North Country At Work

Hiram and Eugene Cole’s sugar house, with wood supply, near the Oswegatchie River in the Town of Diana,  NY. Note sled for skidding out sap with horses. Circa 1900.

Warren Humes jerking–preserving by drying over a slow fire–venison (deer meat). Taken by Burton Humes. Burton Humes sent photo to New York Conservationist Magazine where it was printed probably sometime in the 1950s. Original photo dates from about 1910. Harrisville, NY. Related story here.

Harrisville Hardware Company. Featured are pocket knives, dishes, spark plugs, hammers, and other items for sale. Russ Basette pictured smoking. Harrisville, NY. Circa 1920.

Mert Mantle and Burton Humes at Forest Home. Using a two-man cross-cut to saw log. Harrisville, NY. Related story, here.

Farmers often supplemented their income in the winter by selling logs to the local sawmills. This unidentified teamster is preparing to take a sleigh load to the mill. Note the pole used to tighten the chains. Harrisville, NY. Circa 1900. Check out our story on Ross Young, a logger from Harrisville. 

Drying wooden sap buckets at Warren Humes’ sugar bush. Harrisville, NY. Circa 1910. Related story, here.

Safety First Potmen, smelters who worked at Alcoa. Circa 1910-1920. Massena, NY.

Construction of the powerhouse on the Massena Power Canal. Man in center is job boss and chief surveyor T.A. Gillespie of the T.A Gillespie Company. Photo taken 1898. Massena, NY.

Caption written on photo: Noah Cook (left), a smithy, strikes while the iron is hot for four brothers in the service, as he copies a pattern held by his fellow tribesman (Mohawk?), Andrew Herne. Possibly at Alcoa. Circa 1940-1950. Massena, NY.

Preparing dynamite charge: pictured are the explosives, a toolbox, and the worker in the process of preparing the charge to break up river ice. 1950. Massena, NY.