TUPPER LAKE — When the ski center at Big Tupper reopens Dec. 26, it will be a historic coincidence.
BEGINNINGS
It was almost 50 years ago, an autumn day, when this town launched an all-out media blitz announcing their new ski center.
A reporter for the Tupper Lake Free Press and Herald took a ride up Mount Morris with founding ski hill manager Don Adams.
The ski center's name was so new it was placed in quotation marks.
"Dozers pushed and pulled at rocks and stumps clearing and grading so 'Big Tupper' could operate with minimum snow. Chain saws cut into protruding stumps, and bonfires blazed on the upper trails as workmen burned useless timber," the paper enthused Oct. 6, 1960.
Riding on a "Bombardier" — a motorized vehicle with tank treads — the view was magnificent, and the future seemed to go on forever.
Four girls from the school ski team rode with the reporter that day, urging Adams to climb higher. Carol Snyder, Sharon Williams, Beth Nichols and Rosemary Baker chatted loudly over the machine's groan, the newspaper story relayed.
"At the summit, we found a flurry of activity as the top T-bar towers were being set. From here a magnificent view encompasses more than 50 miles of mountain beauty," the article records.
Big Tupper was born of pure community spirit.
STUDIED SITE
Woodsman Ed Bencze was a young timber manager for Oval Wood Dish at the time.
He remembers how his employer and the town diligently studied the site for years.
"Of course the first thing that had to be done was an agreement with (Oval Wood Dish), who I was woodlands manager for at the time," he said.
The agreement was signed in 1960, allowing a $15,000 initial timber payment and lease agreement for $1 per year.
"The first thing was to build a road from the Country Club to the base of the mountain. Leo Bodette was the contractor who built the road. It was just gravel in the early days," Bencze said.
"Then all the trails had to be cut. Lionel L. Bailey and Paul Bailey — they were brothers — and Herve St. Onge were logging contractors, and they did the trail work. They just had small bulldozers — well what we call small today — and chain saws. They did a marvelous job."
Bencze was part of the advisory board that functioned while the ski area was being built.
"Oval Wood Dish was always a civic-minded company, since 1915, and a large employer. And so they were fairly involved in the community and felt that this was a worthwhile project," he said.
CONTRACTS
Possible names for the ski trails floated through the news in Oct. 1960 — Rollercoaster Run, Bailout Boulevard and Birch Lurch — while ski enthusiasts planted stickers on car bumpers and flew banners across the boulevards saying "Ski Big Tupper."
Town Historian Jon Kopp culled details from the newly reprinted history book "Mostly Spruce and Hemlock," by former Tupper Lake newspaper editor Louis J. Simmons.
"At a referendum June 3, 1960, taxpayers voted 455 to 359 to invest $490,000 in the Big Tupper development to be paid off in a 20-year bond," according to Simmons's book.
Construction contracts were awarded July 26 that year: $47,445 to A.J. Bodette Construction Co. to build an access road; $38,800 to Upstate Logging Co. of Tupper Lake for clearing the liftline, base area and parking lot; and $22,975 for the T-bar area; a contract for $105,450 went to Hall Ski Lift Co. of Syracuse to install the chairlift, along with $49,900 to install the T-bar.
The ski-lodge contract for $90,376 went to W.C. Johnson & Sons Construction in Tupper Lake.
COINCIDENCE
Then, on Dec. 26, 1960, Big Tupper opened.
"I can remember the day; it was a cold, snowy day," Bencze said.
"It was a day of recognition for the community."
Without realizing the dates matched — volunteers will reopen Big Tupper this year on Dec. 26.
Spearheading the project, Jim LaValley was unaware of the coincidence.
"This really is a purists' approach; it really has a retro feel," LaValley said of the ongoing work.
"A lot of nostalgia has percolated to the surface."
As winter blew in this week, the effort gained speed.
"The Department of Labor conducted its inspection of Chair Two, and we passed the load test," LaValley said.
Adirondack Residents Intent on Saving the Economy chose Dec. 26 to reopen Big Tupper based largely on weather.
"We knew going in we weren't going to have snowmaking; it was kind of throwing a dart at the wall," LaValley said. "It makes sense to open the day after Christmas with everybody here."
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
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