You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘Governor Roosevelt’ tag.
I hope you enjoy looking back 10 years as much as I do, although some might say I live in the past a little too much. Here’s some dense traffic, l to r, Twisted Sisters, Lucinda Smith, Maurania III, and Petrozavosk.
Up in Lyons NY at the drydock, Governor Roosevelt shows her deep 8′ 6″ belly. Rosie will turn 100 in summer 2027.
Greenland Sea . . . one of my favorites is likely on her terminal lay up.
Does Duty still do duty on the Delaware?
Maria J is now Nicholas Vinik.
Charles D. is still working hard in the boro, as she was here helping Zim Virginia around Bergen Point. I do miss the walkway on the WEST side of the Bayonne Bridge.
This Peter is now Long Island . . . or Long Peter if you like.
Resolute assists Maersk Kentucky around that same point.
Amberjack is now Kirby Dann Ocean white and blue, and some of the Bouchard boats are now this Penn Maritime gray.
Giulio Verne was in town for some submarine cabling, and I’ve heard tell there was a fabulous Italian chef on board. She’s now docked in Naples IT.
I went to Detroit for Thanksgiving, and made a stop at Mariner’s Church, alluded to in “Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald” [In a musty old hall in Detroit they prayed. In the maritime sailors’ cathedral. The church bell chimed ’til it rang twenty-nine time…] . I’m told the pastor at the church objected to the word musty and now Lightfoot sings it as “In a rustic old hall in Detroit …” In fact, you can confirm that here.
And let me throw two more in. I took this photo seven years ago from Rhinecliff as I headed south the day I completed my season on tugboat Urger. This was my way of reconnecting with the sixth boro. Maryland is now Liz Vinik.
And finally, a photo from Jason LaDue . . . it’s Grouper as she looked in 2000. A week ago her second auction concluded with a winning bid of $4850, but I don’t know who tendered that bid. According to my source, no movement has happened since the auction concluded.
Happy November. All photos except Jason’s by WVD.
Happy August 2021. And “Wow!” That is almost always my reaction when I jump back a decade into the archives. This riveted tug was 83 years old when I took this photo, and I looked at that deep rounded icebreaker hull and imagined it would go on working forever. Now it’s 93 years old, and mortality is nipping at the heels of this Canal tug and all the Canal tugs. It and they may not be around 10 years from now. Of course, neither might I. She was built by Buffalo Marine Shipbuilding in 1927-28, and originally equipped with a John W. Sullivan steam engine. Her stack was hinged so that it could be lowered for bridges. She’s 77′ by 19.5′. If I read the archives right, Governor Cleveland is three feet shorter; I’d always assumed they were twins.
The 1958 Blount-built green tug in the foreground has changed hands several times in the past decade; it may be Bay Star of Port Washington now, but I’ve not seen it in more than half a decade.
The 1998 container ship was last recorded as in Aliaga Turkey in 2017, which leads me to suppose this 3802 teu has been scrapped.
I’ve seen these East River based float planes several times recently, but I’ve not been back to their “field” in the East River in a while. It is pricey but no doubt memorable . . . fun to travel somewhere in one of these. Anyone report having done it? I don’t know which company then flew the red planes.
NYK Constellation, a 2007 4900 teu vessel, is currently at anchor off Vancouver, but has been renamed Tell T (Erase some of the letters of “constellation”). That “erasure renaming” suggests it’s bound for the scrappers.
Here’s Chandra B‘s predecessor, doing then what Chandra B does now. It even has the same crew.
I’ve heard that Ace was being converted into something . . . . what it a floating cocktail dispenser? Seriously . . . I have some such recollection due to a query I got a few years back. Well . . . there are orange juice tankers, so why not a floating frozen margarita or daiquiri truck boat? Can anyone provide an update on this project? What paint scheme/name would immediately scream out “slushy float”.
I’ve not seen Iron Wolf out in the harbor, although I might have seen it tied up over at Claremont.
Pegasus then had no upper wheelhouse, and here it was pushing the elusive Michael Cosgrove, a 1960 Blount vessel that Charon drives for some on a one-way trip to a Potter’s Field.
The 2000 4500 hp Vernon C has recently gotten new life as Mackenzie Rose.
And finally . . . 2011 saw this combo do quite the tour . . . the 1907 Pegasus with the 1914 Lehigh Valley 79 alongside. If you’ve never visited the 79, make an effort to get to it and be prepared for a treat. Pegasus met the scrapper this past spring.
