Close of 1894 canal season

The 1894 canal season was nearing an end.

“The lumber shovers are doing a lively business along the Feeder at present. Producers are anxious to get as much lumber as possible to tidewater, and boats are being loaded with wonderful celerity,” The Morning Star of Glens Falls reported on Nov. 9.

Not much freight was booked for return trips to Glens Falls.

“The lime boats James H. Mead, F. W. West and O. & R. will leave New York this evening light, and are expected to arrive in Glens Falls on Wednesday. They will make at least one more trip to New York before the close of navigation,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 10.

The push continued.

“Lumber shovers were very busy yesterday, the mill companies being anxious to ship as much lumber as possible during the few remaining days of navigation. Gangs of men worked all night loading three or four boats which will clear this morning,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 21.

“The captain of the boat Shapleigh reports that he had to break his way through ice half an inch thick in coming up the two-mile level yesterday.”

Canal men were starting to put boats in winter storage.

“The Packet Lewis Mc Alley came up from Albany yesterday afternoon with a heavy cargo of merchandise. This is the last trip of the season. She will now go into winter storage. The other boat of the packet line, the W. H. Stewart, will leave Troy tomorrow afternoon, and, on arriving back here, will lay up for the winter.”

Canal horses were being placed in winter boarding at area farms.

“Captain Deyo of Northumberland has taken fifty head of horses and mules to winter. The price paid to farmers for keeping the stock is almost nothing, but the latter usually find work for the horses when the snow comes,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 21.

“Some of the boats which arrived yesterday will go into winter quarters. The F. W. Wait was the last boat to leave the Feeder this year,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 27. “But few boats will leave Glens Falls during the remainder of navigation, the owners fearing the cold snap will close the short levels of the canal.”

The canal was scheduled to close for the season Nov. 30, “unless closed by ice before then,” The Morning Star reported Nov. 27.

“The two Marley brothers unloaded 110 tons of coal on Wednesday in seven hours for the Glens Falls Paper Company from the boat McCann, Captain Fred Nugent. Quick work,” The Morning Star reported on Aug 30, 1890

There was an equine labor shortage.

“The Glens Falls Feeder presents a busy scene these days,” The Morning Star reported on Sept. 26. “Boats are being loaded out as fast as they arrive. The only drawback is a scarcity of teams to do the towing.”

“Nine new canal boats are on the water at Whitehall,” The Morning Star reported on Sept. 4.

“But two boats arrived yesterday, the W. A. Thomas and W. W. Hicks, both coal-laden. There were no departures. … Several light boats are expected up today and tomorrow, but navigation is probably closed as far as outgoing boats (from Glens Falls) are concerned,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 28.

“The boats which have been loading potatoes along the canal between Whitehall and Stillwater will finish taking on cargo this morning and proceed to tide water.”

It was feared that boats, well on their way north to Glens Falls, might not make it in time.

“Several Glens Falls boats left New York in the tow of Tuesday night. In view of the present cold snap, it is doubtful that they can make their way through the canal,” The Morning Star reported on Nov. 29.

“The boats Levi Ogden, with phosphate for Hackett Brothers, and C.B. Thompson, light, arrived yesterday. The W.A. Travis unloaded coal and Sandy Hill last night and came up light last night. There were no departures yesterday from Glens Falls.”

Nine boats arrived at The Feeder Canal on Nov. 30.

“Quite a number of Glens Falls craft were unable to reach West Troy in time to get home before the close of navigation,” The Morning Star reported on Dec. 3. “The boat of Charles P. Randall, with a cargo of coal for John Tale of Fort Edward, is stuck in the mud at Bemis Heights.”

Canal men were putting their boats into winter storage.

“Captain Henry Purse, of the boat E. D. Simmons, and his brother, George Purse, arrived yesterday from Hoboken, where they placed their craft in winter quarters,” The Morning Star reported on Dec. 5. “Ten of the Morgan Lumber Company’s boats are laid up for the winter at Fourteenth Street, Hoboken.”

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