North Country At Work

Farmstead, picturing steam engine pulled by team of horses and threshing crew sitting on wooden thresher. Circa 1890s. Canton, NY.

A neighborhood work circle is getting ready to fill silo at Theron Allen Farm. Six men are on or beside horse drawn wagons. There’s a young boy in the foreground. Circa September of the 1910s. Canton, NY.

Road construction in Canton, from Evergreen Corners to Pierrepont. Using both horses and a mechanical, cable-driven back hoe. Circa 1920s. Canton, NY.

Sugaring at the Wallace Farm’s sugar bush near Langdon Corners. Pictured is Herbert Judd behind the horses pulling a skidder with a wooden box—possibly used to hold sap. Circa April in the 1910s. Canton, NY. Photo taken by Matthew Wallace. Check out this North Country at Work story on a modern, downtown take on this […]

This large load of pulpwood, pulled by a team of horses, includes the teamster on top of the load, as well as two other workers and two professional men on ground beside the wagon. This was a posed photograph. Note the special decorative harness on the horses. Circa 1890s. Canton, NY.

Men with load of logs on bobsled. Circa 1900-1915. Canton, NY.

Three men stand atop a bobsled of logs, drawn by two horses. Circa 1900-1915. Canton, NY.

Mail carrier David O’Brien in his sleigh in downtown Canton. Note that he’s wearing a fur coat. 1910. Canton, NY. Click here for a North Country at Work story on early mail carriers in the Adirondacks.

Man drives horse pulling the village plow on Chapel Street. Circa 1910. Canton, NY.

An early form of snowplowing in downtown Canton. Caption included with photo, courtesy of the Saint Lawrence County Historical Society: Shown herewith is the old-fashioned method of “breaking out the road” along Canton’s Main Street, come a heavy fall of snow. Farmers with their teams hitched to “pungs” or other work-sleds came to town and […]