Her nickname was 2 P. I remember her when she was just a squirt of
a girl growing up in Moody, brown as a beech nut husk from constantly
being out of doors. She was like a fish in the water and despite being
the youngest she was clearly the best swimmer among the Moody summer
colony kids who frequented the beach next to her house.
2 P wrote to this column recently, a mention of steamboats in a previous
column having sparked some strong memories of her youthful days growing
up on the lake. Her letter was signed 2 P, which sparked some memories
of my own. (I was one of the kids who often swam on that stretch of beach
alongside her house.) A glance at the return address disclosed that 2
P is now Mrs. Adele Molinski, living in Hudson, New York. Her letter
follows:
Last week you ran the article about the steam yachts in early traffic
on T.L., and under the photo — it stated “somewhere is the steam yacht
‘Altamont,’” and memories came flooding back when I used to go to Ketcham’s
camp (across from our old house) where Daddy Ken Lamoy was caretaker.
We used to go over on weekends and help get ready for the summer. On
these occasions I did a lot of walking in the woods, fishing, etc. Looking
at the shore from Moody Rd. — the second bay over from Mrs. K’s — to
the left I found the remains of this huge boat and was so excited I took
photos — enclosed copies for you. You’d think I found the “Titanic!”This
was about spring of ‘51. I don’t know if the remains are still there.
Thought this might be of interest to you. Tupper will always be
my “heart.” I’ll never leave my love memories of Moody esp.!
2 P
Note: The Ketcham camp referred to in 2 P’s letter was one of the earliest
camps on Tupper Lake. Mr. Ketcham, from Yonkers, was a highly successful
gentleman who through his generosity and outgoing personality was highly
regarded in this community. The Ketcham summer home was known as Camp
Ashanty, a large complex that included thirteen out buildings. Mr. Ketcham
accompanied Uncle Mart Moody to Washington when that famous guide accepted
President Grover Cleveland’s invitation to visit him at the White House.
Mrs. Ketcham was a girlhood friend of Mrs. Cleveland. (The president
had been enthralled by Uncle Mart, whom he had met while on a sporting
visit to this region during which time he stayed at Moody’s Camp Redside
Hotel, later the Waukesha cabins.)
It is said that Mr. Ketcham took great relish in telling how the old
woodsman charmed the president and his friends with his inimitable style
of telling his inexhaustible repertoire of “tall, tall stories.” After
Mr. Ketcham’s death, Mrs. Ketcham continued regularly to visit Camp Ashanty
for many, many years until 1964. The property is now owned by Robert
Abplanalp, successful inventor and businessman, close friend and frequent
host to the later former President Richard Nixon at the Tupper Lake camp,
now known as Adirondack Fisheries Inc. Mr. Abplanalp worked for many
years with his Swiss-born father in a tiny workshop before perfecting
the aerosol device that is so ubiquitous today on containers that hold
everything from paint to shaving cream. His firm is known worldwide as
the Precision Valve Co. Mr. Abplanalp is highly regarded by all who know
him in this community as a “regular guy, unassuming and considerate.”
It should also be noted that Ken Lamoy, mentioned in 2 P’s letter, was
not only a caretaker of the Ketcham Camp Ashanty, but also one of only
four postmasters following Mart Moody and his wife, “Aunt Minerva” of
the Moody P.O. established in 1884 by U.S. President Chester Arthur,
a friend of Uncle Mart. He not only named Mart as first postmaster, but
also gave him the honor of having the P.O. bear his name. Ken was appointed
in 1929 and served until 1954.
So what is the story behind 2 P’s “Titanic” discovery on one of her forest
ramblings? Any attempt to identify that great old boat, whose final voyage
ended in that tiny slip, the shoreline across from Watch Island becoming
her gravesite, would necessarily be highly speculative at this late date.
There are a few clues, however, and the readers can decide for themselves
if such clues permit a possible identification.
