North Country At Work

Fred Baxter, Bert Crowe, and William Henry Boyd putting corn into a silo using an elevator-type ensilage cutter, which is a machine that chops up green fodder for feed. Circa 1910. Heuvelton, NY.

Unidentified men pitching oats into a steam engine driven threshing machine to separate grain from the straw and chaff. Circa 1880s. Heuvelton, NY.

Three blacksmiths in a Heuvelton blacksmith shop, one of four blacksmith shops in the town. Circa 1900. Heuvelton, NY.

Ogdensburg downtown urban renewal in progress. This project removed the oldest downtown in St. Lawrence County. The view is from Isabella Street. Circa 1967-68. Ogdensburg, NY.

Inside the McFadden & Anderson Mill (a grist and flour mill) with Otis Dewan. The building was constructed in 1853 by N.F. Giffin. Note the overhead light, which would have been new at the time this photo was taken. Circa 1900-1910. Heuvelton, NY.

Wooden hull clamshell excavator. Circa 1920. Canton, NY.

A quarry beside a river in Saint Lawrence County in NYS. Workmen are using an aerial winch to move boxes of crushed stone. Steam powered crusher in background, steam drill in use. Circa 1910.

Silas Wright’s celebrated chrome beam fire engine. The white horses were called Billy and Tom, and they were the property of Ansil Watson, the driver for the Village street department. Dick Fobare holds the reins and Charles Cook, chief engineer, sits beside him. George Maine, who soaked the boiler, is standing. Circa 1905. Canton, NY.

A two horse treadmill powering a thresher on the Southworth Farm. The thresher separated the grain from the chaff (stalks/stems). Circa 1920. Canton, NY.

Unidentified workers operating steam drills in a Gouverneur marble quarry sometime in the first decades of the 20th century. Gouverneur, NY. Check out our story on how marble built Gouverneur.