Montezuma Dry Dock 2

Yesterday’s post seen here featured a different view of this area from a slightly different angle. See the Geo. Meil & Son sign for reference below and in the other post. To get straight to the point: this boat intrigues me. The hull lines suggest a yacht, not a freight boat. A name board on…

will van dorp

January 21, 2025

1–2 minutes

Yesterday’s post seen here featured a different view of this area from a slightly different angle.

See the Geo. Meil & Son sign for reference below and in the other post.

To get straight to the point: this boat intrigues me. The hull lines suggest a yacht, not a freight boat. A name board on the transom is illegible, unfortunately.

I can’t make sense of the superstructure either. A tent covering a portion of a wooden cabin? Had this been a packet boat?

I know this is a dry dock, so are we seeing two freight boats here resting on blocks after the water has been pumped out, allowing workers access to the hull?

I’m developing a need to stop at the Montezuma Heritage Park next time I get up that way. Is there a registry of canal freight boat names that would include vessels like Eugene Russ?

Anyone have more detail on what I call the yacht above?

Again, many thanks to Bill Hecht for his work cleaning up photos like this in the CSNY collection.

3 responses to “Montezuma Dry Dock 2”

Lee Rust

January 21, 2025 at 1:39 pm

In yesterday’s photo the view of the drydock was obscured, but this one makes it clear that the entrance to each slip is dammed up, the water is drained out and the three freighters are up on blocks. Judging from the height of the guy standing on the second canalboat, the slips are only 4 to 5 feet deep. The craft floating just outside the drydock does indeed appear to be an old sailboat. The improvised superstructure hints that it was serving as some kind of shelter or living space for drydock workers.

These old photos contain so much detail! Everything about the scene is noticeably weatherbeaten and decrepit, so I’m guessing the pictures were taken very near the end of the original Canal’s operation.

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tugster

January 22, 2025 at 8:39 am

I’m copying over another Mike Riley comment from FB because comments here are much easier to reclaim from archives than are comments on FB. Mike writes: “It is possible the the [sail] boat was designed for use in the marshes. It could have been brought up the CS from Cayuga Lake and those wetlands.” I’d add that phragmites and other reeds (referred to as flag) were harvested, possibly by boats like this. Mike has written extensively about Montezuma NY, using some of the same photos. See here: https://portbyronhistorical.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/second-edtion-third-section.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawH91ANleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSTlIt7NYP-PJzQIKg9KiszJwjk_LQ27R7diC-17iNJUAsUJV9sfdD_nSw_aem_A6ZOkqPk1CDebpIOz5UMjg

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Lee Rust

January 22, 2025 at 9:08 pm

Thanks for the link to that excellent history by Mike Riley! I’ve zoomed by Montezuma many times on Thruway journeys, but the time has come to take the Weedsport exit and explore all the old Canal sites.

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