19th century Moriah — Locals defeat out-of-town wrestler

He should have pondered the Biblical admonition, “Pride cometh before the fall,” before coming to town to teach grappling.

“A wrestler named Ratler attempted to form a wrestling school on last Saturday evening, and for that purpose gave a free exhibition of his skill in that line, but alas for him, he was thrown repeatedly by one of our Mineville wrestlers, and his efforts to form a school failed,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette reported on July 17, 1879.

Local wrestlers weren’t the only creatures at Mineville with great strength.

“Dick McDowell has his horse, ‘The St. Lawrence Ploughboy,’ here for the season. His weight is over 1,200 pounds, and he has a splendid pedigree.”

In other 19th century Moriah news collected from historic newspapers of the region:

1879

• “The Port Henry Pinafore Club gives Gilbert & Sullivan’s celebrated comic opera at Port Henry next Saturday evening and at Keeseville Monday evening,” the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette reported on June 12.
• “There were some fine artists among the performers at the recent ‘Humpty Dumpty Show’ at Port Henry,” the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette reported on July 10. “The acrobatic performances were novel, startling and awe-inspiring. The stage had some jolly good things, especially the music class and combination violin extravaganza. … The mammoth balloon went up, unavoidably late, as advertised, and was one of the most interesting ascensions we ever saw.”
• “Croquet is the prevailing game here in the evening. They play both by the light of the moon and the dull glare of a lantern,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette on June 26.
• “Some of the fashionable elite of Port Henry assembled in the parlors of Mrs. Hanley’s residence, South Main Street, Mineville, on last Wednesday and enjoyed themselves with dancing until the wee small hours. Andy furnished the harmonious strains,” the Mineville correspondent reported in the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette on July 17.
• “The barge Hooker, towed by the steam tug Grand Isle, took a large party of excursionists from Port Henry to Burlington Saturday the 20th,” the Elizabethtown Post & Gazette reported on July 31.

1880

• “A new sidetrack has been laid in the depot yard at Port Henry to accommodate the increasing business at that point,” the Ticonderoga Sentinel reported on Jan. 30.

1895

• It was a potential new global export market for local iron ore.

“A thousand tons of ore from the Witherbee mines in Port Henry has just been shipped to the Krupp works in Germany, with a view of testing its adaptability for making firearms,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on July 1, 1895. “If the ore shall be found suitable, there will be a revival in the ore business and in boating on Lake Champlain.”

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