North Country At Work

Cutting ice using horses, saws, and ice pikes. Circa 1910-1920. Hammond, NY.

Unidentified men cutting ice near Oak Island in Hammond. Ice saw and horses in background. Man in foreground holding a pike for moving ice. Note: Every cheese factory needed an icehouse to keep cheese cool in the summer. Most towns had several cheese factories to handle milk produced by area farmers. Circa 1910-1920. Hammond, NY.

Grain thresher running in barn, powered by a three-horse power treadmill. Workers pictured next to the treadmill. Note the canopy on the treadmill to keep sun off horses. Circa 1890.  Hammond, NY.  

Getting the mail out in the big snow of 1947, using a horse and bobsled. Hammond, NY.

Four hitch log wagon delivering logs to a sawmill in Hammond, NY. Circa 1910.

Drawing stones to build the Presbyterian Church. Charles Dunham on wagon, Frank Dunham on left. In the South Hammond quarries. Circa 1916 or 17. South Hammond, NY.

Loading crushed stone from a stone quarry into wagons, to be used as a road base. 1920s. Hammond, NY.

“Jumping” hay with a jump press, which made hay bales by compressing hay using human power. Horses are hitched in background to a sweep-power which compressed the bales further.  On right there is a “Stillyard scale,” used to weigh the compressed hay bales. At the time, this was the only way to bale hay for […]

Steve McCormick with six draft horses working the ground with spring-tooth harrow. Circa 1930s. Hammond, NY.  Originally taken by the Watertown Daily Times.

Workmen in front of a Hammond workshop, possibly a stavery (barrel factory). The signs posted saying “positively no smoking” were there because it would have been a fire hazard around wood shavings. Circa 1900 – 1910. Hammond, NY.