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Steamboating

The Showboat Era on Lake George 1933-1937

April 27, 2022 by Dave Waite 1 Comment

Horicon IIWhen the sidewheel steamboat Horicon II was launched on Lake George in 1910, she was both the longest and fastest passenger vessel to ever sail the lake. Over the next 29 years, she would be used for transportation of cargo and residents around the lake, as well as cruises for tourists.

The construction of a road on the west side of the lake, as well as the region’s rapidly increasing mobility with the introduction of the automobile, brought a dramatic decline in passengers. In response to this trend, in 1932 the Delaware & Hudson Railroad, owners of the steamboats on the lake through the Lake George Steamboat Company, announced that they would not be running boats that year. [Read more…] about The Showboat Era on Lake George 1933-1937

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Bolton, Delaware & Hudson Railroad, Essex County, Jazz, Lake George, Maritime History, Musical History, Performing Arts, railroads, Steamboating, Ticonderoga, Transportation History, Warren County

Hudson River Railroad & Steamboat History: Piermont Pier

April 10, 2022 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Piermont Pier as it looks today courtesy Synchronous New YorkHand-built in the mid-1800s, the 4,000-foot-long Piermont Pier on the Hudson River in Rockland County was once a terminus of the longest railroad in the world – the Erie Railroad.

Hampered by rules about railroads crossing state lines, the Erie built a pier nearly a mile long across the marshy bay at Piermont and out to the deeper parts of the Hudson River, where steamboats could pick up passengers and take them on to New York City. [Read more…] about Hudson River Railroad & Steamboat History: Piermont Pier

Filed Under: History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Erie Railroad, Hudson River, railroads, Rockland County, Steamboating, Transportation History

Putnam History Museum Acquires Hudson River Postcard Collection

March 26, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

In the Highlands of the Hudson postcardHudson Highlands residents Barry and Mary Jean (MJ) Ross have donated their collection of Hudson River postcards to the Putnam History Museum.

The collection is comprised of 240 distinct early 20th century postcards with scenes of the Hudson River Valley – and related views, activities, landmarks, and landscapes – from New York Harbor to the Adirondacks. [Read more…] about Putnam History Museum Acquires Hudson River Postcard Collection

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, New York City Tagged With: Cold Spring, Hudson Highlands, Hudson River, Hudson Valley, New York Harbor, Philipstown, Photography, Postal Service, Putnam County, Putnam History Museum, railroads, Steamboating, Transportation History

Francis Mallaby: Witness to Sackets Harbor History

January 20, 2022 by Constance Barone Leave a Comment

1835 painting of ship house covering unfinished War of 1812 USS New Orleans located on Navy Point at Sackets HarborThe name Francis Mallaby may not be familiar in New York history but sailing master Mallaby served at the Sackets Harbor navy yard in a prosperous time of lake shipping and community growth. He helped make a difference by initiating purchase of land which is cherished today as the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site.

This War of 1812 veteran received high compliments from Lake Ontario navy commander Isaac Chauncey and Captain Woolsey that helped influence Mallaby’s 1817 appointment as master of the first steamboat on Lake Ontario, based in Sackets Harbor in Jefferson County, NY. [Read more…] about Francis Mallaby: Witness to Sackets Harbor History

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Canada, Fort Tompkins, Great Lakes, Jefferson County, Lake Ontario, Maritime History, Military History, Naval History, Navy, Patriot War of 1837-38, Sackets Harbor, St. Lawrence River, Steamboating, Transportation History, War of 1812

Fulton’s Steamboat, The Black Ball Line & The Erie Canal

January 17, 2022 by James S. Kaplan 4 Comments

England, a packet ship of the Black Ball LineFor thousands of years prior to the early 1800s maritime transportation was dependent on sailing ships. In the first few decades of the 19th century however, entrepreneurs in New York helped revolutionize the industry so that one hundred years later sailing ships were an anachronism that hardly existed, except for show.

