The Kingston Daily Freeman from Kingston, New York • Page 11

THE KINGSTON DAILY FREEMAN. KINGSTON. N. TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8,1957 ELEVEN Ferry Service Dates Back Over Years situation it was not difficult to assemble a meeting of the disgruntled passengers in the railroad station in the morning. The gathering censured and condemned the captain of the Rhine for not waiting for them the night before and observed acidly that it was then 9 a.

m. on New Day and there was still no sign of the ferryboat. caused a copy of the proceedings to be published and sent another copv to Thomas Cornell. Even in Kingston it was felt that the protests were unjustified and that there had been no reason to criticize the management of the ferry. The ferry line had oy inis time been incorporated as the Rnmebeck Kingston lorry Co.

That had been done on 7 1853 bv Charles H. Russell, William Russell, Thomas Cornell Charles E. Butler and Robert S. Hone. The capital was.

set at $80,000, in 800 shares of S100 each, but a provision was included hereby it could be raised to $100,000. The Russells, Hone and probably Butler were New Yorkers. Hence Cornell as Rondout resident, continued in his capacity as manager of the line. Service Improved Cornell made every effort to provide excellent service within reason. For example, in December of 1853 the company an- This conception of the Courtesy The Mariners Museum, Newport No no'unced that the first trip from withdrawn.

Captain Rondout in the morning would I built up a wide following be made at 5:50 a. m. so that connections could be made with oarlv trains on the railroad. In the winter of 1853-1854 an extra crew was put on the Rhine so that she could make trips during the night to keep open the channel through the ice summer of 1854 an amply ferry- house for passengers was completed at the Rondout slip During severe winters it was not always possible to maintain service, but usually by te the ferryboat gave up, the ice was sufficiently thick so that stage operators could run sleighs across ihe river to.connect nth the trains. Late in March of one vear, after a hard winter had left the ice in the an average thickness of twenty inches, men were mpioyed saw open parts of a tracK through the ice so that the ferry could go back in service.

A timetable in effect in the summer of shows that the Rhine made fifteen round tnps a day, with her first sailing at 6:00 a. m. and her last at 8.5< p. m. Although the inclusive hours and the number of trips varied, this general followed for many years, with a somewhat reduced be- ccming effective as winter neared.

Sunday service done at Morgan yard at Sleightsburgh and continued amongst 'the patrons of the ferry. through the winter of 1861-1862 These people felt that he should official purposes this resulted not now be replaced by a ma the intent of ferry company use her transferred to the Lark. Prob- towing in New York harbor ably Thomas Cornell concurred, and as a lender to he Lai but' the other directors of that is an extra boat to be company had already hired a new to replace them V.lV.n vw I----------- 1 I Iv ii Indignation was so strong that kccping with the name of the a public meeting was at ark new ferry was named Clinton Hall in Rondout, but this th(? Qrj0ic had no effect on the however, made a place for Captain Schultz by appointing him to the command whether the of his towing steamers. crossing in as fast as nine minutes. In 1867, too, the ferry company bought a water lot in Ponckhockie from Walter B.

Crane and in September commenced the work 4 The company felt that by substituting Ponckhockie for Rondout as the west terminus and so shortening the route, it would be less difficult to maintain winter operations. a elapsed, however before the change was actually made, for the Lark did not commence run- w. nine from Ponckhockie until Oriole on Ferry Route Christmas day, 1868. In March of There is no indication as to the old at Rondout utilized in place of the Lark when needed. Accordingly, in That used for Oriole was ever towing purposes, but was offered for sale Terminus Bark in Rondout the terminus made necessary the removal of she vvas I Th(1 change tne the man already on the towboa Her the Lark fike the hiring of Captain Morand resulted in a of 1 -he like his dignation meeting by the prop (was used (q haye been ldea 0f the who didn like Schultz.

i as as other directors of the company, the formal amusements of our casional at castas of CorneU. lt was highly ancestors were limited, hey 1864. Eventua joutcs and in Rondout, since it seem to have had trouble I yea'rs as her hail- 1S necessary the long to corded her in 1877. In those days Hudson River steamboats carried smokestacks of jet-black. Few self-respecting boats would leave their landings under any other color.

