Hi Steve,
Writing to you again, to thank you for giving me a place to come, and re-live my fondest childhood memories!
Last weekend,(Passover-Good Friday,Easter Weekend), I packed my 2 kids, Alexa age 7, and Dylan age 4, and my reluctant wife,Shari to take a long journey from Long Island, Up to The Mountains,North Hudson, NY...
Call me crazy if you will, But I just had to Drive down that old stretch of road, Known as Route 9, Funny, I never as a kid remember a sign that said ,"Careful, Rough & Bumpy Road ahead"...NYDOT wasn't kidding, Rt 9 between Schroon Lake & North Hudson Hadn't been repaired & or repaived in almost 30+ years, as though it seemed.
We pulled into The Frontier Town parking lot, to my amazement, the Large, Towering Sign still stands, Held up by some serious, Cables, over the top, front & Back...I had to touch it!..No Sign of the Cowboys"Those Son's a Bitches" with the Bumper Adds around to attatch to my Dad's, OLd Ford, Steel Bumper this time around,(FUNNY!) Just a dusty old parking lot, weeds, and an old Broken DOWN Main Gate Entrance, with an old lawnmower jammed in to the gates, so no one can gain entrance or tresspass...I looked around back, and down the old Path/Switchback/Walkway , still visible, hoping to hear ,as I did 35 years before the sound of the old locomotive Whistle,or old Pop Canary's voice over the speakers, the smell of acrid smoke from SWIFT EAGLE, CHEE-CHEE BIRD & DANCING EAGLES Camp FIRE at the Indian Camp long gone.....There I fell !!!! Tears Streaming!!! Is this how a 40 year old man acts on the week ending Tax Season???
Picking my self up I got back into Our Jeep, My Daughter asks me, Are we going in Daddy, Not this time Honey...My Son Sighs, Saddly too, Not ever I thought...Wishing I could take them back to years gone by.
Driving Back around to the other entrance off of Rt87, the A- Frame/McDonalds Gift shop stands still, empty...Nothing....Baren & creepy. Bob Dylan, or Joan Baez, I believe, said it best, long ago, or, as I remember hearing from an old radio hanging in a tree near Rt 9, Whilst we played cowboys & Indians, hanging out in the back woods of Schroon lake with my Sister Terri, and Brother, Jim's, Ols Summer Friends, Phil McCoy, Our Favorite Rodeo rider, etc...as we Rode their Horses on the trails, and as I stole a Pony Ride right into the trees limbs, Ouch!!!!... "Times they are a changing", well as they did a long time ago...Well, as long as I have a memory, and thoughts to share...they will be mine, yours, and who ever else cares to listen... As strange as it is, If Mr. Bensen only knew, his little Prarie Junction, et al has a part of my Soul!!!
Can't we camp their or play as kids just once more, or just have a Bar-B-Que with the current owner & shar with them, him, etc what those acres hold deep within them??? If I had a Dying wish! That request would be right on top.
Any day above ground is a good day! As I hope SWIFT EAGLE, HIS WIFE, DICK COURY, AND THOSE OTHER SOULS THAT STILL RIDE ON ARE AS PEACEFUL AS THE THOUGHTS OF FRONTIER TOWN BRING TO ME!
AS I HEAR THE TRAINS WHISTLE IN THE BACKGROUNG AS I AM HOLDING MY Mom & DAD'S HAND's, with my new Cap Gun & Holster, and new Cowboy Hat, AS I WAVE, SADDLY GOOD BYE , Swift Eagle, and Danny, Dancing Bear, and the the Black bears, Goodbye TO FRONTIER TOWN UNTIL NEXT YEAR....Now Gone forever...
BEST REGARDS, DAVE GOLD PLAINVIEW,NEW YORK...