History

Clayton's 150th: The Life of Simon G. Johnston

The Life of Simon G. Johnston - Shipbuilding was the major industry and largest employer in Clayton, NY, from the early 19th century to well into the 20th century. . .

Volume 17, Issue 3, March 2022
Richard Palmer

The Ice Harvest

Before electric power was expanded into the Thousand Islands, there was a small, but brutal business called ice harvesting. Basically, it consisted of cutting large chunks of ice from the frozen St. Lawrence River . . .

Volume 17, Issue 2, February 2022
Manley L. Rusho

Cliffe Craft Revisited

I got involved with Cliffe Craft boats in 1994 when searching around to find a decent, restorable, wooden hull regardless of the company or the builder.

Volume 17, Issue 2, February 2022
Marc Benoit

Remembering GBL’s Wilfred Bilow, A Diamond in the Rough

I’d heard of this guy. He had a reputation as being ‘tough as nails’. Everyone in the local marine industry from Picton to Prescott either knew him or of him. Most feared him. But everyone . . .

Volume 17, Issue 2, February 2022
Brian Johnson

Taking the Trolley to Alexandria Bay

One of the first electric trolley lines in northern New York was a line built from Redwood to the village of Alexandria Bay. It was only seven and a half miles long and was built by a group of local investors . .

Volume 17, Issue 2, February 2022
Richard Palmer

Rock Island Lighthouse, Part I

Rock Island is most likely the most famous light station on the River. Read all about it!

Volume 17, Issue 2, February 2022
Mary Alice Snetsinger

Winona Circle Quilt Returns to Gananoque

The story of Gananoque’s Grace United Church's WWII quilt, a Joanne Dermenjian a Queen's Masters Student, and Jo Andrews' who produces a British Podcast . . ..

Volume 17, Issue 1, January 2022
Paul Scott

Steamboat Lady of the Lake Sailed Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River

One of the most popular steamboats on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River in the 19th century was the "Lady of the Lake," of the Ontario & St. Lawrence Steamboat Company.

Volume 17, Issue 1, January 2022
Richard Palmer

The Christmas Play

Somehow, I ended up with the role of Bob Cratchit, the father of Tiny Tim, although I don’t remember how this happened . . . I was embarrassed and I tried to avoid my role but to no avail.

Volume 16, Issue 12, December 2021
Manley L. Rusho

Wreck of the Steamboat "Martha Ogden" in 1832

The "Martha Ogden", enroute from Oswego to Sackets Harbor on November 12, 1832, was hit by a northwest gale and sprang a leak.

Volume 16, Issue 12, December 2021
Richard Palmer

The Dobbs

My father obtained the boat, which we called the Dobbs, in 1945 or ‘46. The boat was a 21-foot launch-type boat, built in Morris Heights, New York City, around 1904. A quaint little boat, she was narrow, maybe 6 feet wide, with a round bottom.

Volume 16, Issue 11, November 2021
Manley L. Rusho

"Romeo & Annette"; The life, times, and sad fate of the Ferry "Upper Canada"

So today she sits, waits, and rusts away in the mud, forgotten like a broken, abandoned old vehicle in some equally forgotten, overgrown back field.

Volume 16, Issue 10, October 2021
Brian Johnson

Building an Ice Boat

Bob LaShomb started it all. It began in early February, around 1953. Bob, at that time, was the mail carrier for the US Mail from Clayton to Grindstone Island – two miles across the St. Lawrence River.

Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2021
Manley L. Rusho

All About Cape Vincent's Village Green

The Village Green is an integral part of the Cape Vincent community: the center of every outdoor celebration, the linchpin that ties French Festival together, the heart of the village.

Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2021
Kristie Stumpf Rork

Heyday of the Hay Scows

Hay scows were a product of their environment, floating supplies to the inhabitants of the many islands, and transporting farmers’ produce from the islands to market.

Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2021
Richard Palmer

Cadets Spent Summer Sailing the Thousand Islands

The "John S. Parsons" passed the summer cruising up and down Lake Ontario and through the Thousand Islands region, and finally returned to Oswego, where the cadets disembarked and returned to school in time for the opening of the fall term.

Volume 16, Issue 9, September 2021
Richard Palmer

The Tumultuous Origins of the Gananoque Water Power Company

This largely forgotten story began in the 1830s, but not in Gananoque, as one would expect. It began with Richard Coleman Sr. in what is now a quiet rural community called Lyn,

Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2021
Paul Coté

Les Corbin’s Famous Photo of the Ice Punt

There is an old photo taken by Les Corbin in 1946 of a small wooden boat in the icy river with six men in it - just as it is leaving the Clayton Docks . . .

Volume 16, Issue 8, August 2021
Manley L. Rusho