The Lark therefore became a when in April her stack was painted white with a red band at the top. This was so amazing that some people swore she looked like the yacht of the Khedive of Egypt. She was the fop of the Hudson, with an adornment that no other ferryboat could match. In November her decorum was restored when the white way to trusty black. In that some month of November in 1877, Cornell bought another Thomas W.

Olcott, from Albany. intention seems to have been to use her in place of the Lark at least during the winter months. She was taken to shipyard for hull repairs, but, due to her width, considerable difficulty was experienced in getting her on the sectional dry docks. When she was finally gotten out, she remained on dry dock a good part of the winter. There is no indication that the Thomas W.

Olcott ever was used on the regular Kingston-Rhinecliff route. Instead, in December of 1878 work commenced to convert her into a railroad transfer boat to carry cars the Ulster Delaware Railroad at Rondout and the Rhinebeck Connecticut Railroad at Rhinecliff. The Wallkill Valley Railroad also utilized this transfer. As the years passed, it became apparent that the time for a permanent replacement for the Lark was growing near. The business of the ferry line and the demands of the service were combining to exceed her capabilities.

Transport Is Acquired Instead of building a new boat, the ferry company decided to attempt to purchase a suitable ves- vessel. So, in 1881, it acquired the Transport, a side-wheel ferryboat built in 1875 at Philadelphia, Pa. She had an iron hull which by statutory measurements, was 115 feet in length, 26.5 feet in breadth and 9.8 feet in dept. Her tonnages were 318 gross; 226 net. According to the records of the late George W.

Murdock, the which had put in a mere twenty- one years. The lifetime of the Transport encompassed a period of great change. When she made her maiden trip to Rhinecliff, Presi- James A. Garfield was fighting futilely to survive the attack of an assassin: when she made her last trip, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was in his second term in the White House.

As a connecting link with the New York Central Railroad, she carried Kingstonians away on all sorts of missions and brought them back safely. To them, she was the last touch of home upon leaving and a foretaste of Kings ton soil upon returning. Thousands of visitors through the years arrived in Kingston for the first time upon her deck. Such an essential part of the community was she that herea- abouts and became almost synonymous. People who made their first trip on her as little children might still be crossing on her with their grandchildren.

Rattled the Ice The Transport proved to be a competent boat in the ice and had many a battle to keep up connections between Kingston and Rhinecliff. In the fall of 1883 she was equipped with new' and specially-constructed paddle wheels at the chops of the Cornell Steamboat Co These were considered to be ests upon the death of CorneH and controlled them until his death in 1913.. Like its predecessor, the Rhinebeck Kingston Ferry of 1919, carried on under the letters patent granted by George II. as affirmed and amended by Chapter 94 Laws of the State of New York for 1827. Auto Traffic During the automobile traffic on the ferry steadily increased.

By this time the ferry company had extended the houis of operation and employed two complete crews, which changed at the mid-point of the daily schedule. Nevertheless, often on weekends or holidays long lines of cars would be waiting to cross and sometimes the Ti ans- port ran far beyond her regular last trip to get the river. Hence, in 1929 the Rhinebeck Kingston Ferry decided to try a new experiment by providing the services of two ferryboats on Sundays and holidays, starting on Memorial Day and continuing throughout the summer. The ferryboat Steinway, which had spent most of her life in the New York city area, was available at the time and was chartered to serve as the extra boat. The Steinway, like the Transport, was a beam-engined wheeler, but she was somewhat larger, with statutory measurements of 125 feet in length, 32.5 feet in breadth of hull and 10.2 keeping themselves amused.

The newcomer the strongest and best wheels for th of hold She had use in ice that had ever been Ieei -----placed in a Hudson River boat. The career was for its ness. Like a good citizen she went about her business efficiently and quietly, and kept out of irouble with marked success. But she did have accidents, of course, of which two at least are wrorthy of note. On May 5, 1891, she as bound out Rondout Creek on her 10:10 a.

m. trip to Rhinecliff. Coming been built in 1884 at Brooklyn Y. One of her officers 1929 recalls that her wooden hull then leaked considerably and that she sat in the so low that if the river was at all rough, the wraves would break over the deck. On one occasion the safety blocks were washed out from beneath the of the automobiles on her Speed was another quality that she lacked, but in spite of her defects, she proved in the creek at time useful.

was the steamboat M. Martin, a Labor Day of 1929 afforded freight and passenger boat run- the first tbree-day holiday of ring between Newburgh and Al- year On Saturday of that bany ow ned by the firm of Ro- weckend the traffic was so heavy mer Tremper. The M. Martin that both the Transport and the blew two blasts on her whistle ran until two oclock to indicate that she wanted to on Sunday morning to take care pass the Transport off her star- of all the automobiles. Edenton, North Caro- ponckhockie to get the Captain Mor- ended her career in ovcr a distance that could be row, remained firmly on th waters and official- covered more comfortably and Lark.

