The Kingston Daily Freeman from Kingston, New York • Page 12

TWELVE THE KINGSTON DAILY FREEMAN, KINGSTON, N. TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1957 History of the Kingston-Rhinecliff Ferry (Continued from Page 11) stream, it serves as a mooring place for barges which arc collected from various points and assembled into a tow. When the tow is complete and ready to be moved, the tug is able to pick it up from the stakeboat with a minimum of effort and lost time. As stakeboat No. 1, the Transport is still in use and during the season of navigation may be seen anchored in the Hudson River off West 72nd street, Manhattan.

After the withdrawal of the Transport in September of 1938, the Kingston carried on alone. Because of ice conditions and Dther factors, service was never throughout the winters that followed. In 1942 the Kingston opened the season on March 17. The first sub-zero xeather of the approaching winter came on the night of December 16-17 and the ferry company announced that service would terminate on the night of December 17, 1942. In 1941 the ferry line had carried 59,206 private automobiles, 11.324 commercial vehicles and 54.165 passengers.

During 1942. with gasoline rationing in effect, these respective figures were 10.114; 63.860. The increase in passengers was a small item compared to the decrease of about 10G in trucks and 55 in automobiles. 1942 had brought to the ferry company a deficit and in 1943 service was not resumed. Any further plans for continuation would be dependent upon traffic conditions.

For a time a private operator furnished motorboat service for foot passengers, but this, too, was abandoned. Rhinecliff once again was as for away as if it had been in another country. Kingston is Sold In November of 1943, with ferryboats at a premium due to the war. the Kingston was sold to Harris County, Texas, for a reported $50,000. Boarded up for the ocean voyage, she sailed out of Rondout creek on November 28.

The trip down the Atlantic coast and across the Gulf of Mexico proved a difficult one and the Kingston did not arrive at her destination until early High winds, a violent storm, a mine field and sickness on board so delayed the.passage of the boat that on the last days out the crew was reduced to subsisting on beans and rice. Also in early January of 1944. the Rhinebeck Kingston Ferry elected to dissolve. seemed to have come to the assigns of Abraham Kip and Moses Cant inc. The termination of ferry serv- ice had cut Kingston off from the main line of the New York Central Railroad.

Travellers were forced to use either or the less-adequate facilities of the West Shore Railroad, or go to Poughkeepsie via the Mid-Hudson Bridge to board New York Central trains. Local retailers and wholesalers who had enjoyed the trade of those living in Dutchess county across the river also suffered. Agitation for a new line grew. In the 1945 session of the New York State Legislature, Senator Arthur H. Wicks of Kingston introduced a bill to authorize the New York State Bridge Authority to restore service between Kingston and Rhinecliff.

This was passed and signed by Governor Thomas E. Dewey in April of 1945. But the actual resumption of the ferry route was still far in the future. Possible landing sites on the east and west banks of the river were studied. It was felt that 1 the east terminal should remain where it was.

but the ghosts of some long-departed Kingstonians must have jumped for joy as the news that a west terminus at Kingston Point was being seri- osuly considered as a means of shortening the crossing. In September the state comptroller gave his approval to the use of moneys of the New York State Bridge Authority for the reestablishment of the ferry. The authority then initiated a search for a suitable ferryboat and began a formal investigation of landings. Since a Kingston Point terminus had not proven feasible, another plan to shorten the route by constructing a west terminus a Ponckhockie was explored. For the same rea-1 son that had prevailed in 1869.

this idea was also discarded, Finally it was decided that the west terminus, like the east, should remain where it was. In 1946 the Authority found the of ferryboat it wanted in The Richmond. Constructed in 1937 at Burlington, YTermont, she had originally been named the City of Plattsburgh and had been used in service across Lake Champlain by the Champlain Transportation Co. With the great decline in traffic during World War 2, she had been sold in 1942 to Electric Ferries, a corporation operating ferry routes in the New York city area. That company had renamed her the Richmond and last used her between 125th street in Manhattan and Edgewater.

N. J. A diesel-driven propeller. she had a steel hull which by statutory measurements was 152 feet in length. 39 feet in breadth and 10 feet in depth.

