Mike Todd was a Catskill woodsman who spent seven summers at Camp Woodland until he died in 1960. A noted bear hunter and teller of tall tales, Mike Todd described Mike Todd – Catskill Woodsman himself as the biggest liar in Ulster County. He was also an observer at Balsam Lake Fire Tower from 1919 to 1947. He had an uncanny ability to describe the exact location of fires he spotted.
He usually dressed in an old long sleeve lumberjack shirt buttoned tight to the collar (even in the summer), pants baggy above his knees, held up by suspenders, and gathered tightly at his thighs by long laced boots. His broad brimmed round hat set off his craggy, worn face. At age 75, he still played the harmonica, holding it in his left hand accompanied by “bones”, musical instruments consisting of two flat, hardwood maple sticks that he held between his fingers and cracked together for rhythm and danced a jig all at the same time.
Mike Todd had, as did many others who Camp Woodland came to know, a great respect for craftsmanship. Respectful care for tools was important to him. Even the appearance of a tool became connected to its use. When complemented on the attractiveness of a tool he had forged, Mike said “It ain’t nice fer purdy, but it’s hell for stout.”
Below Mike demonstrates a shingle-shaving “horse” which he made for the Camp Woodland Museum.
One of the tricks that Mike taught campers was how to locate honey bee hives. He placed a bowl of sugar water on a flat piece of wood attached to the top of a post. Once the bees discovered the sugar water, Mike watched the direction they took back to the hive. Then he would move the post with the sugar water to another location and watch the new direction taken by the bees back to the hive. Where the two bee lines intersected was a pretty good approximation of the hive’s location.
This was sent to me by WCA member and former Camp Woodland camper Bill Horne. It is a great piece of Woodland Valley History. Thanks for sending it Bill!
