North Country At Work

Taggert Mill (located about 3 miles down the road from Dexter) is one of the many paper mills that lined the Black River. Circa 1890s. Dexter, NY.

Showing St. Lawrence and Frontenac Mills on the Black River, photo taken from Sulfite Mill roof. Circa early 1900s. Dexter, NY.

View of Dexter looking northwest from Fish Island, which was the original name of Dexter. (People went fishing at this location.) Notice the river channel in foreground, crossed by steel “short bridge.” The Sulfite Paper mill is in the left background. The canal that goes through downtown is visible on right. Company houses in center […]

The Heuvelton peat dredge, which was briefly used to bring up peat from Black Lake as fuel for the town’s mill, was not a very successful operation, as the dredge sank at the juncture of the Oswegatchie River and Black Lake. Circa 1905. Heuvelton, NY.

Unidentified workers in front of a Heuvelton sawmill, which was river-powered. Circa 1870s. Heuvelton, NY.

Staged photograph of a Heuvelton lumber mill (on left), and the multiple-storied Van Heuvel’s Grist Mill on right, which was built in 1829. Man on the far left is poling in an Adirondack skiff. Circa 1880. 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.

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.

Lime quarry in Natural Bridge, NY. Date unknown.