All photos, first half of August 2011, WVD.
I hope you enjoy these monthly journeys to the past as much as I do. And to satisfy my own curiosity, I looked up the first post in the Retro Sixth Boro series. . . .
Here was T-23 days. Now, in less than two weeks, the canal will be open. Some of the vessels operated by NYS Canals to perform maintenance were featured in the T-23 post; more are in today’s post.
Let’s start with Tender 2, T2, in Utica, nose to nose with tug Erie.
Tender #3 is tied up here just west of the dry dock in Waterford.
Left to right here are a self-propelled scow (SPS 60 maybe? the number) and Lockport. That land derrick marks this location as Fonda.
Port Jackson is one of the new boats operated by NYS Canals. The location is just west of lock E-13, and Grande Caribe, as well as her younger sister Grande Mariner, powering her way west to Chicago will likely never be seen in the Canal again.
Tied up here in the shade east of Utica is Governor Roosevelt.
At the Utica section yard, it’s Erie again. Note the NYS Thruway maintenance vehicles in the background.
Just west of lock E-19, the Dragon dredge gets support from Tender #4.
And on another occasion, it’s the same dredge assisted by Tender #5. I took the photo between locks E-6 and 7.
And closing this out, how about a shot above the culvert of the tugboat that turns 120 years afloat this year, Urger.
All photos, WVD. If you’re planning to transit the canal beginning on day 1 of the season . . . May 21, these are some of the maintenance vessels you’ll see. But don’t postpone a trip along the Canal because some of these could disappear any year now.
WVD is solely responsible for any errors of fact.
Leaving Rome crossing the contemporary Canal to follow the south side of the canal for a while. That building is in what’s called Rome’s Bellamy harbor and just before that greenish guard gate, that’s the confluence of the canal and the Mohawk River, which enters there from the right. You’ve seen that guard gate once before here.
Rome is the summit between two watersheds, so water transport for millennia made a short portage here. To the Haudenosunee, this place was called deo-wain-sta . . . or carrying place, aka Oneida Carry.
The trail to Oriskany was muddy from the earlier rains, made worse for bikes by a four-wheeler that had gone through. I grant that the four-wheeler may have been looking for downed trees.
But the sun came out . . . and past the swamps that bogged down General Herkimer back in 1777, the trail follows directly south and adjacent to the contemporary canal.
Governor Roosevelt waits in Marcy, lock 20. She’s been working since the late 1920s.
Here’s Tender #4 on the hard and Governor Roosevelt in the distance.
I had a big surprise when I approached Utica’s Genesee Street bridge, and saw Jeff, captain on Urger when I worked on her, part of a safety meeting on shore before they headed onto the boats for dredging.
South of Herkimer/Mohawk after lots of miles from Utica on route 5N, I passed Fort Herkimer church, among the oldest churches in the US.
Having watched this section of the trail being build the past few years, I’d been looking forward to riding it, just above lock E18.
I got to Little Falls, my easy goal for lodging, but since it was noon that I got there, I rested for an hour, and then I pushed on.
The trail east of Little Falls is spectacular.
The storm I mentioned as having kept me inside the day before had done a lot of damage, downed trees and power lines.
This Holland Power Services crew had come from New Brunswick to assist. Their safety flagger stopped me for half an hour while this live wire was re-attached to the pole.
Once I got the all-clear, I was on the road again . . . well, on the trail. I passed tug Port Jackson at lock 15 in Fort Plain, and made for my day’s goal, Canajoharie and Palatine Bridge.
Report and photos, WVD, who had completed a 59-mile day.
Last post ended with an aerial photo. Here’s a higher one of the same area, taken in 1981, for a state agency. The Oneida River flows from the bottom of the photo. Notice the tanks below, or east of, the bridge. As we pass, notice vestiges of docks and pipes to those tanks, although the tanks are gone. This has been a crossroads for ages; Haudenosaunee used it, and French coureurs de bois and Dutch boslopers passed through here. The French defended it until General Jeffrey Amherst came through here with 10,000 troops. After 1763, the British used it, and in fact, Barry St Leger traveled through here twice, before and after his retreat from his siege at Ft. Stanwix. The British held possession of Fort Ontario in Oswego until the Jay Treaty in 1796, but that’s getting ahead a bit. James Fenimore Cooper, assigned to Fort Ontario, explored the area, using it later as source material for one of his novels. Basically, you are looking down at a crossroads from time immemorial.
