Slim Jim takes a bride

Jim Phifield, called Slim Jim, drifted into the Fulton Chain region in the early 1870s from Essex County with his dog, his gun and a boat. He told folks he was looking for a home site and wanted to settle down. There was no shortage of home sites at that time, but Slim Jim was not in a hurry. He took his time looking over the area and finally, 10 years later, picked a spot on the lower south shore of Fourth Lake where he set up housekeeping in a modest log cabin and worked as a guide for hunters and fishermen, some of whom he housed in his cabin.

He was popular with his neighbors and he entered into community affairs as he settled in to his squatter home. He was noted for his conservative mannerisms, his observance of outworn social graces and even his clothes which were those of a man 50 years behind the times. He might have become a town father of the developing community of Old Forge but for a turn of events worthy of a William Faulkner novel.

Slim Jim had only just settled into his cabin when a man in ill health and his wife showed up looking for a place to stay. Jim’s rates were modest and that appealed to the couple. Although Jim had a strong aversion to women in general, he accepted the guests because travelers were few at the time and he could use the money. A few weeks after their arrival, the man died leaving Slim Jim with a bereaved widow on his hands and the job of transporting her husband’s remains to the train in Boonville. Jim arranged for a wagon and driver to carry the pine box, and Slim Jim and the widow followed in his buckboard.

During the sad trip through Moose River Settlement along the Brown’s Tract Road, Jim began revising his thoughts about women. He realized that his opinions were based on prejudice not on actual experience. The widow sitting by his side was so helpless and needy and Jim’s strong arms protected her from the jolts and bounces on the rutty road. She clung to her protector. According to the wagon driver, who reported upon his return to the Forge House the next day, the couple was engaged by the time they reached Moose River. So Slim Jim followed the deceased and his widow not only to Boonville, but on to their home, attended the funeral, and a short time he later married the widow. He sold his cabin to Josiah Helmer and Sarah Clark, moved to Iowa with his bride, and according to one report, the couple finally settled in Idaho.