A jovial native of Ireland rs co deck of the boat. who was then about Actually an extra ferryboat ln the cariy spring of 1869, Cor- old. he soon built up a following unnecessary luxury here- nell was negotiating to buy out of his own and in a short abouts Prior to the building of the otber stockholders so as to was as popular as Captain oriole and for many years lhc entirc control of the Schultz had been. after she was sold, one of the ferry company, and the west Dock ferryboats from the Albany terndnus was moved back to Before going further with the area was chartered when it was Rondout. ln May Cornell brought career of the Lark, it might ho necessary to make his contemplated purchase to a vertical beam engine had a eyl- side.

The pilot of the The heavy movement of traf- inder 32 inches in diameter and Transport responded and put the fic across the river between nine feet in stroke. wheel over to change course. Ac- Rhinecliff and Kingston at that The Transport made her first Cording to him, the ferryboat tjme was dUe partly to the fact official crossing from Kingston Peered off to port and headed that preliminary work was un- Rhinecliff on August 26. 1881. be- straight for the celebrated Mary der way 0n the rebuilding of fore a large crowd that turned PovvTu which was lying, at R0Ute 9W into a concrete high- out for the event.

At that season Cranei Dock in Ponckhockie, way between Kingston anc of the year, summer vacationists heing made ready for the season. Highland. Since traffic moved were commencing to leave the The pdot 0f the Transport siowly over this stretch of road, Catskills in force. A great many unable to check the sheer of his many motorists going to came out of the mountains on boat and rang for full speed ing from New limited. Schedules for 1860 and par.f Yt' 1 he toV-'whcn Albany ferry afterwards list only fne shatzeUs Dock.

Al- boats became more or loss ex- Morrow had become mules Vmvhurph ferrv line. the long successful conclusion. round trips on Sunday. tlinmdi Rhinebeck village itself tinct, the Newburgh While the Rhine gave sat.sfac nlif nulcV back from I which then hacl two boats. Irinckerhoff from that ana np Schultz between Kingston and B.

f. bcnunz. first moves as to remove Morrow the Ulster Delaware Railroad it was too late, for the to use the east side of the river to Rondout station, crossed on Transport proceeded to run right and cr0Ss the Hudson on the the ferry to Rhinecliff, and con- into the Mary Powell. The ferrv here. tinued to New York via the New Powen was damaged sufficiently The ferry company believed York and Albany day line.

The tQ make it necessary to have her that each passing year would ferry sailing which connected touod to New York for dry- brjng an increase in the number rafVtiiin Lark after the with the southbound steamer was dorking and repairs. of automobiles and ld two Doais, was cap jamcs One of made at 11:55 a. m. Consequent- Another accident of some sen- cust0mers. The best way to at- In more modern cs as compictc ly, this was one of the best pa- ousncss occurred on Saturday af- tract them was to Provide tronized trips of the day.

In wero cro.ted^ Ever-, quently. the general area sens Shipyard at been called After irom AlUciiiJ in a I teTnoon, May 19, 1928. The big ved servicc. From the ex- On August 26, the Lark came (rejght and passenger steamer pcriPnce 1929, it was also nr from Rhinecliff shortly be-1 Odell of the apparent that business would be at Kingston. This vessel had been purchased by the ferry company in accordance with its decision to maintain two boats perm a- neinypoint of age, the New Rochelle was in a class with the Transport.

In other respects she was markedly different. Built 1877 at Wilmington, Delaware, as a beam-engined side-wheelen she had originally been named the Columbia and for many years was in service as a ferry on the Delaware River between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Camden, New Jersey. In the latter her vertical beam engine, boiler and paddle wheels were removed and she was completely rebuilt into a diesel-driven propeller, with twin screws at either end. Her iron hull by new statutory measurements was 142.8 feet in length, 30 feet in breadth and 10.4 feet in depth of hold. The gross tonnage was 401: net tonnage, 272.

