North Country At Work

Four loggers roll logs onto a bobsled during winter. 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 […]

Planing mill owned by a Mr. Hefferman, located on the Grasse River in Canton. Workers are posed between the mill and railroad tracks. One worker stands atop a load of lumber on a wagon with a horse hitched to it. 1900-1910. Canton, NY.

Milkman delivering milk on Main Street using a horse-drawn bobsled. On the bobsled, there are boxes holding milk covered in blankets. Circa 1930s-40s. Lisbon, NY.

Frank Harper, mail carrier, delivering mail with a one horse cutter during winter. 1912. Lisbon, NY. Donated by Jean Harper.

Threshing crew in front of a steam traction engine. Two wagons full of bundles of grain wait to be pitched into threshing machine on right. Workers hold pitch forks for moving bundles. Some of the crew have neckerchiefs around their necks, used to cover their faces for protection from the dust. Circa 1890-1900. Lisbon, NY.

Horses drawing wagons to the construction site of the underpass on West End Avenue. 1915. Carthage, NY.

A horse-drawn coach, which served as a taxi to deliver people from the train station to the businesses on State Street, is pictured here in the middle of an unpaved State Street. Circa 1880. Carthage, NY. From the Bob Blondin Collection in the Town of Champion Archives.