The Quarterly OFFICIAL PUBLICATION of the ST
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The Quarterly OFFICIAL PUBLICATION OF THE ST. LAWRENCE COUNTY HISTORICAL ASSOCIATION OLD PARISHVILLE ORCHESTRA October 1963 Page Two The Quarterly Official Publication of The St. Lawrence County Historical Assn. ASSoCIAT1oN OFFICERS CONTENTS OCTOBER 1963 VOL. 8 NO. 4 President I LAWRENCE G. BOVARD Page Opdenrburp First Vice President THE SAWMILLS OF SANFORDVILLE EDWARD F. HEIM Canton By Mrs. Mildred Jenkins 3 Seco?:d Vice President MILES GREENE Mamena THE COMING OF THE AUTOMOBILE Corresponding Secretory MRS. EDWARD BIONDI By R. E. Kerr 5 Ogdenlburg Financia.1 Secretory THE OLD TANNERY AT FINE MRS. HAROLD JENKINS RD-2. Potsdam Treasurer By Catherine J. Brouwll DAVID CLELAND Canton EDWARDS UNIVERSALIST SOCIETY Editor, The Quarterly MASON ROSSITER SMITH By Leah M. Noble Gouverneur Assistant Editor MRS. BETTE MAYHEW THE OLD PARISHVILLE BANDS Canton Con~nritteeChairmen By Elsie F. Brcsee Program MRS. DORIS PIANTY THE SECOND PARISHVILLE BAND Ogdensburg Museurn By Warren 0.Daniels MRS. MARGUERITE CHAPMAN Potsdam Nont inofions MOONSHINERS IN ST. L-4WRENCE COUNTY EDWARD F. HEIM Canton By Anthony J. Romeo Audit HENRY HORN Canton AN OLD QUILT County Fair HAROLD STORIE By Anna Matthews Cole Gouverneur Promotion MRS. EDWARD BIONDI THE DEATH OF JONATHAN BROWN Ogdenfiburz By Clat~riceA. G, Closson THE QUARTERLY is published in January, April, July and October NORTH COUNTRY NATIVE each year by the St. Lawrence Coun- ty Historical Association, editorial, By Gene Hatch advertising and publication office 40- 42 Clinton street, Gouverneur, N. Y. EXTRA COPIES may be obtained COUNTY HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES from Mrs. Nina W. Smithers, St. Lawrence County Historian's Office, Edited by Bette Mayhew County Building, Canton, N. Y. at 50 cents each. ADVISORY BOARD Mrs. Bette Mayhew, Canton Miss Elizabeth Baxter, Ogdensburg Leonard Prince, Massena COVER--The old Parishville orchestra posed for this photograph years ago, Mrs. Doris Planty, Ogdensburg and all of its players took part also in the Parishville Band. See story about Harold Storie, Gouverneur the oldtime Parishville musical organizations, beginning on Page 10. Pane Three The first sawmill at Sanfordville, from an old post card By MRS. MILDRED JENKINS in the sawmill. The little village of Sanfordville's claim to fame is that Ira Green's son, Elmer Green, succeeded him as sole it's the home of the E.E. and C.C. Green Sawmill, founded owner of the shingle mill for ten years; meanwhile Mr. b the early 1800's. It has burnedmany times -- but always Waite continued as owner of the sawmill. has been rebuilt as a continually successful business. In 1908, Elmer Green and his brother-ir,-law, Charles The mill was started by Drullus Ellis and Levi Welling- Robinson, bought out the Waite estate, and in 1909, Levi ton. It was located on the bank of the St. Regis River, which Hunt went in with them in partnership. The sawmill was flows through this village. It was a shingle mill, and it moved into the old shingle mill in 1908. Later, when Mr. burned after a few years, the then owner being Levi Hunt joined the partnership, they put the sawmill in the Wellington. original sawmill. The saw was an up-and-down affair, After the mill was rebuilt, it was acquired by Walter called the "English Gate Sawmill", a big square frame Waite. This was in the form of two mills; a sawmill and a with one saw i11 the middle, and the saw worked up and shingle mill. Ownership was split when Cecil Green's down A log was placed on the carriage, and the men grandfather, Ira Green acquired the shingle mill. He died would play cards while the log was going through, as the in 1898, and at about this timeacircular saw was installed (Continued on Page Fifteen) PJR~]sod pro UB UOJ~ Page Five THE COMING OF THE AUTOMOBILE By R. E. KERR name of the car, he couldn't remember, although he said that they always called it the "Lemon" because of its "I shall make every man a traveler if not a King." unreliabilityl Such were the words of Henry Ford. It was the Ford car For many, after spending a lifetime working with that first carried us from the country to the city. It car- horses, trying to learn to drive the new automobile was a ried us from the country to the city. It carried a man to frightful experience. For some, the transition was too see his neighbor, a boy to see his girl. Once distant much and after a close call or two the car was put in the horizons came within the reach of all. barn, never to be driven again. The New York Times in April 1947 atthe time of Ford's In some of the early driving manuals an indication of death said: "The world was