At the south side of Three Rivers, there’s a park on the point. Between 1934 and 1973, the Three Rivers Inn nightclub stood, to the right where the darker trees are, and big-name acts came to play: Louis Armstrong, Nat King Cole, Pat Boone, and others passed through this crossroads. Click the link in the previous sentence to read the full list. Remember, this was a time when celebrity still traveled from gig to gig in rail cars. Entertains would play here for more intimate sets, and some folks from Syracuse, about 15 miles away, would come by boat and tie up.
We’ve now traveled 160 miles since Waterford, not quite half the way to Buffalo. If we were headed there, we’d turn slightly left and head up the Seneca River. Next trip planned is from Lake Erie to Buffalo to here. For now, since our destination is Lake Ontario, we’ll hang a right. At that point we are leaving the Erie Canal per se, and entering the Oswego Canal, another canalized river. The Oswego Canal has a separate history from the Erie Canal. The early 1800s saw a plethora of canals built all over what is now the NE US.
A little over a mile down the Oswego, we pass the Lysander Canal Maintenance Yard, likely the newest of six in the system.
About three miles down from Three Rivers Point, we get to the first lock in this system, O-1. Legend has it that on an island just before Phoenix, French priests in the 18th century took refuge, having fled from the Onondaga Lake area with gold and a brass canon, then left everything behind when they feared an attack by natives. To date, no one reports having located the treasure. Would you report the loot if you found it?
Just north of O-1, there are two unusual single-span lift bridges–only the yellow one still used.
Oswego Canal locks have dams with tainter gates.
If the west side of the river currently looks empty, the photo below show its appearance in 1907, pre-Barge Canal. Nine years later the mills burned; click here to see the view after the fire. And if you imagine therefore that the town is named for its rebirth, you would be wrong. Land there was first owned by an Alexander Phoenix.
The Oswego River sees a lot of recreational use.
Although you see lots of wildlife in most places along the Canal, these birds are most plentiful here.
Fulton had such a solid industrial and manufacturing base in the 1930s that it was praised in a New York City newspaper headline as “the city the depression forgot.” Unfortunately, things changed later. The Fulton Nestle plant that had pioneered morsels, Nestle Quick, and Nestle Crunch, closed in 2003. Fulton Birds Eye closed in 2011 but reopened in 2014 as K&N Foods. Miller Brewing, which closed its brewery in 1994, reopened in 2008 as a Sunoco ethanol plant, and in 2019 sold to Attis, a biofuels company. On my first visit to a bar in Fulton, friends asked me to order Miller; the response to my request was an icy stare and . . . “We don’t serve that here.”
Hunter Arms is another lost Fulton business. From 1890 and 1950 they built high end shotguns here, had some celebrity clients, and to this day, an annual reunion brings enthusiasts back here.
Two islands with notable names between lock O-2 and O-3 and O-5 in Minetto are called Pathfinder Island (see p. 230 of this guide) and Battle Island, a reference to an ambush by French Captain Devilliers and his force of over 700 Canadians, regulars, and Indians of a column led by British Colonel Bradstreet and his force of 1000 troops in 350 bateaux. There is no lock O-4; in construction it was deemed unneeded and the numbers left unchanged.
This building on the east bank referred to as “the tavern” was built by John Van Buren, cousin of the 8th US president, around 1820. John died the following year, and the property was taken over by his son Jacob. It served as both family residence and business catering to travelers on the canal.
Just to the north of the “tavern” is “the pillars,” built by Jacob’s brother David in 1847. Both places are privately owned and not open to the public.
More winding scenic miles later we arrive at the top of O-5 in Minetto,
Not much remains except the hydro-electric plant, but Minetto was a company town, manufacturing cloth from 1879 until 1977.
I’m unsure of attribution for the b/w photos here; all color photos by Will Van Dorp. Color drone photo by Jim Kerins.
Seeing a waterway shrunk by the land forms around it like this, I find it miraculous that we can travel it from the ocean to the Great Lakes, but some of you, I know, might be starting to feel claustrophobic.
The drone photo below is taken in Little Falls looking back east toward the the Herkimer home and beyond that the Noses. As before, you notice three modes of transport paralleling each other. In the left half of the photo, between the railroad and the state road, you’ll notice remnants of John Pierce Stone Works and the quarry above it. John Pierce had a number of quarries and a Manhattan contracting company. The road on the right leads to the NYS Thruway.
