Not all tugboats on the Barge Canal in the first half decade were steamers, but most of them were. More on the early diesel tugs in another post. The photos in this post are arranged chronologically. In these days before metadata was even imagined, I’m very grateful for photographic prints that have dates written on them. Thanks to the unnamed photographer(s) who seemed to be documenting the commercial traffic of the era. One interesting feature of the photos for me is that they documented the surroundings as well: buildings and lack of them, nature and lack of it, other infrastructure and lack of it . . .
I find it odd that the caption identifies Jessie–the towed vessel but not the tug doing the towing, Harold. And Jessie, whose name is not legible, appears to be a boat-shaped lighter or a bumboat; maybe it was one once and now the engine has been removed to make way for cargo. That stone building just beyond Harold‘s stern is still extant, as part of Lockport locks and Canal Tours.
August 3, 1921 in Wayne County, it’s Geo. S. Donaldson somewhere between Palmyra and Newark, an area I know very well, but given how much the canal sides have changed, I can’t tell if the tow is east or westbound or exactly where it is. Benjamin Cowles towed gravel from a pit somewhere near Palmyra on the pre-Barge Canal waterway. He went on to form Buffalo Sand and Gravel.
The next day, the photographer, maybe the same one, captured Benj. L. Cowles eastbound at Lyons E28A. Here‘s some case law referring to this tugboat. Given the caption, let me quote from this article about ownership of the transmarine fleet: “Submarine Boat Company operated the Transmarine Corporation (Transco) or Transmarine Lines a shipping company from 1922 to 1930, with 32 ships and 29 barges they had built. Providing East Coast, West Coast, Texas, Cuba and South America with cargo shipping services. [They had] the 206 dwt barges working on the [Barge Canal] with five tugboats. Barges moved cargo from New York City to Buffalo, New York in seven to nine days.”
Since Lyons and Clyde share a border, the same photographer may have taken this photo on August 4, 1921. Note that on the forward portion of the wheelhouse, there is a Cowles Transportation sign.
On August 10, it’s Lotta L. Cowles east of Clyde.
Here’s Crescent two weeks later than her photo above, and no Cowles Transportation* sign is to be seen, and at lock E-23, about 50 miles to the east of Clyde. Maybe the sign was being repaired or repainted.
Here is one of the most amazing photos I’ve happened onto. According to the caption, the locking operation is in the hands of no less a celebrity than the NYS governor Nathan L. Miller. Maybe current NYS governor Kathy Hochul might see fit to operate some locks this coming summer as she runs for her office.
NYC as well as Buffalo have an Erie Basin, and this is the one in Buffalo. That Erie Canal is now encompasses a marina and has high-end real estate on the inland side. I believe Belle dates from 1880, and I’m not sure if the boat alongside is Helen E. Taylor or Helene Taylor.
More to come, as I continue to alternate b/w photos with color ones.
These photos are used with permission of the Canal Society of New York. Any errors of interpretation, WVD.
*Ben Cowles was an accomplished person. Born in Buffalo in 1863, as a young man he left Buffalo to work in the sixth boro for at least 15 years as a ferry and tug captain. At age 38, he returned to Buffalo (the 8th largest US city in 1900) and was appointed harbor master. In 1905, he founded Cowles Shipyard. Besides building boats, he bought old Lake Erie steam fish tugs and adapted them for use as tugboats on the canals. For a short period, he had a business partnership with the Mattons of Cohoes. At its peak, Cowles Transportation owned/operated 16 tugs, 11 barges, and 3 lighters. (Low Bridges and High Water, Charles T. O’Malley)
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March 19, 2022 at 3:00 pm
William Lafferty
An interesting aspect here is that with the exception of the Helen E. Taylor and Belle, all the tugs shown were built on the Great Lakes. The enlargement of the Erie Canal into the New York State Barge Canal completed in 1918 created a demand for far more motive power, and as a result a number of aging tugs, fish tugs, and even small passenger steamers migrated from the lakes to New York for towing service on the new canal. The Harold was built by George Notter as the Samuel M. Sloan at Buffalo and enrolled there 20 April 1882 for Sloan, a partner of Cowles in the Niagara River excursion trade, and it towed the partners’ party barges in that trade, as well as general towing, enrolled there 20 April 1882. It seems to have shuttled canal boats between Buffalo and Medina. The Geo. S. Donaldson was also built by Notter at Buffalo for its namesake, enrolled 10 June 1883, and entered general canal towing that month. The Benj. L. Cowles started life as the L. T. Brogan, enrolled at Cleveland on 3 July 1906 and built by L. P. And J. A. Smith there for their Cleveland Dredge & Dock Company. It took part in numerous marine construction projects on the lakes, became a harbor tug at Green Bay, and was sold to Cowles in 1920. The Crescent began life as the steam fish tug Frank P. Geiken, built for Geiken of Charlevoix by Duncan Robertson at Grand Haven and enrolled there on 20 August 1891. It fished out of Charlevoix, Beaver Island, Bay City, and the Fox Islands until Cowles bought it on 11 April 1919 to tow on the canal out of Buffalo. The Lotta L. Cowles was another Lake Michigan fish tug, also built by Robertson at Grand Haven, enrolled 10 April 1894, for James McCann of the famous Beaver Island fishing family. Indeed, the McCann was just one of three Lake Michigan fish tugs Cowles bought on 13 August 1919, the others Peter Coates (built by Robertson in 1886!) and Two Sisters (built 1914 at St. James, Michigan), as well as the towing tug Arthur D. (built 1889 at Buffalo). Obviously, Cowles (and other operators) scrambled to get more towing capacity as traffic on the canal increased.
The Belle was built at New Baltimore by Baldwin in 1897, the Helen E. Taylor at Newburgh by Marvel in 1898. These tugs look a bit more, um, substantial than the typical canal tug of that period. Belle was run by Dailey’s Towing Line, New York City and the steel Taylor (previously Socony 6) by William Taylor of New York City. These look like south of Albany boats. Is it possible this photograph was taken at the Brooklyn Erie Basin, and not the Buffalo Erie Basin?
March 19, 2022 at 4:11 pm
tugster
William– I feel we are co-writing these days. Thank you for your insights and facts. By pointing out that so many of these steam tugs were built on the Great Lakes as fish tugs, you’re showing that Urger’s re-use as a canal tug was part of a larger pattern.