horse drawn when he entered this fear toward the automobile is evident by some of the it. When he departed, it was a world on powered wheels." following remarks under "The Rules of the Road." Cars with names long forgotten. The Stanley Steamer, ''If the speed is too fast and thebottom of the hill cannot Cord, Chalmers, Mercer, Paige, Rickenbacker, Essex, be safely reached, the vehicle should be turned crosswise Franklin, Locomobile, Pierce-Arrow, Peerless and Stun. the road and into the bank if circumstances permit." There were hundreds of others. Many were handmade "In no event should the motor be choked down till it is automobiles with as few as ten or twenty a year being built. jerky or liable to stop, for thjs may result in a stop in Others were in production only a few years when their front of a train or in some similiar dangerous and un- companies disbanded. All now are gone. desirable place." The first cars were little more than a wheeled frame "Never try to start the motor by pushing down on the with a motor and seat fortwopeople. High-wheelers, chain starting crank. A backfire is likely to result in a broken drives, tiller steering, hard rubber tires, with no top or arm.'' windshield. Literally a buggy without a horse. Such were Highways were always a challenge to theearly motorist. the beginnings of the automobile in America. Dirt roads presented a problem during rain and snow. It During this period there were no gas stations. Gasoline took genuine courage for an early motorist to tackle a (spelled gasolene in those days) was purchased from the springtime jaunt on such a "highway". Streamswere often neighborhood hardware or drug stores, some charging forded with the aid of horses, andwithmud often axle deep, as much as $1.05 per gallon. There were no garages where even chains were of little help. Hillswere steep, often with a car could be repaired. Usually a blacksmith made local loose sand and stones to interfere with traction. A car that repairs, using his applied skills and the tools at hand. No could climb the Woodbridge hill in high orthe Oswegatchie roads as such existed, and mud and dust were an eternal hills in any gear were good cars. problem to the early motorist. Trips by auto were usually Earl Brown, longtime resident of Canton and former Hud- limited to a few miles from home, and anyone venturing son-Essex dealer recalls the "water-bound" roads. These further found that no road maps or other services existed. merely consisted of crushed stone, andwere the best roads Finding your destination was doubtful for all who traveled known in the area at that time. TheCanton-Ogdensburg road beyond their immediate vicinity. and the C anton-Pierrepont road were of such construction, Although we will probably never know who owned or all others being dirt. Mr. Brown recalls the ruts in these operated the first car in St. Lawrence county, there are, roads caused by the heavy wagon traffic, and which inter- nevertheless, many people whocan recall the early cars, or fered considerably with the new-fangled automobile. Al- even in some cases the first car in the villages in which though most cars were put up for thewinter months, some they were born or brought up. Seeing a car was an ex- people did manage to drive their cars. Older residents perience long remembered. Charles E. Bowers, District of the County recall that years ago people used to drive Attorney for St. Lawrence County, relates his running their cars on the ice of the Grasse river during the winter along the road as a small boy trying to catch a steam car months. A fascinating sport but a dangerous one with as it passed. Mr. Bowers' mother and father saw their several persons drowning over the years. first car while attending the World's Fair at Buffalo in 1901. St. Lawrence county at the turn of the century was de- Many individuals recall humorous experiences with their pendent to a great extent on the harvesting of its forest early cars. One man told of how he and a friend drove a products. Model T, roadster from Star Lake to Canton to attend the The Grasse, Racquette, and Oswegatchie rivers provided movies at the old American theatre. While passing through a the water for the early log drives, delivering the logs and small village they drove through a flock of chickens, scat- pulp to the mill. tering them but giving it no thought. When they returned to Later came the logging railroads such as the Brooklyn their car, parked on the main street of Canton, a crowd cooperage road, the railroads built by the Emporium had gathered around, inspecting the vehicle. Then he saw Company at Cranberry lake and the Rich lumber company that the crank on the Ford-had pierced a chicken and was at Wanakena.