Bringing the camera down from the drone to human height and swiveling 180 degrees, we look west at the daunting lock E-17 to the left and the Mohawk River to the right heading around Moss Island. If we followed the river, we would soon be blocked by a falls. It’s called “little” because the drop is not as big as Cohoes Falls, seen earlier near the Flight in Waterford. Yet, it was big enough that the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company built a short canal around it in the 1790s.
Once inside the lock and looking back, it’s fun the watch the guillotine door descend, as the counterweight, connected by a huge chain, rise. It’s the only lock in the system with such a lower “gate.” Any guesses on the weights of gate and counterweight? Answer will be given at the end of this post.
Moss Island often has climbers, as viewed here from the boat,
and even if you’re not a technical climber, you can walk a path up the back side of the cliff to get photos of traffic eastbound entering and
departing westbound from the top of the lock.
This 1910 photo shows the cliff, the the current lock under construction. To the right, the location of the previous locks.
Little Falls was the scene of a horrendous train derailment in 1940, attributed to “speed kills.” A plaque on the north side of the river commemorates this tragedy.
The charming village on the north side of the gorge has seen the population drop from 13,000 in 1920 to fewer than 5000 today. Now, as in the past, the town is known for cheese. In fact, the large house that you might see on the ridge high above the town, the Burrell Mansion, was built by David H. Burrell, who invented many devices used by the dairy and cheese industry.
If the building below looks like a freight house, it was built as one. It’s currently one of eight that have survived of a total of 28 built for cargo transfer in the Barge Canal era. Currently, Canal Harbor and Rotary Park, west of the village, has amenities for boaters. Across the river, some modern industrial buildings belong to Feldmeier Equipment, a world leader in the manufacture of tanks for the dairy, pharmaceutical, and brewing industries. They grew out of the Burrell’s legacy, and are one of Little Falls largest employers.
Lots of “loopers” transit the Canal, but here’s one of the more unusual craft I’ve seen not so much for what it is than for what it was doing . . . , a vet doing the loop in a kayak as post-Iraq therapy. Note the yellow decal topside just behind the solar panels behind his cockpit.
Along the way to lock E-18 we follow Jacksonburg Mountain. First peoples called it Mt. Okwari, or “bear mountain.” John Jost Herkimer, father of Nicholas, settled here in 1722, with permission from the local Mohawks, who called him Okwari, because of his imposing size and strength.
Approaching lock E-18, we can clearly see the Mohawk River heading to the right, and the lock leading into another land cut. The “island” created in between is called Plantation Island Refuge Area. Clearly, it’s working well as a refuge, since last year as we sailed by, a complacent coyote watched us pass from the safety of his bank.
At the top end of E-18, you can see the green light, signalling that Lil Diamond II was free to enter. Lil Diamond II is one of several boats operated by Erie Canal Cruises, whose dock is several miles west of E-18.
The taller building at the far end of the lock is a power house, i.e., hydro-power generating station. It’s one of 26 built into the Barge Canal, only a few of which like this one are intact. Remember that the Barge Canal with its DC electrical equipment predates the grid, so each lock needed its own power generation.
Visible from the river is the 1753 limestone structure referred to as the Fort Herkimer Church. A walk around the church allows you to see the gun ports in the thick limestone walls.
Herkimer is the base of operations for Erie Canal Cruises. North of town, there’s a quarry where the public can dig for “Herkimer diamonds,” aka Little Falls diamonds.
Illion is the home of Remington, where an enterprise begun by Eliphalet Remington continues to operate, manufacturing guns, typewriters, bicycles, and sewing machines throughout its 200+ year existence.
Up ahead is lock E-19, where
train traffic finally crosses from the north to the south side of the Canal.
Surprise boat encounters can happen anywhere along the Canal. One of my bigger surprises was rising to the top of lock E-19 a few years ago and seeing Draken Harald Hårfagre waiting for the lock to clear before heading eastbound. Vikings! Eastbound in central New York! Who knew? Other unusual vessels that have transited include Hōkūleʻa, Ra, and the presidential yacht Sequoia. A short account of the latter doing the loop can be read here; I hope to post about that more in the future. And there must be a thousand more stories I don’t know, would love to hear.
A few miles south of lock E-19 is Balloon Farm, home of Carl E. and Mary Meyers. Carl was an inventor of lighter-than-air aircraft, and Mary—also known as Carlotta the Aeronaut—was an early American aviator who set many flight records before she retired in 1891.
Now the Canal is entirely in a laser-straight “land cut,” the Mohawk having too many meanders.
