North Country At Work

A horse drawn bobsled of large logs marked with chalk. Three men stand on the logs, which were destined for the Woodcock sawmill. 5781 board feet. Circa 1900. Edwards, NY.

Ore being drawn from the mine to the railroad. Driving the first team of horses is Claude Hance. Story attached to photo at the SLCHA Archives: Robert McFerran brought the horses a chocolate each morning on the first trip down and the horses would stop and refuse to go past the store until they had […]

Loggers, children, and a woman on the far left pose for a photo outside in the snow, at Bert Frank’s Lumber Camp. Circa 1900. Colton, NY.

Lumber camp filled with loggers and horses in the Clare township. Circa 1900. Clare, NY.

Niagara Mohawk worker cutting branches tangled in wire during the ice storm of January 1998. At the Judd’s Farm outside Canton. The ice storm blacked out a region from northern New York across southeastern Ontario and Quebec (as far north as Montreal), and across northern New England. Power outages lasted as long as 3 weeks […]

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.

Logger is seated on log load in front of a cleared, stumpy hillside. Circa 1900-1910. Canton, NY.

Loggers with peaveys atop logs piled at head of skid way, which is where logs brought out of the woods were aggregated. Note the two logs placed underneath the log pile, used to keep harvested logs from freezing to the ground during the wait for transport loading. Circa  1900-1915. 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.