Part of our wigoweb team will turn 66 about the time this cache
is published, so the cache is partly to celebrate that milestone in
addition to wigoweb's reaching 2200 finds this week, too.
We have been escaping to Wells from our south Jersey home since
2001. We saw a story about another Escape to Wells that happened in
the early 19th Century.
Don Williams is a well-known local historian. Our granddaughters
have enjoyed listening to his stories on the porch of Melody Lodge
in Speculator. Recently (11/22/09), he published the following
story in the Leader-Herald.
"We could go back into history to find other
unfinished Adirondack stories. There is an old oral history story
from Piseco that during the War of 1812, the British and Indians
were going to raid the settlers at Piseco. The people fled by
walking and boating down the west branch of the Sacandaga River. It
was a day when the river was much deeper and wider than it is
today. They made it to Wells where they found safety in a log
structure in the center of the village where the old Wells School
once stood.
Silas Call remembered the story as well as Vern Pelcher's father.
What a great piece of Adirondack history it would be if we could
find a first-hand account and the details of the event. So often,
history is lost because of the loss of documentation and those who
have the memories. In my estimation, we would do well to gather
what we can and get it in print before we lose our
past."
Placed along the West Sacandaga River, but not in the town of
Wells. The school where the settlers took refuge is long
gone.
Since this is an old story, but one that may continue on into the
future if someone comes up with some information or lost
documentation, we want to place a cache to help keep the story
alive. If you happen to know some of the story or have some old
clippings about the 1812 Escape, pass the information along to
Don.