The tonnages were 373 gross 189 net. Renamed George Clinton The Richmond was acquired in March. 1946. for about $175,000. On March 23 she started up the Hudson for her new home and arrived at the Hiltebrant shipyard at 5:30 p.

m. Here she was overhauled and made ready for local service. There was considerable speculation as to what name would be chosen for her. The New York State Bridge Authority made a wise selection and on April 1 announced that she had been Yenamed the George Clinton, after the first governor of the State of New York. Clinton had been inaugurated in Kingston and lies buried in the yard of the First Dutch Reformed Church.

Now there was a ferryboat, but no place to run her. Due to 1 the legal groundwork involved, it was not until April 27. 1946, that the Rhinecliff and Kingston ferry landings, together with the franchise. were transferred. For a consideration of $40,000, they were deeded to the State of New York by the Cornell Steamboat which had acquired them from the Rhinebeck Kingston Ferry Inc.

After that, work had to be done to put them in order for the commencement of service. Citizens of Kingston were urged to hang out their flags on May 16, 1946, for on that day the official opening of the restored route took place with a ceremony at the Kingston terminus at eleven in the morning. This was followed by another ceremony on the Rhinecliff side. The George Clinton ran until late in the evening for the benefit of those who wanted to make an excursion across the river and inspect the new boat. The regular schedule went into effect the rtbxt day and called for fourteen round trips, commencing from Kingston at 9 a.

m. and interrupted for over an hour by a lunch period. Shortly afterwards the lunchtime arrangements were changed so that fifteen round trips could be made. From the first trip from Kingston at 9 a. m.

until the last from Rhinecliff at 7 p. sailings were made forty minutes from each side except during the noontime period. This schedule remained in force thereafter. During the Dutchess County Fair, every year, service was maintained until between 11:30 p. m.

and midnight. No Winter Operations The New York State Bridge Authority never attempted winter operations and heretofore set December 31 of each year as the official closing date. In some years weather conditions made an earlier closing necessary. The opening dates also varied. 1956 marked the earliest, with the first trip of the season being made on March 12.

The latest opening occurred in 1950, on April 5. Old Rondouters would have promptly organized a protest meeting upon being confronted with such limited daily and yearly service. But in 1946 and since any ferry service was far more desirable than none at all. The George Clinton has proven well-suited to the Kingston- Rhinecliff route. The largest ever in service here, she has an unobstructed main deck except for a housing rising in the center.

In her four gangways she can carry about thirty-one automobiles of present day size. On the upper deck is a passenger cabin with ample seating and with a broad, open deck on either side, which is appreciated most by those few people who still enjoy taking a sail across the river just for the pleasure of it. The ferry crosses from to slip in an average time of about twelve minutes. The first captain of the George Clinton was Christopher G. Tierney, with John J.

Malone as relief captain and pilot. Both men were experienced captains of the old Rhinebeck Kingston and had served with such earlier noted captains as Lyman Hyde and Saulpaugh. After the death of Captain Tierney, Captain George Hayes succeeded him in March of 1949, but resigned later in the year. He was followed by Captain Grant B. Lezatte, who is still in command.

Captain Lezatte comes of a family of distinguished Hudson River steamboatmen and for many years was with the Hudson River Day Line as pilot on the well-remembered Robert Fulton and captain of the Chauncey M. Captain Malone, before enter; ing upon his ferry boating career, had been with the Cornell Steamboat Co. and had worked his way up from deckhand to captain. While with Cornell, he was pilot for over nine years on one of the most celebrated of Hudson river tugboats, the E. L.

Levy. He went aboard the Transport in 1919 with the understanding that it was to be a temporary position, but events proved otherwise. With great i skill and perfection, he has been steering ferryboats over the Kingston and Rhinecliff route ever since. The present chief engineer, John J. Miller, was previously assistant to Howard J.

Hornbeck, who was chief engineer from the advent of the George Clin; ton until his resignation in 1953. Mr. Miller, too, is a seasoned veteran of the route and served on the Kingston. His competent assistant engineer is Ed- ward J. Smith.