This photo is looking NW. Note the diagonal piece of land rising from the lower right corner. The waterway above that is the Canal, with the NYS Thruway above that. The wide body of water from the left corner is the Utica Canal Terminal, aka Inner Harbor and the Mohawk meandering off left center. Getting back to the diagonal piece of land . . . there’s a lattice structure with a red sign atop spelling out UTICA. This sign seems important because Utica is barely visible from the Canal. Where the 19th century canal transited Utica, today you find Erie Boulevard.
Just beyond the Utica sign, there’s a lock that leads into Utica Canal Terminal.
Well, the icon may soon be gone, but
it cleverly mimics this sign a few miles to the south atop the Matt Brewing Company, touting the product that made Utica famous, and the beer that was pouring from taps minutes after Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933. A miracle?
At the intersection of the Erie and the Chenango Canals, and connected by rail, Utica was well-placed for commerce. Chenango was one of almost a dozen “feeder” canals, referred to as lateral canals, connecting to the Enlarged Erie.
A century ago, 66% of Utica’s workforce were employed in the textile and clothing trade, an industry soon to head south. An interesting profile of the city’s bust and rebirth can be gleaned from this paper.
The sign below in the lobby of the revived Hotel Utica, opened in 1912, hints at the prestige the city once had.
Stanley Theater is another icon of Utica’s past. Not much farther south of Genesee Street is the Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute, with an impressive collection, founded by three generations of the family of Alfred H. Munson.
Before we miss the boat heading west, a few seconds for two more quick details about Utica. First, you must try Utica greens, one of many food specialties along the Canal. And second, John Butterfield, a former mayor of the city, is credited with founding both American Express and Wells Fargo.
A few miles west of Aqua Vino on the Canal, we get to lock E-20, here looking east toward the lock off the stern of this 1920s ice breaking tug.
And here’s the info on lock E-17, taken from a plaque on the lock itself.
This post, beginning in the hamlet of Jacksonburg NY, overlaps a portion of the canal represented in yesterday’s post. Notice our vessel to the left below; the cattails beside the road to the road are growing in the original canal bed from 1825.
Our tender ferries folks back from shore excursions.
I believe this is tug Lockport in Herkimer.
Gradall #2 and tug Governor Roosevelt conduct dredging at Illion marina.
Tug Seneca undergoes shore work at Lysander.
Juice is generated in Fulton.
And as we approach Oswego, a sentinel watches our progress.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who needed to reduce file size to enable this post to load.
This post picks up at Illion marina, where Gradall #2 and
a scow and Governor Roosevelt
worked.
A scow and a self-propelled scow waited on the dock while tug Seneca
received attentions.
A fishing kayaker demonstrated multi-multi-tasking skills.
Rebecca Ann waited at the dock. Madison R assisted with breakwater work.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, between Illion and Oswego.
Let’s make this Fonda–current location of Urger— to Marcy, beginning of one of the highest sections of the Canal.
Approaching E-13 westbound, there’s a row of yellow painted bollards . . . starting from lower left here.
Each of those yellow bollards is on a sunken concrete barge. More sunken concrete barges can be seen at E-09.
We encountered lots of traffic . . .
including Dolphin, a
Canadian beaut.
Other traffic included Lil Diamond III and
Roman Holiday.
At Marcy, Governor Roosevelt and
Erie were in the water, as were two buoy boats not shown.
x
On May 4, 1928 this “oil-burning” tug was launched at Buffalo Marine Construction Co. The 1928 price for the 74’1″ x 19’6″ x 8’2″ tug was $44,250, which is (adjusted for inflation) $644,318.82 in 2018 money. Here are some photos over the few years I’ve followed her. Starting below, September 2008.
September 2010 here
and here.
October 2013.
June 2014
August 2017. Yes, she’s a working boat.
Now clearly this is not Cleveland, but her sister Governor Roosevelt. That is a deep hull. I don’t believe I’ve ever seen Cleveland hauled out. According to Michele A. McFee’s A Long Haul, the two Governors were purchased by NYS DPW in the late 1920s to break ice, and proved their worth in the dramatic November 1936 deep freeze.
Thanks to Chris Freeman who put her “birth certificate” on FB this morning and alerted me to this day for ceremony for the Cleveland.
All photos by Will Van Dorp, who leaves you with this obscure story of Cleveland (later POTUS 22 AND 24) getting incarcerated in Medina NY on a suspected “corruption of a minor female” charge . . . all a mistake. Read it below:
tugster: a waterblog 
Recent Comments