In a recent column, mention was made of a steamboat that was discovered abandoned on Tupper Lake’s west shore. Based on notes in the files and some photos, this column hazards a guess that the steamboat’s identity might be a boat that was known as the Harold P.
This week, we received a wonderful letter from a gentleman named Frederick Culley, which gave that guess some credibility. Mr. Cully’s letter follows:
“Mrs. Ethel Delaney of New Hartford, N.Y., sent me a recent clipping titled ‘Transitions,’ and I would like to add some comments and observations which may be of interest to you and your readers.
“Having lived in Tupper Lake and Moody from 1919 to 1929, and graduating from Tupper Lake High School in 1928, I was well acquainted with Kenneth Lamoy, his brother Brainard and father Levi. Kenneth succeeded Mrs. Helen I Culley as postmaster, who in turn succeeded Fred C. Knapp.
“Martin Moody was the first postmaster from 1884 until 1910.
“W. P. Ketcham, a Wall Street broker who owned Camp Ashanty directly across Tupper Lake from Moody, also had his own private dock at Moody between Knapp’s store and Murcheson’s boat livery. Directly across the state road from the livery was the new Moody post office and store owned by the Culleys. This was destroyed by fire in 1929.
“While living in Moody, I hunted in the area across the lake between Page’s Bluff and the Veteran’s Mountain Camp. While doing so, I happened upon the remains of the tugboat, “Harold P.” The name was still visible on the transom and was about 75 feet from the shoreline into the woods. The boat was surrounded by second-growth trees the size of which would indicate it had been there a number of years. The boat had been stripped of its trappings and only the hull and part of the cabin remained. This tugboat had been operated by my grandfather, Richard S. Gile, hauling rafts of logs from Bog River Falls to the Racquette River on the north end of the lake. He also carried the mail from Tupper Lake to Moody by horse and buggy, sometimes by flat-bottomed boat when the road was impassable due to high water and later by automobile until 1922. Another reference can be found on page 44 in Louis Simmon’s book, ‘Mostly Spruce and Hemlock,’ under ‘Steamboat Days,’ by Almon T. Clarke, Jr., a reporter for the Utica Dispatch and former Tupper Lake postmaster.
“It is hoped that this bit of information may be of help in establishing the identity of one of Tupper Lake’s past historical artifacts.”
As Mr. Culley suggests in his letter, the discovery of this great tugboat and the substantial evidence pointing to its identity has strong historical implications. The “Harold P” represents a short, but vital, time in our local history when millions upon millions of saw logs were towed by large, powerful steamboats down the length of Tupper Lake. It represents the days of the river drives when spring freshets released roaring torrents of power that flushed logs down the many tributaries feeding the lake. It was a time when the population of the community rose from a census of 30 residents to 4,000 residents almost overnight, and Tupper Lake had become the lumbering capital of New York State. A humble town of hard-working men engaged in lumbering that suddenly found itself on the threshold of a new era of development. All at once it would seem, the appearance of railroads and the improvement of the motor vehicle provided the swan song, the ultimate end to the exciting days of steamer tugs like the “Harold P” and the Lillian T.” Tupper Lake’s deep waters would become the graveyard for countless formerly proud boats, now obsolete and unwanted. A mere punctuation, perhaps, in the text of this town’s very rich history, but nonetheless important, romantic and highly unique.
This was also a time of giants like the Moynihan brothers, Pat and Dennis, whose business acumen on land sales and timbering operations made them super rich; of foresters like Gene Bruce and Pete LeBoeuf, river drivers like Alex Reandeau, who drove Bear Brook for the I.P. Co.; and jobbing contractors like Gaspar LaPorte and Albert Brooks, to name a few. Lusty men all, daring, risk-taking, but competent.
Note: Mr. Culley’s grandfather, Richard Giles (that he writes of in his letter), was a civil war veteran and one the early settlers in Moody.
A 1909 map in my possession shows that the Gile home was located near the present Mr. and Mrs. Glenford Snyder home (Hathaway farm). Next-door neighbors at that time were the J.T. Johnson family and the William J. Slater family. The map shows 11 families living in Moody at that time. Mr. Giles, in addition to being mail carrier, boat pilot and guide, was also the first fire observer when Mt. Morris became the site of the first steel fire tower in the Adirondacks in July of 1909.
Mr. Harrington would become the gatekeeper and warden at the Whitney Estate. The family lived in a gatehouse near the 10-mile mark on Little Tupper’s east shore (intersection routes 10 and 10A). Many readers will remember the Harrington’s sons, George and John, who became prominent citizens of Long Lake. Indeed, the finest pickup truck I ever owned, a beefed-up three-quarter ton Dodge, was purchased from George’s Dodge Agency, which was located next to Freeman’s General Store, now Hoss’s Country Corner.