The Earl Covey Story: A Biography

New York: Exposition Press, 1964. Signed Copy. Hard Cover. Very Good/Very Good. 0x0x0. Signed by author. Signed by author with inscription, "To Mary and Doug - who have united Big Moose Lake, Best wishes, Frances Alden Covey, October 1970." With letter from previous owner to a friend explaining getting it signed at Big Moose Lake. Jacket rubbed, minor ink mark on rear jacket panel, rear jacket panel creased. 1964 Hard Cover. 164 pp. Accustomed to skyscrapers, the latest design of automotive engineers and turbo-jets that span the continent in a matter of hours, we sometimes forget that not all the continental United States, even today, is the highly developed land most of us know and take for granted. And the reader, struck by the primeval, unspoiled beauty of the Adirondacks in northern New York State, might well wonder what conditions were in the late nineteenth century, before modern highways made much of it easily accessible. What it was like then is revealed throughout the story of the early years of Earl Covey, one of the pioneers who opened the territory and built the camps for the many visitors who for decades have been summering in those mountains. The Earl Covey Story, written by his wife, is the story of a woodman, guide, builder and innkeeper who spent most of his life in northern New York, where he was born at Glenfield, Lewis County, in 1876. Hardworking and God-fearing, he earned the respect of all who knew him. "To me he was almost a god," one man said, recalling the time when he was fourteen years old. "...there was nothing Mr. Covey could not do." He was an inventor as well, having developed a nonskid winter tire that attracted the attention of the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. But it is as a builder of lodges, chapels, camps, that he is best remembered. The inscription on the memorial plaque placed on a boulder in his beloved woods reads: "In memory of Earl W. Covey, 1876-1952, a master builder who lived so much in tune with the life of nature that he was able to duplicated and enhance its beauty in the creation of beautiful buildings from Adirondack trees and rocks." After suffering the death of his son in World War I, and of his wife not long after, he met a woman thirteen years his junior. Attracted by his strength of character, she saw in the woodsman the moral fortitude and inner nobility of a genuinely fine man, and they were married in 1923. The later part of The Earl Covey Story recounts their wonderful years together. This inspiring and heart-warming book is a fitting tribute to a man who spent his entire life walking in the footsteps of his God. It is a biography that will reward countless readers, making them realize that not all of the heroes receive medals or have their busts placed in the Hall of Fame.