North Country At Work

Acta LaPlatney, Auldis LaPlatney, and Vince Moshier standing with some of Auldis LaPlatney’s horses. Auldis LaPlatney was a horsedealer in Harrisville, NY. 1938 or 1939.

Using ice tongs to unload ice from a bobsled at the Deers Head Inn. 1923. Elizabethtown, NY. Donated by Paul Trym in 1973.

Caption on photo reads: Diamond core drilling, prospecting for ore. Inside the mines owned and operated by Witherbees, Sherman, & Company until 1939; then, leased to and operated by Republic Steel until 1971. Circa 1940s. Mineville in the Town of Moriah, NY.

Two men driving a load of logs; the driver is Leslie Lawrence and the rider is David Stringham. Logs were destined for Hasellion Lumber Company in Wilmington, NY. Caption says: Driver, Leslie Lawrence; Rider, David Stringham. Picture taken at top of Nigger Hill in Elizabethtown. Logs from Peter Liberty job. Donated by Leslie Lawrence. February […]

Lumberjack releasing the binding pole  on a load of logs, late winter. The opposite of “tensioning,” “unbinding” released the logs for floating downstream. From the pictured location (precise location unknown), logs were floated to Willsboro and Waddhams. Circa 1900-1910. Essex County. Donated by H.M. MacDougal.

Caption on photo: “Largest load of pulp to come down the mountain,” taken in front of Bert Lyon’s barber shop. Man on top of the load is Nathan Taylor. Circa 1900-1910. Keene, NY. Donated by Julia Warner Lesser. Note: this entire load is being drawn by just a two-horse team.

Lunchbreak in the woods for working loggers at Chapel Pond. Horse in the background is getting lunch, too, from a feeding bag tied around his neck. 1905. Chapel Pond in Keene, NY. Names from left to right, sitting on ground: Lee Garfield, Frank Delorme, child Clifford Delorme, Dwight Warren, Bogey Sprague, Henry Delorme, Jed Delorme. […]

Load  of cut logs on bobsled, harvested by the Leo Spellman Company, traveling to Gates sawmill. “Black Pine” written on photograph. January 23, 1901. Essex County.

Log yard in Keene, NY. Log yard at the Pete Liberty lumber camp, where logs were stacked at the edge of the Ausable River to await the “spring break-up,”  when the ice melted and the logs could be driven downriver. Circa 1890-1900. Keene, NY on the Ausable River, at a spot called Clifford Brook. (Note: […]

Seneca Ray Stoddard photo of crew of lumbermen felling and limbing spruce trees with double-bitted axes in winter, circa 1880-1890. Essex County in NYS.