Nelson Sleght. the mate and relief pilot, has been on the ferry line almost as long as John J. Malone and was also an adept 'pilot and captain with the Rhinebeck Kingston Ferry Inc. He is well known for his ability to combine speed and proficiency in directing the loading and unloading of the ferry. The efficient and friendly collector of fares during most of the period of operation of the George Clinton has been Philip E.

Peters. 250 Years Service Jacob Kip, when he first commenced to accommodate the passing traveller by ferrying him across the Hudson, was probably anything but a seer, i All he was interested in was to get his customer safely to the other side and collect his fare, He little realized that he was inaugurating a ferry route that was to lie maintained for about 250 years. at least the end is near. The of the ferry line il-1 lust rates the fact that progress can never be ignored. Each boat had to be an improvement on its predecessor.

Probably all of the early rowboats and peri- augers and yawls and horseboats could be loaded on the George i Clinton without seriously inconveniencing her. a far cry from the Knickerbocker, the i Rhine, the Lark and the Transport, and an improvement on the only local ferry- boat comparable to her. Modern as the George Clinton is, she must now give way to further progress in the form of a bridge. Ferryboats, once so common, arc fading away into antiquity. In their wake they leave an interesting chapter in the history of transportation in America.

In those leisurely days when they were the sole means of transit across the streams on which they plied, they afforded a pleasant interlude to their passengers. A sail, no matter how brief, brings with it a sense of escape from humdrum life ashore. The scurrying aboard of tardy passengers, the clanging of bells, the casting off from the slip and the muffled sound of the engine, remain always intriguing novelties. To the traveller long on the road on a wearisome trip or to the man bent simply on getting farther than the opposite bank, a few minutes on deck on wind-swept waters could lie a welcome restorative. An Important Mission But there were hazards, too.

the was an important mission. A trip missed often meant a long delay or possibly an overnight stop on the wrong shore. This was the thing that was eventually to give the ferryboat a violent shove down the path to limbo. The coming of the automobile and the quickening of the tempo of 1 created louder and louder demands for more and more bridges. Waiting in line in a hot automobile for long periods to get aboard a ferryboat was not a pleasant way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Making lengthy detours at night when there might not Ix? any ferry service, or driving for hours in winter weather to reach the opposite bank of a river while ferry service was suspended because of ice conditions, became less and less acceptable in an age that wanted evcr-faster transportation. The bridge overcomes all of this. It offers a speedy crossing at all times of the day or night under all weather conditions. One never worries about the possibility that he may arrive at the ferryslip just in time to see the last of the day sailing off across the river. The bridge is always in the slip.

It lacks hut one thing, and that is personality a matter of importance to nobody except ferryboat devotees. The Kingston-Rhineeliff ferry line is aliout to be added to the long list of once-prosperous ferry lines that have been rendered ex- tinct by bridges. When the George Clinton makes the final crossing, she will bring to an end one of our most veherable local institutions and place a period to over 250 years of history. By reckoning, that is quite a iot of history. Coincidence Newberry, S.

C. it seems, can bo hit in the same place twice. A father and both natives of this proved it by killing deer three years almost to the day apart. To mark the spot of their accomplishment, they notched their initials in an old holly tree in a area near here. One inscription reads W.F.B., 11-1153, and the other H.S.B., 11-1256.

SWEETY PIE By Nadine Seltzer BREAK! Tackling the Problem of High School Fraternities By MRS. MURIEL LAWRENCE Wired for Money Albuquerque, N. M. VP Morrison, sales manager for a homebuilding firm, says he recently received an unsigned letter with a check for $18 enclosed. Morrison says the writer told of taking some wire from the storage lot and decided to pay for it.

Morrison says the company did not notice the wire was missing. Last summer the took their teen-age best friend on a month-long family motor trip through Canada. For years, the girl has been in and out of their home. Then, last October, she was initiated into a sorority that neglected to invite her friend to join it. Since that time, not only avoided the but has cut their child dead at school.

