100 years ago this winter, Paul Adams built the first structured camp on Mount Le Conte, the precursor to the famous Le Conte Lodge in the Great Smoky Mountains. For company, he brought along an extraordinary dog, whom he trained to pack supplies up and down the mountain. The story of this remarkable duo offers a fascinating glimpse into the days when the national park movement was in full swing, yet still years away from completion.
Born in Illinois, Paul J. Adams (1901-1985) developed a lifelong interest in flowers, trees and birds, inspired by weekend walks led by his father, a Presbyterian minister. An extended camping and fishing trip in the Ozark Mountains cemented his outdoor interests, and in an early nature journal, he wrote: “There I climbed my first mountain and fished my first fast river. I wanted to stay forever.” The family moved to North Carolina and then on to Knoxville, where he had easier access to the Smokies.
While working at a Boy Scout camp near Elkmont in 1918, Adams made his first trip up Mount Le Conte. As he grew into adulthood, the majestic mountain continued to speak to him, and throughout his life, he would go on to climb Le Conte 500 times or more.
After failing to complete his studies at the University of Tennessee, Adams worked as a part-time trail guide in the mountains and also worked at Crouch’s florist shop on Gay Street. On evenings and weekends, he also shared his naturalist skills as a junior member of the East Tennessee Ornithological Society, led by Harry Ijams, the most respected birder in the area. Adams learned much from him and helped compile annual bird counts around the Ijams farm and bird sanctuary in South Knoxville.
In the spring of 1925, Adams would join Ijams and Albert Ganier—an expert naturalist from Nashville, who was the first to conduct bird studies in these mountains—on a birding trip to the Smokies. Around a campfire on the peak of Le Conte, the three men talked about the promise of a new national park and how inexperienced hikers might unwittingly start devastating forest fires.
At a time when lumber companies were still cutting wide swaths of trees, Mount Le Conte was owned by the Champion Fibre Company, which had already closed the mountain to general visitation. Ijams had secured a permission letter from the company, and the three birders agreed that a skilled outdoorsman was needed to manage a new, permanent camp on the mountain.
Ijams recognized Paul Adams’ potential and, on his return to Knoxville, recommended him to Col. David Chapman, the tenacious vice president of the Great Smoky Mountains Conservation Association, the Knoxville-based organization formed to help create a national park in the Smokies.
The year before, Col. Chapman had been impressed when Adams served as a trail guide in the Smokies for members of the Southern Appalachian National Park Commission. Chapman promptly hired Adams as a field secretary with the express directive to build and manage a new campsite on Le Conte.
Packing enough supplies for an initial reconnaissance, Adams possessed a letter of his own from the lumber company that described his role as a “custodian to take charge of the top and upper part of Mt. Le Conte.”
While still living at home, Adams’ mother encouraged him to get a dog for companionship. Luckily, he’d just heard of one that might be perfect for the job: an intelligent German Shepherd with the grand name of Cumberland Jack of Edelweis II. Adams purchased the trained police dog from a South Knoxville dog handler, and Jack proved his worth immediately. When the two drove back to town, the dog jumped out of his moving car and helped police apprehend a suspect.
Food and supplies were packed before the pair drove out to Gatlinburg and spent a few days on the peak, allowing Jack to become accustomed to his new surroundings. He was a quick learner, and his master changed the dog’s name to Smoky Jack while developing the unusual idea of teaching the dog to fetch supplies up and down the mountain on his own.
At a Knoxville army surplus store, he found a cavalry officer’s two-pocketed leather map case, and with the help of a leather crafter, re-fashioned it into a handy saddlebag for the dog to wear.
Smoky Jack was now ready to earn his keep on Mount Le Conte. In the coming days and weeks, as summer and fall stretched into winter, he began to learn the best routes up and down the mountain, get to know the owners at Ogle’s Store in Gatlinburg, help fend off armed robbers, and also face what may have been the very last Timber Wolf in the Smokies. Paul Adams had made a fine choice in Smoky Jack, and many days of hard work and adventure lay ahead.
To be continued…
Recommended Reading: Smoky Jack and Mount Le Conte (UT Press, 2016), featuring new introductions and extensive footnotes by Smokies experts Anne Bridges and Ken Wise, are based on Paul Adams’ memoirs; and LeConte Lodge: A Centennial History of a Smoky Mountain Landmark by Tom Layton and Mike Hembree (McFarland Publishers, 2025).
About KHP: The educational nonprofit Knoxville History Project tells the city’s true stories, focusing on those that have not been previously told and those that connect the city to the world. Donations to support KHP’s work are always welcome and appreciated. Learn more at KnoxvilleHistoryProject.org.