Renamed the New Rochelle after her conversion she had been operated by the Long Island Sound Ferries Corp. With four gangways instead of two, as th? Transport had, she was considered capable ot carrying about 36 automobiles which, in 1930, had not reached the impressive size of present- day vehicles. While some needed work was being completed on the ferry- slips to accommodate her, she was refurbished at the Cornell shops and renamed the Kingston. During May she went into regular service and made the crossings from slip to slip in an average time of about 12 minutes. At this period the Transport averaged about 13 Upon the advent of the Kington, the Aquehonga was withdrawn, but was retained for use as a third boat when needed on Sundays and holidays.

The nrst such occasion was on Sunday, June 1, 1930, in order to handle the heavy traffic at the end of the three-day Memorial Day weekend. Even with the Kingston, the Transport and the Aquehonga running, the line or automobiles waiting to go over all during Sunday afternoon extended up Ferry street to Has- jrouck avenue and up HasbroucK avenue to Murray street, or about a third of a mile from the landing. Summer Marked Peak That summer marked the peak of local ferry service. The comprehensiveness of the timetable that had become effective in latter April was never to be exceeded. Not again would three ferryboats be in sevice.

The high-water mark had been reached, but it was During the summer the Mid- Hudson Bridge at Poughkeepsie was opened and on September 28 the ferry company reduced its schedule. Twenty minute sailings, or two-boat service, now began from Kingston between nine and ten in the morning and ended with the 5:40 p. m. trip. On November 3 one-boat service became effective for the rest of the year and throughout the winter.

The Transport continued to be used as the winter boat on the irom to the railroad, a post office October, when she XbUshed there and the I one Railroad in New York. Captain Rhincboek Station, in the local cafgr 7 5 clocted t0 enjoy his vie- Duceoii nnnn com- was on rnaay, i short dutv Finally, in I860, so as to handle name of the steadily increasing Charles better H. Russell, upon com- violent storm was raging on tory for a comparatively short rompW ordered a new Dock, and tae Rnh.needwase or that the Lark was to by Benjamin Well, of Port Ewen cidp-wheeler. Bv statutory Boormanville, after James measurements, her length was man the president of the Hud 92 feet 8 inches; breadth of hull, i son River Rnilroad in five passengers and SimproVed the business of "he line, the mencing hU Peal.cstate develop- A hko theS Rhine, was a wooden- zellville and then in Rhine, was a www zenvmc loavp the slip at Rhinecliff. She By statutory Boormanville, after James Boot- ke her side nf tho Hud-1attemptea with four or house and landing at Rondout 11Kllvo, wefssengers and the U.

improved the slip there foot 8 inches; depth of hold, untii its complete opening in When near the middle of being rebuilt, the Lark again 1 72 95. 1 almnst can- DrvnolrhppUip in Another of Cornell's early moves was to have the ferry- 156 72 95. 185 the river, she was almost cap- ran brjefly from Ponckhockie in Aerorfmg'toTroSm'porarx- place developedto a de- of the gale August "of 1869." count she vvas 102 feet in over- hut never ful0 cd and the height of the waves, and As has been mentioned, Cor, hmit Russell. He su a part of her engine became dis-1 jnterest in water trans- abled. The Lark bow burrowed i was far wider than the 4 tmtnr raffiP i I qll length and had been built by pectations of Russell.

Webb Bell at Brooklyn, N. Y. ceeded in interesting an archi- and six feet in stroke. The total Iy iarking in this and two of the gr0wing fleet of towing steam crKt of the new ferry was consiclerable sengers became violently he incorporated the nob finally decided upon Rhinec At tbat critical juncture, Captain otpamboat which in The Lark arrived in Rondout the from Rnino- with his own hands amuired a virtual monop- on Julv 15 I860, and went into an(i supplied the want of ihe serxice on July 17. She was cet- cPffs the rner.

