Matilda Fielding

          Guide Bill Nye often told the story of a hiking party. In 1868, Matilda Fielding, her husband, and her niece Dolly climbed Mount Marcy and returned by way of Avalanche Lake. “You will remember the walls,” said Nye, “hundreds of feet high on either side, that you can neither get over nor around without going around the mountain; well, along one side is a shelf from two to four feet wide, and as many under water, and when we got there they wondered how we were to get past. I said I could carry them or I could build a raft, but to build a raft would take too much time while I could carry them past in a few minutes. Provisions were getting short and time set to be at North Elba, so Mr. Fielding says, ‘Well, Matilda, what say you? Will you be carried over, or shall we make a raft?’ Mrs. Fielding says, ‘If Mr. Nye can do it, and thinks it safe, I will be carried over, to save time.’”

           Nye told her that he had carried a 180-pound man across the shelf, but she still seemed skeptical. Matilda said she did not see how he was going to carry them across and keep them out of the water. Nye said, “I will show you; who is going to ride first?” 

            Matilda accepted the challenge and delicately climbed onto Nye’s shoulders, one leg dangling on each side of his neck. As Nye waded into the water with his passenger on board, Mr. Fielding and Dolly yelled: “Hurrah! There they go!,” “Cling tight, Matilda!,” “Hold your horse, aunt!,” and “Your reputation as a rider is at stake.”