In the latter part of the 1700s the development of the Boulton & Watt steam engine in England made it theoretically possible to power a boat. Before 1800 a number of inventors, including New Yorkers such as Nicholas Roosevelt, John Fitch, Robert R. Livingston, John Stevens III and others, experimented with boats that used such steam engines. Before Robert Fulton made his first run in the North River steamboat (later renamed Clermont) in 1807 more than a dozen steamboats had been constructed in the United States with varying degrees of success.   There were difficulties in making such craft commercially viable. [Read more…] about Fulton’s Steamboat, The Black Ball Line & The Erie Canal

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Albany, Buffalo, DeWitt Clinton, Economic History, Erie Canal, Hudson River, Manhattan, Maritime History, New York City, New York Harbor, Political History, Robert Fulton, Robert Livingston, Steamboating, Transportation History, Wall Street, Wall Street History Series

The 10 Deadliest Accidents in the Adirondack Region

December 9, 2021 by John Warren Leave a Comment

Sinking of Lake George Steamboat John JaySome of tragic accidents have occurred in the Adirondack region.

Here is a list of the ten believed to have been among the deadliest: [Read more…] about The 10 Deadliest Accidents in the Adirondack Region

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondack Dams, Aviation History, Chazy Lake, Clinton County, Dannemora, Essex County, I-87, Lake George, Saratoga County, Steamboating, Transportation History, Warren County

Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator

November 7, 2021 by Roy Crego 7 Comments

Exhibit 1_Sheppard Portrait Jack Sheppard came to the Fulton Chain region of the Western Adirondacks after roaming the West as a youth and then served in the Union Army during the Civil War.

These experiences equipped Sheppard with the knowledge, skills, and social network to become a successful guide and enabled him to shift his occupation from guide to innkeeper, to builder, to businessman. He never married or raised a family, but when he left the Adirondacks in 1892 he left behind a long list of devoted friends that reads like a virtual who’s who of Adirondack history. [Read more…] about Jack Sheppard: Civil War Vet, Panther Hunter, Adirondack Guide & Steamboat Operator

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: 117th NY Volunteers, Adirondack Guides, Adirondacks, Brown's Tract, Civil War, Environmental History, Fourth Lake, Genealogy, Hamilton County, Herkimer COunty, hunting, Moose River, Mountain Lions, Old Forge, Steamboating, surveying, Verplanck Colvin

The Sacandaga River Steamboats Whip Poor Will and Colonel

November 1, 2021 by Dave Waite 2 Comments

only known photograph of a Sacandaga River Steamboat courtesy Edinburgh Town Historian Priscilla EdwardsIt has been over 90 years since the Conklingville Dam was completed and the river that flowed through the Sacandaga Valley became the Great Sacandaga Reservoir.

When visitors hear of this river that once ran through the area, they likely visualize it as a small meandering creek passing quietly past the picture-perfect farms and tiny settlements that dotted its shore. [Read more…] about The Sacandaga River Steamboats Whip Poor Will and Colonel

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Sacandaga River, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Steamboating, Tanning, Transportation History, wood products

The Accident Prone Lake George Steamboat Sagamore

October 22, 2021 by John Warren Leave a Comment

Lake George steamboat Sagamore passing CleverdaleThe Lake George steamer Sagamore may hold a unique record. At 224 feet and able to carry 1,500 passengers, the Sagamore was largest of the steamboats plying the lake for the Champlain Transportation Company – it also had a dubious record of groundings and collisions. [Read more…] about The Accident Prone Lake George Steamboat Sagamore

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Adirondacks, Lake George, Steamboating

The Deadly Wreck of the Lake George Steamer Rachel

October 15, 2021 by John Warren Leave a Comment

Pearl Point House on Lake GeorgeOn October 2nd, 2005, the 40-foot cruise boat Ethan Allen capsized on Lake George with 49 senior citizens on board. Twenty were killed making it the most deadly tragedy in the history of Lake George and the Adirondack Region.

Until the sinking of the Ethan Allen, that lamentable distinction belonged to a similar-sized steam-powered boat, the Rachel. [Read more…] about The Deadly Wreck of the Lake George Steamer Rachel

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Lake George, Steamboating, Transportation History

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