In 186 rod connected there was no intermingling of i ainiv superior to the Rhine, but 4bp name of the post office engine, which had been broken or phinphprk her eommg wa' marred by the from Rhinebeck Station and kept the machm- Uie of the Rhmebeck that she had brou.ht with Rhinecliff. Employees of RhUiebeck They run aground. of the latter, even on company 1 t. their right to have expected to pay felt it iben Minor Role in Tragedy thpv travpled on her from New York a new cap-, tain James Morrow; a new pilot and a new engineer. Duties of a Captain the name Rhinebeck perpetuated in those days In 1865 the Lark played a minor role in a great tragedy of our national history.

The body their fare when they traveled on ferry. Cornell Facilities Utilized sailed out of the slip. Then, ma jestically, in came the Transport. She left Kingston at 11:57 a. m.

and in ten minutes vvas in her slip on the other side of the river. She was used that day only to connect with the southbound and northbound day boats, but as soon as necessary work had been done on the ferryslips, she went into regular service. The Lark was then withdrawn and later sold to continue in service as a ferryboat in the New York area. She was not officially abandoned until 1905. Captain Wells of the Lark became captain of the Transport upon her debut.

His eventual successor was Captain Charles Winchell, who was the last of the old school of business managers or to serve on the local ferry. The Transport was well suited to the requirements of the Kingston-Rhinecliff line and, in fact, was destined to become the grand dowager of the route. She ran for fifty-seven years, or almost three times as long as her closest competitor, the Lark, in the creek to her slip, unloaded her passengers and and then beached herself on the opposite side of the creek. It was found that, fortunately, her hull had not been injured and that the force of the collision had been borne by the overhang of the main deck. Repairs were made at the Hiltebrant shipyard at South RoundouL The old Rhinebeck Kings ton Ferry Co.

continued to exist well into the Its life, however, had been lim ited by the terms of the incorporation of 1853, and in J919 the stockholders formed another corporation to succeed it. To the previous formal name was added the word to make the new organization the nhine- beck Kingston Ferry Co. Inc Capitalized at $80.000, it had as its first directors Edvvard, Thomas C. and Frederick Coykendall; Horace G. Young and Harry Flemming.

The Messrs. dall were grandsons of Thomas Cornell and sons of S. D. Coykendall. The latter, a son-in-law of Thomas Cornell, had succeeded to the Cornell marine inter- Pi ilf YT ilVli and larger boat so that ice would be maintained until additional daily service could be after the summer season.

The provided all dyring the summer schedules in effect for this period months and whenever else it from 1931 through 1934 generally might be required As a temporary step to better the service, the company chartered the ferryboat Aquehonga. She was a beam-engined side- wheeler ith a wooden hull, built in Newburgh in 1912, and had been in operation between New Jersey and Staten Island. Considerably smaller than the Transport, in statutory dimensions she wras 102.8 feet in length, 31.8 feet in breadth and 10.4 feet in depth. In length she was even smaller than the old rk. With the Transport and the Aquc-honga, the ferry company inaugurated on April 27.1930, the following schedule: first trip had the Kingston running from about seven in the morning until after eleven at night, with the Transport in commission from mid-morning until early evening.

This afforded sailings approximately every forty minutes from either side while the Kingston ran alone, and every twenty minutes when the two boats were running. In 1935 the period of two-boat operations became more restricted and in that year, too, the opening of the Rip Van Winkle Bridge at Catskill brought a further drain of prespective customers from the ferry. In 1936, for example, the Transport ran as a second boat from mid-morn- from Kingston at 7 a. sail-; jng until early evemng on Sat- ings every 20 minutes from each urdays and Sundays only from side from 7:20 a. m.

until 11 late April until May 29, daily a final crossing from from then until into September, Rhinecliff at 11:35 p. New Rochelle Arrives on May 1. 1930, ferryboat Rochelle arrived "to pias! Naturally, the facilities of the day. In the nineteenth century day whuffi up the Hudson River Railroad on 1 Cornell tovving line 11 Cv 1 4 1 nn flu. w.irUon River steamboat Rhinecliff.