First, however, it is necessary to understand that in the early years
of the 1900s and right up to the 1920s when roads and the vehicles to
travel them improved, boat transportation was essential, not only to
get from one location to another, but also essential in getting supplies
to camps and hotels on the various lakes. Equally important was the use
of “steamers” to move the huge rafts of logs held together by booms that
required towing down the lake to the “Sorting Gap,” where the lake’s
outlet joined the Racquette River. As a result of these needs, there
were many large steamboats plying Tupper Lake waters. Some were built
locally by master boat builders like Luther Owen, who had apprenticed
under Rushton, the renowned Canton craftsman. Others arrived via flat
bed on the new M & M railroad from talented builders in Lake George
and the river towns along the St. Lawrence River, where steamboats were
common as early as the mid-1800s. In my files are some notes written
by Aurore Alexander that tell of some of her memories during a lifetime
spent in this community and includes a description of some “of the beautiful
boats that were so prominent on Tupper Lake.”
Note: Mrs. Alexander ne’e Henault and her husband, Percy, in 1910 took
over operation from Percy’s father, Jabez of the Waukesha Hotel, one
of the first resort hotels in the area and purchased in 1893 from Mart
Moody, who had named it Camp Redside after the brook running alongside.
(Now Radimer, Landry property.) The Alexanders built the original Waukesha
Grill in 1932 before selling to the late Charles Girard. Several generations
will no doubt recall with great nostalgia the sweet sounds from the saxophone
of the incomparable Ray Bourdage as he played “Good Night Sweetheart”
at that famous grill’s closing time each Saturday night.
In her notes, Mrs. Alexander tells of not wanting to trust her own memory,
so she wrote to Hod Bellows, then retired in Florida. Mr. Bellows was
one of the lake’s premier boat men and a few of the boats (due to space
restrictions) that he described in his prompt reply to Aurore follow.
Such a list has important historical value. The number of boats, their
types, and where they were built can be regarded as reflections of the
social and economic systems within which they were constructed, utilized
and discarded. It can also satisfy a simple curiosity about the past
and of things not known or easily forgotten.
The Lillian T
This was a steamboat brought from Lake George by Pliny Robbins, beautifully
designed with a galley in back and pilot house in front. It carried up
to twenty passengers. Sold to Moynihan (lumberman) to tow logs from Bog
River Falls to Pages Bluff. When the Moynihans were finished here, it
was drawn out at the Prince Albert dock and dismantled.
The Ben Harrison
Built for John Hurd about 1891. Used to tow his logs down the lake. Sixty-five
feet in length of heavy timbers. This steamboat was designed with shallow
draft, a side wheeler, it had a snubbing post for towing. It was built
locally by a man named VonDell on ways set up between the tenement building
and the Owens home on lower Wawbeek Avenue.
The Fox Hall
The first gasoline launch on Tupper Lake. Built by Luther Owen for Hod
Bellows, licensed to carry thirty passengers. Hod would leave Tupper
at 8 o’clock every morning, stopping at all the camps to deliver mail
and groceries as well as passengers.
The Uncle Mart, The Paradise Point, the Bridgebrook
All steamboats owned by Col. Barbour. Remember no bridge to cross Bog
River to Barbour’s until 1916. When the American Legion bought the Barbour
property, they changed the name of the Bridgebrook to Legionnaire. It
was used to take patients from the infirmary for rides, especially at
sunset. Capacity about thirty passengers.
The Harold P.
Closer to being a tug boat, owned by Moynihan to tow logs. Hod Bellows,
engineer. He had a pilot and three deck hands. When towing was finished,
the Harold P. was drawn out across the lake from Moody.
Was the “Harold P.” 2 P’s “Titanic?” In her letter, 2 P enclosed several
photos that may provide other clues. One shows a circular hole toward
the stern that could have held a snubbing post. Another photo shows the
boiler, so it was a steamboat. A third photo shows the planking in side
view that 2 P indicates ran eight feet from keel to top rail. The planking
is laid up in what boat builders call a carvel hull, each of the planks
being laid alongside the next one. This is a more economical method than
lapstrake or clinker-built hull in which each plank overlaps the one
below it like a clapboard house and would be the method of choice for
a boat with short-life specialized use like the “Harold P.” Such construction
also requires constant painting to keep the boat waterproof, which may
account for its good condition. After so many years, I’d like to think
2 P’s mystery boat was the “Harold P.”
What is your opinion?