planting was continued Saturday and Monday. It is not expected that the 15000 trees will make much of an impression on the stony sides and summit of Baker, but the Club hopes the beginning will serve to rouse public feeling in the matter. The appearance of the mountain was ruined in forest fires of a few years ago.
Phil Gallos, in By Foot in the Adirondacks 1972, pages 137-139.
Detail from Mount Baker in Winter, between 1905 and 1920
“The quarry at the base of the mountain is where we went for ‘thrills.’ It was a great place to break bottles. The supply of good throwing-stones was limitless. When we were lucky enough to have a big brother’s .22 in our possession, the quarry became what we considered a first-rate shooting gallery. . . . Also, the quarry contained a very enticing vein of fool’s gold (iron pyrite). Boy, how we hacked at that stuff! The chisel marks are still there. So is the fool’s gold.”
Plattsburgh Press Republican, September 21, 2015
"Lookback: Week of Sept. 21 to September 28," compiled by Staff Writer Ben Rowe
100 Years Ago -- 1915
Government experts are at work on a new method of extracting potash from feldspar and if they are as successful as they hope to be, it will mean that a large source of wealth will be developed in the Adirondacks.
Saranac Lake and Village from Mt. Baker, Adirondacks, c. 1929, Santway Photo-Craft Co., Watertown,
Courtesy of the Adirondack ExperienceThere are large deposits of feldspar in the vicinity of Saranac Lake and some of them are close to that village, one of them being located on Mt. Baker. Potash extracted from Prussia has been in short supply since the war broke out in Europe.
View of Moody Pond, Lake Flower, Saranac Lake village and Lower Saranac Lake from Mount Baker
Comments
Footnotes
1. Cure Cottages, p. 137