never recogmzca inai i interment and minute by the ferry company. Such re- artaln uho was often the own-! name on its timetables and con- positioned on the pVairs as COuld be made on the 2 of or a stockholder in his tinned to call the bluffs at Ponckhockie to fire a ferryboat at the Cornell shops command, devoted his time pn- beck until it moved back looL nJ final farewell to the assassinated were done there and frequently to the business Kingston Point in Liice- president Gn the night of April propeller tugs or side- stcxamboat. His roles were wise, it was many years before 25 the pilQt engjne nt by towboats were used to as- He played host to the the railroad substituted ten minutes ahead of the funeral sist keeping the channel open pldV vU I 1 1 iv nt inn TTVlO vv.II iUlIIUtva MM Hi RCv and assured himself diff for Rhinebeck Statioitrain, the Lark sounded a pre- for the ferryboat during the that they were comfortable and ferry company, of coi arranged signal from the slip at wjnter months. Sometimes these! on vine the trip: he collected even thought of Rhinecliff. Then, as the funeral boats were used in lieu of the the passage money: he kept an name, even though it then lan train passed tbe minute guns ferryboat.

This practice was be- account of the recc.p,,. the Cornell acquired he sometimes acted as an (or the shippers of produce, generallv kept his finger on all The activities on board. In short, Kingston The once-controversial Captain the ferry steamers to have been side-wheel tow- tho artivities on ooaru. ah runpiuii. me ,7 tbe venerable siae-wneei iow- ho was primarily a businessman.

Put an of this had no cffec Morrow of the Lark died Norwich which was known ARhough captains xxcre on Rhinecliff. which now seems a( his home in the of her bridce. most at ot harbor often as- time to "ronrern himself xxith be a 'better name nav to zigation even if he had wanted than Rhinecliff New York. Captain Morrow was ter months and After the furor over Captain onf, 0f the many over a long pe- used to carry passengers Cantain Schultz had nod 0f years who had been during foggy weather when On the ferrxboats, the captain Morrow and Captain Schultz haa riod Df years who naa oeen ou wax a minor edition of the steam- auay. the Lark settled doxxn chosen the Mary Powell op iwxat cantain He collected the to a lone term of service on her mos, sultable means of transit for the receipts The ferry company had for his last voyage on earth LnTpassed the time of day with the Rhine and in the In September of 1867 the Lark operation of the larger ferryboat might be hazardous.

The fact that Cornell owned iirtta t.rv her entirely made little differ- ihr The pilot did the jall of decided to rebuild Was taken to New ence to the routine of the Lark (S I ring and the engineer. onlir. although she tod She kept junning back and forth ran the engine. thoroughly overhauled only to increase between and Rhinecliff it coi ferrxboat captain xvas just as four voars before. At that time crease her draft.

Hpr statutory ln ulc much in command of his boat as both her engine and had measurements now 108 damaged in a colluuon the steamboat captain. boon renovated so that they feet in Jength -3 9 feet In the fall of 1869 she was con damaged in a collisioi with the towing steamer John sia 1853 he was suc- feci i ve. still in excellent condition, breadth; 8 feet in depth of hold; haU whiCh was also owned ,61 gross tonnage. Cornell, but she soon recov- At the same time the engine vorneu. 2 frttion must be an able to make the unusual treatment that was ac- The Lark appears to the left in the Rondout ferry slip in this old photograph.

Although the Lark ran here for over 20 years, this is the only photograph the writer of this history has ever seen showing her ui local service. and on Sundays and the Columbus Day weekend until the end or the October. Because of the mildness of the winter of 1936-1937, the Transport was not needed as the winter boat. However, in the following winter of 1937-1938 she again saw service in that role. Due to ice conditions, she was forced to discontinue trips early in January, 1938, but resumed again on February 27.

During the summer she was used as usual as the second boat on the line and made her final trips in this capacity on Sunday, September 11, 1938. The following Tuesday she ran for a time in place of the Kingston, which was in need of some slight repairs, and was then laid up. As it developed, that marked the end of her active service as a ferryboat. A subsequent government inspection resulted in the condemnation of her boiler. Considering the general of the vessel, the ferry company decided that it was not advisable to spend the large amount of money necessary to restore the Transport to operating condition.

It also felt that the amount of business it was then doing indicated that the need for maintaining two boats on the line had passed and so made no move to replace her. Transport Dismantled The Transport remained laid up until August 23, 1941, when she was moved to the Cornell shops. Here she was dismantled and her hull converted into a stakeboat for the Cornell Steamboat Co. A stakeboat, incidentally, is a floating wharf. Anchored in the (Continued on Next Page).