Fredric C. Reeves, all 5-foot-3 inches and 149 pounds of him, was a 90-year-old former Adirondack guide, tanned, trim and from the first words he wrote, brimming with enthusiasm and rolling with reflections.

“This is like going back down memory lane!” he declared. “For a minute, I had to stop and think of all the good times that I have had in and about the Cold River country. It has been years since I was in that country. So! I am going to start with the trail beginning near the gate at Ampersand Park.”

It was March 20, 1991, and Fredric’s nephew, Peter Reeves Sperry of Doylestown, Pennsylvania, had sent me a superb photograph of Rondeau’s deserted shacks on Cold River Hill. He pointed out, “I took this when my uncle and I were on a pack trip through the Cold River region shortly after the woods were opened [in 1953].”

Peter’s photo offering was the finest image I had collected of Cold River City after its heyday. Uninhabited, vacant, and desolate, the campsite still held some reminders of the former owner. “I saw evidence of bow and arrow making in one of his shacks,” Peter wrote, “and a pamphlet about archery lying on a table…” He suggested I contact his uncle in Fort Pierce, Florida: He has wonderful recollections of and personal anecdotes about Rondeau…”

Peter was right on the button. His uncle had much to say. His description tugged at the back of my mind.

“I lived at Coreys for a short time and that is when I met Rondeau. He

was not a very colorful person then…

“The first time that I met Rondeau was about 1922. I was staying at the Forester Hotel. The Forester was run by Mrs. Fred Wood and then her son operated it for a number of years. It’s since been sold and is now called the Cold River Ranch, Inc. I recall Rondeau had some kind of connection with the hotel. He probably did some infrequent guiding for certain guests.

“Rondeau lived in a house there at Coreys. He didn’t own it. A summer resident let him stay there during the off season, probably in trade for some caretaking chores. I was in his house a few times.

“I will always remember the box stove with the chair in front of the open stove door. Rondeau wasn’t very careful. He used the chair to prop up sledlengthlogs that got fed into the firebox. It was very dangerous.

“Rondeau never believed in cutting wood—preferring instead to burn it sled length. Well, one day he went to Saranac Lake and when he returned home his house was all in ashes. He said that he lost everything—claimed that he had over a thousand dollars in furs and the same amount in cash. I remember it clearly.

“Rondeau had no place to go but the woods. He foraged the best he could. He also got hand-outs from the lumber camps. He was great friends of the Hathaway and Petty families. He used to stay with the Hathaways every Christmas. I think Bill and Clarence Petty really took a shine to him.

“[After the fire] I didn’t see Rondeau for a long time. I remember one time after he had established himself at his city, I was fishing back at Cold River. I decided to stop in to Rondeau’s. When I arrived, he was sitting there in his rocker looking over Cold River and admiring the view of Santanoni…Rondeau kiddingly asked, ‘Do you want to buy a mountain, Fredric? Santanoni is for sale.’ Later I remember asking him just how he happened to settle at the Big Dam and this is what he told me.