Forest and 
Streaj 
The old clearing not far from Brandreth Lake where Reuben Cary caught the sole survivor of the Adirondack wolves 
THE LAST ADIRONDACK WOLF 
HOW REUBEN CARY FOLLOWED ITS TRAIL THROUGH WINTER 
WOODS AND FINALLY SUCCEEDED IN TRAPPING THE WARY ANIMAL 
By FREDERICK A. POTTER 
T HE fall of 1893 came early. No¬ 
vember was ushered in with those 
clear, cold days that are so char¬ 
acteristic of an Adirondack early 
winter. Snow held off uncommonly late, 
and by November 15 the ice in the lakes 
and ponds was strong enough to hold a 
man. 
Reuben Cary, now one of the oldest 
living guides of the Adirondacks, one of 
the princes of the old school, was pre¬ 
paring to put in the winter at Brandreth 
Lake in Hamilton County. “Rube” had 
lived at the lake since 1880, but before 
that had put in many seasons guiding 
in the Park. Brandreth Lake lay in al¬ 
most the center of this Park, and was 
surrounded by trackless forests, abound¬ 
ing in game of all kinds. With Rube 
there were living at the lake his brother 
and two other men, by name Flynn and 
Parker. The four kept house in a log 
cabin at the northern end of the lake. 
They shared the duties of cooking and 
doing the chores and in helping Rube 
with his trap-line. 
About two miles from the 
lake there was an old clearing 
of some fifty acres. Here hay 
was cut and piled every sum¬ 
mer to feed the cattle and 
sheep that were kept at the 
lake. An old road ran from 
the lake to the clearing, apd 
over this road they used to 
drive the cattle and sheep, of¬ 
ten leaving them to graze in 
the clearing, when the weather 
was good, for two or three 
days at a time. In order to 
protect the hay mounds from 
the cattle and deer, a rough 
fence or stockade had been 
built around it, large enough 
to herd the cattle into at night, 
if necessary. 
By the middle of November, 
Rube had his trap-line pretty 
well out, and was working in 
his spare time making snowshoes for 
the winter’s campaign. As the days ad¬ 
vanced, the new moon grew to a round 
fulness, and one night, as the four 
woodsmen were sitting around the stove 
visiting, they were startled to hear a 
long, drawn-out howl outside. It was 
so plain and sounded so near that Rube 
opened the door and stood gazing down 
the sparkling, ice-bound lake, bathed in 
the light of a full moon. For a long 
time everything was still; and then, sud¬ 
denly, from the mountain on the west 
of the lake came the same long, drawn- 
out howl. Now it had been many years 
since wolves had been seen or heard in 
the Adirondacks. Occasionally a report 
had been circulated of someone who had 
either heard or crossed a wolf track in 
the snow. These reports were never 
given much credence and were always 
looked upon as a hunter’s tale. But 
Rube had heard too many wolves howl¬ 
ing in his day to be deceived, and the 
others agreed with him that it could b 
nothing else. They talked of wolves tha 
night, of the large packs that in th 
olden days lived and thrived in th 
woods; but times had changed, am 
surely the last of the wolves had passei 
in the North Woods. 
The following afternoon, Rube wa 
stringing snowshoes in the shop. Hi 
brother and Flynn were out on the trap 
line. Parker was preparing supper 
when he happened to look out on th. 
lake and saw a gaunt, gray anima 
crossing about a mile from the shore 
He called Rube, but the old trapper wa 
too busy to be excited enough to lool 
at what he said must be a deer. How 
ever, when Parker insisted that “his coa 
was too shiny and gray” for a deer 
Rube condescended to go out on th. 
porch to look for himself. One look wa 
enough to convince the old hunter i 
was no deer, but a large, gray wolf. 
Running into the house, he grabbet 
up his old 38-40 rifle, and 
putting on his coat and hat a 
he ran, went down on the ice 
I he wolf did not seem to pa’ 
any attention to the smal 
group of camps at the head o 
the lake, nor to the old guid. 
who started out toward him 
The wolf crossed the lake t< 
the east shore and startec 
trotting down toward the is¬ 
land about two miles south 
Rube kept down the middle oi 
the lake, which is about a mik 
wide, hoping to get ahead o: 
the wolf, and to get a shot ai 
him as he came around the 
island. Half way down the 
lake the wolf crossed again tc 
the west shore about a quarter 
of a mile ahead of Rube. He 
did not seem to see—or if he 
did, to pay any attention to— 
(Continued on page 89) 
Reuben Cary and the last Adirondack wolf 