Mrs. L. writes, suppose nothing to do but feel sorry for the girl Occasionally, by asking our school board to act on the fraternity system in our local schools, much can be done. If Mrs. L.

will read the excellent article on this problehn in a recent issue of magazine, she can discover what other parents and teachers are doing to outlaw these unbrotherly brotherhoods from their communities. According to it, the town of Mamaroneck, N. has made an unusually successful adjustment to fraternity-free schools. It went about the job of getting rid of them wisely. First, it took a poll of its opinions on school fraternities.

It showed they like them. Authorized by this majority disapproval, the school iioard adopted the effective regulation. To any junior or senior high school student who joins a fraternity, Mamaroneck denies any school office, any school team membership, honor or award except his certificate of graduation. After receiving Mrs. letter, I telephoned the Board of Education.

It said, will welcome the opportunity to tell other communities the steps we took to solve the fraternity problem in our schools. For Mrs. L. and other interested adults, the address is the Board of Education, Mamaroneck. N.

Y. the last person to suggest that we can protect a child against social rejection. As it comes to us all, we But losing a friend as the child has is not natural loss. It resulted from change in two feelings for each other but from outside manipulation. It is organized, contrived, artificial rejection of the daughter.

Like the Star Chamber judges sitting in secret session, this high school sorority has passed sentence of social undesirability upon another person from which there is no appeal. It is arbitrary, un-American action to which no wise grownup can give moral support. (All rights reserved, NEA Inc.) A TERRIFIC RUT ol STANDARD 2t-r Isyllf vj J- DACRON comforters With Smart Floral Crepe Cover FUUY WASHABLE! 100 virgin Oatron 72" wide 84" long. 45c DOWN 50c WEEK NO CHARGE FOR CREDIT Shop At Your Nearest Store 267-269 FAIR KINGS. 3043 112-116 So.

Prarl Albany 5-1411 231-233 River Troy AS 2-4081 121-129 ay at FB 4-9135 HOME-SEEKERS' SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION Our Personal and Financial Statement as of December 31, 1956 PERSONAL In the past six months our customers have added to their already existing accounts and many new persons in the Kingston area have joined the family of savers. These people are increasing their prosperity and security in today and tomorrow. 0 HOMES We have continued to help families buy and build their own homes, with financing arranged to permit monthly payments, just as they formerly paid rent. In time these homes will be free and clear of debt. FINANCIAL FUTURE Before our next statement is published, our new building at 235 Fair Street will be giving our customers more convenient offices to transact their business.

The Central Broadway Office at 628 Broadway will remain open for continued service to people who live anjl work in that area. ASSETS Loans on Real Estate 8,981,759.34 Loans on Savings Accounts 70,902.11 Property Improvement Loans 22,996.65 Home Office Building, Furniture and Fixtures 39,674.26 Office Building (235 Fair Street) 189,307.92 Real Estate 4,948.03 Investments and Securities 754,927.08 Cash on Hand and in Banks 283,901.00 Other Assets 2,084.03 LIABILITIES Savings and Investment Accounts 8,732,736.70 Borrowers Tax and Insurance Accounts 84,891.55 Borrowed Money 300,000.00 Loans in 235,596.80 Unearned Income 5,292.57 Other Liabilities 10,093.33 Total 9,368,610.95 Reserves 981,889.47 Money Is BUT A Product Is Service OFFICERS JOHN B. STERLEY, Vice President and Counsel DEWEESE AV. DEWITT, Executive Secretary and Treasurer WILLIAM D. COSTELLO, Assistant Secretary SAMUEL H.

PEYER, Assistant Treasurer WILLIAM F. PAULUS, Auditor William B. Byrne Harry Hymes Harry Halverson Raymond Howe J. Allan Wood DIRECTORS Wilmer S. Nickerson Samuel H.

Peyer John B. Sterley Frank W. Thompson For the Period Ending March 31, 1957, Anticipated Dividends Will Be INSTALLMENT ACCOUNTS SAVINGS ACCOUNTS INCOME ACCOUNTS All Accounts INSURED up to $10,000 DIVIDENDS CREDITED QUARTERLY Savings Accounts payments made on or before the 10th of the month receive dividends from the first of the month. HOME-SEEKERS' SAVINGS AND LOAN ASSOCIATION KINGSTON. N.

Y. Downtown Office 10 Broadway Central Broadway Office 628 Broadway SHft.