Editor’s note: This column was first published March 31, 1976.
In the summer of ’32, Mrs. Charles Coleman Jr. was running strong in the Cooperstown merchants popularity election, President Herbert Hoover was running scared against Franklin D. Roosevelt and the 27-year-old Mohican was running out of steam.
When the Mohican was first launched, automobiles were scarce and unreliable novelties at best. Roads were dusty or muddy depending upon the weather. The stage from Fort Plain off-loaded at Springfield Landing and passengers could continue to Cooperstown by boat . The many hotels in the village filled with tourists each summer, cottages and camps were springing up on both sides of the Lake. An excursion around the Lake was a much sought-after diversion, and moonlight cruises were long remembered. Many a night saw the lights of the Mohican shimmering on the Glimmerglass and heard the strains of music and laughter floating to shore as a birthday or even a “hole-in-one” was celebrated.
The Mohican steamed right on through the ’20s, a delightful convenience, but it was beginning to age when the ’30s arrived. Wall Street was emptying the hotels, but Detroit was filling the roads.
In July of ’32, the Otesaga didn’t open, and the Mohican was facing increasing losses in the face of motor car competition. The Mohican also leaked. When it leaked too fast, manure and straw were thrown in the lake around it to get sucked into the large cracks; the pump could handle the rest. On alternate years it was hauled out, patched and left to stand in its cradle at the foot of Fair Street. The Lakefront Motel was not there. Andrews boat livery and Fish’s landing were -unpainted and ramshackled. The lighthouse wasn’t there. There was no…
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